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Making Computing More Human-Centered
buzzdecafe writes "Interesting article in InfoWorld about the future of interface technologies, e.g. pointing your finger to move files around, etc. The story focuses on MIT's Project Oxygen, which aims to make computing more anthro-centric. (Check out the Visual Interaction stuff.)" We've written about Project Oxygen before.
Let's protect kids without cutting them off from technology.
Posted June 17, 2002
Now that school's out for summer, millions of children have more free time to be with friends, pursue hobbies, listen to music, play electronic games--and explore technology.
In fact, today's kids can do all of the above simultaneously. Using a PC, many young people exchange instant messages, surf their favorite Web sites and blast their Ashanti CD, even while they perform heroic feats in an online game.
Technology opens new vistas for today's children, who have grown up with PCs as an integral part of their everyday lives. And not just for summertime entertainment. At home and in millions of classrooms around the world, students use computers and the Internet to gather information, stimulate their thinking and make learning more fun.
But not all Web content is appropriate for young people, and kids' privacy--even their safety--can be endangered if they are not cautious when interacting with strangers online. Protecting children as they learn to use technology is a vital concern to everyone.
A new study by the National Research Council concludes that the best protection comes from parents and other caregivers. The NRC report, Youth, Pornography and the Internet, likens protecting kids online to keeping them safe around swimming pools. Fences, alarms and locks can help, but they are no substitute for adults teaching children to swim, and to swim safely. Education, at home as well as at school, can be the most effective way to protect kids using technology, too.
That new laws will not suffice was made clear again this month when a panel of federal judges unanimously struck down a law that required libraries to filter Internet content for material harmful to minors. Two previous federal laws intended to protect children from online pornography also ran afoul of free-speech protections in the First Amendment.
Software tools can provide a measure of protection. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer offers a Content Advisor option that blocks access to sites based on a multilevel labeling system for language, nudity, sex and violence. Similarly, the Xbox video game system enables adults to "lock out" games they consider inappropriate.
Microsoft is working to develop more advanced content-filtering software for protecting children and for other purposes, such as blocking junk e-mail. We also work closely with other industry leaders on innovations in child protection technologies, but this progress could be threatened if the government were to mandate the use of a particular technology based solely on what's possible today.
Ultimately, there is no substitute for adults teaching children a few basic rules--for instance, to tell an adult if they encounter inappropriate online content, and to never disclose personal information to strangers online. Many helpful resources are available on the Internet. For example, Microsoft has worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to develop Stay Safe Online, an interactive instructional program featuring NBA star Shaquille O'Neal. It's available at http://www.staysafeonline.com.
Microsoft also cooperates with other industry leaders in an online resource center for parents and caregivers at http://www.getnetwise.org. There, they can find safety tips, links to Web sites for kids, a guide to Internet safety products and instructions for reporting problems to authorities.
Working together, we can protect children as they use technology to realize their full potential throughout their many summers to come.
Is something wrong with researching ways to make current interfaces faster and better? There are people other than computer newbies that could benefit from this stuff, you know.
Not to mention if someone gets greasy fingerprints on my monitor they'll lose the use of their fingers.
TROLLS HELPING TROLLS. GOD DAMN. WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO.
THIS BLOCK OF TEXT MAKES ME LESS LAME, CMDRTACO SAYS SO:
sdklfjlksjdf
sdjflsd
sdlfkjl sdfklj sdkfjl sdfklj sldkfjlalwel welrkj eklrjldfiuviocuo???
ldfjklsdfjkflsd! sdjklflk sdlfkjlk sdfklj kljsd flkjsdklfjklj klsdjfkl klj sdklfj.
the real question is which finger will YOU use?
Hey fuckbag,
I never said you were The Great and Mighty Trollaxor. I merely jumped onto your FROST PIST to say hello to Timmaugh!!!!!
The real question is.. what happened to Jon Katz? What's going on? I miss my Katz articles!
The common human can manage the 1 1/2 foot distance of a keyboard fairly well as evidenced by the number of God awful personal web pages on Geocities. Even though I use the most "gooey" Graphical User Interface, Apple's Mac OS X [apple.com], if I want to manage data, files, etc., I jump to the "Terminal" and do it through the Command Line Interface. Even with Mac OS X's speech control and IBM's Via Voice software, I can still type faster than I can talk -- in an intelligible manner.
I always find it funny in "near future" films how complicated the input interfaces are. They are dancing their hands in a virtual space acting like data had a form that you could grab and move. What a waste of effort. If you have to flail your arms around for 8 hours, you are going to be exhausted...but at least you will only have to buy one ticket to fly Southwest [washtimes.com]. The amount of effort required to manipulate the 100+ keys of a standard QWERTY keyboard is minimal. Though I have never had problems, I am sure the keyboard design can be improved to prevent repetitive injuries to certain users. We are all different shapes and sizes in various regions of our anatomy. Its hard to pick the "average human being" for a generic device.
The keyboard is a powerful input device. Even with the 130 year-old QWERTY keyboard [earthlink.net], human kind has been able to create wonders -- without it, we would have never made it to the moon. Compared to the original 1872 keyboard layout by C. L. Sholes, my clear plastic keyboard that came with my Dual G4 is not much different. I know it so well, I don't think I will ever use the Dvorak keyboard [utk.edu] but my future kids might.
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Ask the Ya-Hoot Oracle Anything!
1. Every now and then I say something positive about Microsoft.
2. Every now and then I say something negative about Apple
3. A significant percentage of /. readers are suffering from AIDS-related dementia, and wouldn't know a good post if it was shoved up their assholes.
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Ask the Ya-Hoot Oracle Anything!
Do I have the honour of obtaining last post?