new video on nyu’s gui

Think of the implications for science on a sphere. I don’t know if a curved touch sensitive screen has been developed but if it has then it could be wrapped around the sphere. What would it be like if people could manipulate images of the globe ON the globe? That would add enormously to greater understanding of global effects. Also of local/global connections. For example, I build a coal mine here. What are the effects for climate change across the globe? The effects might be small but you could change the data on the fly to examine only the incremental changes. That’s only climate change. You could also visualize international money flows or migation patterns. (I’ve got to get me some engineering students to work out the hardware details).

One problem, I see, is in the zooming in/out. Given the physical sphere cannot be expanded, is it the best platform for scaled views? Perhaps we need a combination 3D/ 2D platform. 3D for the global and 2D for the local.

2 Responses to “new video on nyu’s gui”

  1. “The interface just disappears!” I hate to be the cynic here, but I grow weary with statements such as this, usually followed with something to the effect that “this allows more accessbility”. The interface doesn’t jsut disappear; instead, it is loaded into the fingertips and hand guestures. The user doesn’t have a mouse, but largely interacts with the screen in a similar (and MORE unpredictable) way. I’ll be interested to see what comes out the HCI literature in regards to evaluating the empirics of actual users and actual applications. I think the presenter here shouldn’t “cringe” at the $100 laptop concept; instead, he should see it as an opportunity to evaluate his premises for creating a new interactive experience.