Back to Childhood Infantilisation of UI Design?

Matthias Müller-Prove, Dipl.-Inform.User Experience Principal, Oracle

HyperKult XX, Lüneburg, 8 July 2011

Proposition

Human development and the evolution of user interface paradigms happen(ed) in 3 corresponding stages.

The stages do not supersede each other – they start subsequently and coexist over time.

Jean Piaget / Jerome Bruner

Bruner’s Mentality Theory

enactive mentalitiy1

cc dulcelife http://ww

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kinesthetic/sensomotoric, enactive

cc Squiggle http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenr/2331677192/

preoperational: playing and building

Bruner’s Mentality Theory

iconic mentality2

operational/visual, iconiccc Minneapolis Institute of Arts

http://www.flickr.com/photos/minneapolisinstituteofarts/4926356727/

Bruner’s Mentality Theory

symbolic mentality3

formal, symboliccc

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enactive iconic symbolic

Bruner’s Mentalities

1 1/2 4-8 12 yrs.

Command Line Interfaces

CLI3

www.operating-system.orgvery cryptic, poor usability.Good for experts who do

scripting and programming

Graphical User Interfaces

Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointing Device & Desktop

GUI2

Ivan Sutherland’s Sketchpad (1963)

Timothy Johnson a few years later.

Ivan Sutherland’s PhD Thesis, 1963

Use of light penInteractive line drawingsConstraints resolution engineObject-based computer aided design (CAD)

On a TX-2 computer at MIT Lincoln Lab69,632 words with 36 bits (~306 KByte)

Sketchpad

Doug Engelbart’s NLS/Augment (1963-72)http://www.deepamehta.de/docs/talk.html

Mouse (1963) and Chording Keyset

Mouse (1963)Chording-KeysetWindows Interactive text editing and outlinerHypertextE-MailTime-SharingVideo Conferencing and CSCW2nd node of the ARPANet

NLS/Augment

Alan Kay - Dynabook (concept 1972)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alan_Kay_and_the_prototype_of_Dynabook,_pt._5_(3010032738).jpg

Doing with images makes symbols.Alan Kay

The CLI survived as a terminal window.

The Web also has its CLI!

Tangible and “Natural” User InterfacesUser InterSurface

Physical objects combined with digital informationMulti-Touch & Gestures, Lots of sensors, Mobility

TUI & “NUI”1

Reactablehttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactable

cc arteunporro http://www.flickr.com/photos/arteunporro/870265352/

SoundScape for iPad

Gravity and Touch at SoundDrop for iPad

Gravitarium2 for iPad

Gravitarium2 for iPad

Alan Kay (1972)

A Personal Dynamic Mediumfor Children of all Ages

A personal dynamic medium…http://flickr.com/photos/prupert/68375339/

…for children of all ages

enactive iconic symbolic

                          CLI       GUI TUI

cc by Steve Paine http://www.flickr.com/photos/umpcportal/4581962986/

Thanks!

Matthias Müller-Prove | mprove.de

Matthias Müller-Provefollow @mprove

Paper and references at mprove.de/script/11/hyperkult/