The authors of “Interaction beyond the keyboard” describes latest technologies and researches on input devices to the computers. Even though the keyboard and mouse are dominant when interacting with computers other form of input such as touch-based interaction is becoming primary way for users to interact with digital media. Ex: smart-phones and tablets. There are wide variety of touch-enabled surfaces available because of less manufacturing cost. Ex. Public display, table tops and walls. As well as in gaming industry they use this technology in Will Remote, PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect. Also the article explains, in mobile phones and other devices how they incorporate variety of sensors, such as accelerometers, light detectors and proximity detectors, these sensors used to interacting with data and series as well as can reliably detect people’s body movements and brain state.
Researchers, Jan van Erp, Fabien Lotte, and Michael Tangerman identify several nonmedical applications for Brain Computer Interfaces, which measure and process the brain’s activity and use these signals to control devices and detect context. MIT researchers, Hirohi Ishiii worked on introducing tangible user interfaces (graspable user interfaces) in 1992 early examples of tangible user interfaces done by Durrell Bishop at Royal college of Art in London. In 1995 George Fitzmaurice, Hiroshi Ishii, and William Buxton explored this further in their project; users could control virtual objects through physical brick placed on display surface. (ActiveDesk)
Along with those technologies voice recognition technology is improving and currently use in interactive software’s like information search, navigation and device control. According to current researches by Hans Gellersen and Florian Block on novel Interactions on the Keyboard, it is possible to enhance and extent the traditional keyboards form by combining it with an overlay to create physical keyboard with the touch screen. It is amazed to see how far we came on input devices and how the technology changing and getting better day by day.
Reference:
Interaction beyond the keyboard" by Schmidt, A. & Churchill, E. (2012) IEEE Press.
