Soon You'll Talk To Your Pc And It Will Do As You Say

The Age

Monday October 21, 1996

Sue Lowe

Computers will eventually respond to voice commands and hand gestures. Sue Lowe finds out how software is changing.

IT WAS hard enough to navigate computer systems back when the only place you had to get around was your own hard disk. Now, with CD-ROMs, computer networks and the Internet, that same basic set-up - a screen, a keyboard and a mouse - can act as a console for travelling the globe, deep into foreign filing systems and into virtual worlds which change every time you visit.

It's not just the massive increase in places to go and things to do via PCs that can cause navigational nightmares, but also the growing expectation that anyone should be able to sit down at a computer and get where they want to go. With increasing numbers of everyday services being moved to the Internet and public kiosk systems, it's becoming vital computer-based information systems are useable by all.

In the longer term, new technologies such as speech input, intelligent software assistants and virtual reality may help create more natural environments for even the most unskilled computer users, but experts predict they will never be a substitute for good software ergonomics - the process of designing systems from scratch around the needs of the intended users.

Fiona Ingram is a senior consultant with The Hiser Group, so far Australia's only software interface design company. In five years, the company has grown from two to 25, reflecting growing awareness of the field, but Ingram complains that interface design is still frequently given second priority (if any) to cool graphic design. That's especially true in the emerging area of Internet Web site design, she says.

With some products, she says, "the two (graphic design and interface design) are so closely linked that it's hard to separate them. Good graphic design is really important in CD-ROMs and Web sites which aim to entertain or encourage exploration.

She argues, however, that the issue of how the software works, how it behaves, is equally important and is often overlooked. "Graphic designers often rely on inspiration and sometimes that's not enough," she says.

Interface designers don't come cheaply, with daily consultation rates of around $1500, but the company has some very persuasive figures on what a poorly designed system that workers hate can cost an organisation.

One advantage of working on internal corporate systems is that the skill level of the users and the main goals of the system can be fairly well defined. But it can be a different ball game designing a system intended to be used by the public, or Web sites designed to stimulate intellectually or entertain.

"There's a big difference between entertainment and learning environments - they may be totally different experiences," says Ingram.

Nathan Shedroff, creative director with one of the top US Web design firms, Vivid Studios, agrees that user interface design is just as critical to an entertainment Web software system and has identified three crucial aspects of Internet design.

First is the information design which looks at the organisational, navigational and cognitive issues. Second is the level of interaction - the way the site adapts to a particular user's input and, finally, there's the sensoral design "that really creates the visual and audio experience for users".

The decision on which to emphasise "depends on the product", he claims.

Ingram says that with the Web, the attention span of users is a critical factor. "There's just so many other choices."

To keep users' attention and persuade them to come back, Ingram says there has to be a level of interaction. Shedroff also is sold on interaction, favoring "personalised" sites, which allow users to tailor the information available to suit their own interests. "There's just so much information out there, how do you make it more useable?" he asks?

While designers such as Ingram and Shedroff are massaging user interface tools to better the experience for users, others are working towards the next big jump - voice input, 3D environments that echo the real world and even thought-based navigation.

IBM's Nick Aronson, in charge of the just-released version 4 of OS/2 Warp, the first operating system with speech recognition built in, claims voice input will provide technological Luddites with unprecedented access to computer systems.

"Anything they could do with a keyboard and mouse, they can do with voice," he says.

While IBM claims to have a firm lead in voice technology, Microsoft's Research site on the Web (http://www.research. microsoft.com) suggests Microsoft also believes the days are numbered of users pushing a cursor around a flat simulated desktop.

Microsoft is working on "intelligent assistants that can interact and build a rapport with the user".

The project aims to incorporate speech recognition, natural language understanding and discourse management into the interface.

Ingram and Shedroff will be presenting a series of user interface training sessions in Melbourne on 7 and 8 November. Contact The Hiser Group on 9521- 3311. Shedroff will also be appearing at the AIMIA conference during the Melbourne Multimedia Festival, at the World Congress Centre next Monday at 1.30pm.