[IxDA Discuss] Scenarios for multitouch displays?

[Trip O'Dell]

> Assumption:  we will have low cost, multitouch, small-large flat panel
> displays to develop applications for by the end of the decade.
>
> Question: what are these mass market applications, scenarios,  
> problems?
I think this is the wrong question.  This is the same question that  
all the B-school types were asking about the internet in the middle/ 
late '90s and is what led to so many ill-concieved, over-caffeinated,  
internet startups. Its very difficult to tell what the mass market  
appeal of a technology will be before its had time to have the tires  
kicked.

Consider the ipod. In the eyes of many, a 5gb, $500 MP3 player with  
one button was the very height of design folly.
  Ipod was going to be the new Newton. What happened was a very  
different story. The device became the catalyst for a new, very  
disruptive class of technology that is changing the way people  
perceive their "personal media" and computing in general.

Ipod helped gave rise to an entirely new class of mass market, DIY  
media in the form of podcasts. Apple didn't invent, or even  
anticipate podcasts when Ipod was in the 1st generation. In fairness  
it really wasn't possible to anticipate podcasting as an emergent  
behavior. Podcasting required several things to really take off:

1) An approachable, easy to use, device with a large capacity drive -  
check, Ipod year: 2000

2) Cross platform support for the device with well designed media  
management software (itunes) 2001

3) A uniform, trusted  content distribution network - itunes music  
store 2002 (arguably not possible without users being pre-conditioned  
with Illegal peer to peer sharing)

4) A full range of devices and price points to bring a broad audience  
to the marketplace (mini 2002 , shuffle 2003 , nano 2005)

5) Early adopter DIY community developing low cost, peer to peer  
content (2002-ish)

6) Network support for free, user-submitted, syndicated media  
(podcasting) Itunes 4.8 - 2005

My point is, the value of the ipod has grown  organically and in  
large part because of a network effect (the value of a network  
compounds as it grows). User experience was critical to capture the  
influentials and early adopters in the beginning. But ease of use  
became less relevant as the early adopters and the ipod's price tag  
(with its attendant status)  made the device a cultural phenomenon.

I think multi-touch applications will grow in the same way. The first  
thing everyone mentions when they see this kind of demo is "Minority  
Report" because the movie is the only example of this kind  
interaction in the public consciousness. There are going to be a lot  
of Minority Report interface knock-offs before designers really  
understand what the new affordances of this kind of an interface will  
be.

I mostly design interactions for public and collaborative spaces  
where we almost never assume a single user. I can already see many  
different types of application for this kind of interaction.  
Augmented board games, home automation and media control, boutique  
retail, museums and public spaces, collaborative visualization, trade- 
shows, transactional interfaces - I think the possibilities are  only  
limited by our imagination. Surface is a positive step in the  
direction of making user interactions more social and collaborative.





Trip O'Dell
Interaction Designer
www.tripodell.com
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"Specialization is for insects..."
-Robert A. Heinlein