In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the computing world already knew that graphical interfaces were the future. The only unanswered questions were “how” and “when,” and amid all that chaos, some very interesting initiatives emerged. The Classic HCI Demos portal acts as a kind of index for many of those ideas that came to light between 1983 and 2002, a “golden era” of human-computer interaction and demonstrations of new technology.
We all want faster, more capable computers. We also want high-resolution graphics, extra bandwidth, batteries that last for days and charge in minutes. But none of that matters if the technology is hard to use. The first points of contact between user and system are essential. How we access those resources, how we learn, study, and work.
That challenge will never go away, but we can speak of a “golden era” between 1983 and 2002, when we undoubtedly dreamed of and explored many things we now take for granted. Touch screens, tablets for reading the news, voice and gesture recognition. Demos and concepts once presented to the public. Jack Rusher has taken the trouble to organize all that material on a site called Classic HCI Demos, and it definitely deserves your attention.
Classic HCI Demos: The Technology of the Future, Through the Past
Without applying any filters, the site offers more than one hundred entries for you to get lost among them. Most of the videos are relatively short: for example, “User Interfaces for Portable Devices” by Gaetano Borriello talks about cameras, GPS, multiplayer games, and personal health. “Multi-modal Natural Dialogue” explores eye tracking, gesture detection, and voice recognition. And “The Office of the Professional” is a lo-fi demonstration of many current technologies. These three videos take less than half an hour combined, but they are packed with interesting details.
Telepresence, window managers, web browsers, virtual reality, augmented reality, simulations, interface construction, design tools, collaborative environments, data science... this is just a sample of the topics you can find on Classic HCI Demos. Personally, I’d say don’t go looking for something specific. Pick a video and let the site surprise you.
Official site: Click here
