The Digital Civilizations Interviews

Communicating with all five senses –– and more!

Sight

Webcams, which endow computers with the capacity of sight, will become everyday peripheral devices, as will mobile phone camera lenses. Not content with sending our interlocutors video of our faces and our homes, these will also function as dialogic interfaces, analysing our expressions and/or our movements. They will be able to recognize our traits, follow our gaze or our nose, even detect our moods based on our facial or bodily expressions. They will also, of course, be used for video surveillance. Once connected to shape recognition programs, they will become capable of detecting suspicious movements and alerting whoever needs to know, even helping identify suspects. With varying degrees of efficiency and precision, these systems are used for identity checks at airports and in the London subway, as was proven after the attacks of July 7th, 2005.

Hearing

Vocal interfaces have seen significant progress over the last few years. We can also expect great progress in the domain of voice recognition. In conjunction with language technology, these interfaces give us hope, not only for quasi-natural dialogue with the many machines that are constantly learning, but also for the development of automatic translation tools that one could actually use: IBM’s goal is to be able to process 28 languages by 2010.

The other senses

But computer terminals don’t have to be limited to just hearing and sight. Odour diffusers (or their opposite, electronic noses,) have started to appear in laboratories Some of them (Siemens Mobile) even have a microchip that can alert its user when he or she has bad breath. Haptic interfaces, which make use of both touch and strength, should also see increased practical applications in simulation, tele-intervention, education or gambling. Any and every surface (almost) could become “sensitive” and transmit information to a software programme. [1] .

The nervous system

The European IPCA project, coordinated by the Institut Fraunhofer in Germany, has the aim of enabling people with motor disabilities to use a computer in a normal way, with the use of several different kinds of sensors. EMG (electromyographic) sensors, consisting of a series of electrodes placed on one of the muscles that the user can control, analyse the electric signals emitted by muscle contractions. People who can master more advanced movements have an inertia/gravity sensor attached to their wrist or head. And a sensor that can measure the skin’s conductivity detects changes in the user’s emotional state.

The brain

It has even become possible to control the computer… by thought alone, thanks to the electroencephalogram, which enables young handicapped people, for example, to use a mouse to surf the web or play video games. Future generations will no longer need the unobtrusive helmet, but will be looking at brain implants…

These kinds of technologies have several different uses. For handicapped people, the goal is to ease the burden of a deficiency of a sense or motor function. In everyday or professional life, it is to adapt forms of user dialogue to a specific situation, or to the context in which a service or device is used. And then there’s always simulation, teleimmersion, and games...