Magrittes Painting The Human Condition - Essay Example

Question 2 Magritte’s painting “The Human Condition” revealed an interesting concept that every life experience cannot be considered as an uninfluenced one since we are constantly in the process of registering our environment and surroundings with the aid of multiple frames. The comprehension of such a new concept and extension to the field of HCI was facilitated by the usage of multiple modes of teaching. The mode that benefitted me the most in terms of comprehending the concepts and grasping multiple viewpoints were the inclusion of the guests in the classroom and the presentation sessions of the fellow students. The variety of guests, with respect to their level of experience with technology, provided exposure to multiple genres of viewpoints and angles with which human computer interaction can be analyzed. The low tech guests provided the information regarding the expectations of users with technology and the common issues that are faced due to overestimation of the skills of the end users. The high tech guests provided valuable feedback regarding the technological methods with which human computer interaction can be enhanced and how user interaction with machines is influenced by different factors and circumstances. The liberty to inquire questions proved to be an effective method of letting the students clear out their confusions and concerns about the topic. The interactive session with the guests gave the students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and set a broader perspective in their minds regarding the relation of human computer interaction with the environment of the users. Another mode of teaching that proved to help me understand the concepts were the presentation sessions of the students. I believe that an individual can understand any concept from his fellow students as effectively as any of his teacher since the young mind explains the content in the easiest manner. All students have more or less the same level of knowledge for a topic; therefore, they highlight the factors that prove to be easier for the other students to comprehend. It was a pleasure to attend the presentation sessions of my fellow students and learn about the different methods with which they approached the topic. My ‘Aha moment’ in this course was the freedom to choose any topic (within the context of technology) to write the responses and develop presentations. Research and exploration are the most effective modes to make the students understand the content and to enable them to think in a broader perspective. The liberty of choosing any topic made me think about technology like never before. I was forced to notice different forms of technologies that have intervened so deeply in our lives that they seem to go unnoticed most of the time. During the research to locate the topic of interest, I got the opportunity to acquire knowledge regarding the technology of ATMs and assistive technologies used by people with disabilities to navigate their way on the web with ease. The knowledge about the mechanism of ATMs revealed the fact that they have different bins containing specific currencies as per the policies of the respective banks, for example, one of the bins will be programmed to contain only 100$ notes. Another interesting discovery was that the ATM machine contains two rolls of paper. One of them is mechanized to print the receipts of the customers and the other maintains the log of the transactions that are performed on the respective machine. The other direction of my research revealed the numerous developments that are taking place in the world of the modern web to facilitate the process of browsing for the people with disabilities. Screen readers are used to read the content that is available on the website to guide a user with weak sightedness or blindness to browse the web independently. According to the modern guidelines for making the web accessible for every type of user, web developers are advised to put alternate text for every image to facilitate legibility by the screen readers. Gadgets and technologies have intervened deeply in the lives of the modern man. The intervention usually goes unnoticed due to which technology has transformed its shape from being a luxury to a necessity. The children of the current times have also been influenced by the emergence of such invasion and use technology better than their predecessors. The response that retained my attention the most was “Human Computer Interaction: Technology and Children”. This response was interesting since it highlighted the changing trend of activities of the children and how the changes are likely to influence the development of their mental and analytical skills. The response made me realize the fact that the pretend make believe games that included the involvement of other playmates has been replaced with usual isolated experience of game playing. It included the fact that the gadgets have the support for collaborative play. This aspect increases their ability to work as a team and learn different technological techniques from each other. However, one aspect should not be forgotten that children are also often sighted to be isolated in their own space while playing games or other activities on their gadgets since many games offer attractive single player modes. The writing response also highlighted the level of interactivity, flexibility and promptness that was not present in the earlier genre of games and activities. The current genre of technological activities sprouts numerous scenarios and situations from every step of the way thereby challenging the children to tackle different types of situations almost every time. The response stated that this tends to enhance their problem solving skills and analytical skills. Another appealing aspect about the content in the response was that the facts have been presented in a formalized manner, thereby giving due credit to the sources of the information. This also gives the reader the opportunity to research the topic further on the basis of the quoted research papers. Question 3 The evolution of computers is heading towards virtual reality and computers that enable the user to give instructions through their gestures and biometrics. The future advances in the field of HCI may bring about the augmentation of virtual reality in the field of academics in which the students will need to work with 3D augmented models to devise solutions during their examinations. The inclusion of RFID tags also bring about the possibility of the replacement of a single computing unit with multiple platforms that may be controlled with the source of user’s choice, for example eyes, voice etc. An effective way to keep the content of one student hidden from the other in an examination hall can be that the user will have the option of making it visible only to his unique biometrics; this setting can be changed upon submitting it to the teacher to enable her viewing. Multi-fingered movements are expected in the near future in the field of HCI where both the hands could be used to enhance the pace of work rather than relying on a single click of the mouse. Figure 1: Multiple computer interfaces for a single user (Harper et al.) References Harper, Richard. Rodden, Tom. Rogers, Yvonne. and Sellen, Abigail., Being Human, Microsoft Research Ltd., ISBN: 978-0-9554761-1-2, Read More