Here’smysimpletestforaproductoftoday’stechnology:Igotothebookstoreandchecktheshelvesforremedialbooks.Themorebooksthereare,themoremysuspicionsareraised.Ifcomputersandcomputerprogramsaregettingeasiertouse,whyaresomanycompaniesstillmakinganicelivingpublishingbooksonhowtousethem?Computersmanipulateinformation,butinformationisinvisible.There’snothingtoseeortouch.Theprogrammerdecideswhatyouseeonthescreen.Computersdon’thaveknobslikeoldradios.Theydon’thavebuttons,notrealbuttons.
Instead,moreandmoreprogramsdisplaypicturesofbuttons,movingevenfurtherintoabstractionandarbitrariness.Ilikecomputers,butIhopetheywilldisappear,thattheywillseemasstrangertoourdescendantsasthetechnologiesofourgrandparentsappeartous.Today’scomputersareindeedgettingeasiertous,butlookwheretheystarted:sodifficultthatalmostanyimprovementwaswelcome.Computershavethepowertoallowpeoplewithinacompany,acrossanationorevenaroundtheworldtoworktogether.
Butthispowerwillbewastediftomorrow’scomputersaren’tdesignedaroundtheneedsandcapabilitiesofthehumanbeingswhomustusethem—apeople-centeredphilosophy,inotherwords.Thismeansretoolingcomputerstocopewithhumanstrengths,observing,communicatingandinnovatinginsteadofaskingpeopletoconformtotheunnaturalbehaviorcomputersdemand.Thatjustleadstoerror.Manyoftoday’smachinestrytodotoomuch.Whenacomplicatedworkprocessorattemptstodoubleasadesktoppulsingprogramorakitchenappliancecomewithhalfadozenattachments,theproductisboundtobeawkwardandburdensome.
Myfavoriteexampleofatechnologicalproductonjusttherightscaleisanelectronicdictionary.Itcanbemadesmaller,lighterandfareasiertousethanaprintversion,notonlygivingmeaningsbutevenpronouncingthewords.Today’selectronicdictionaries,withtheirtinykeysandbarelylegibledisplays,areprimitivebuttheyareontherighttrack.