Indeed quite a meaningfull approach, Or:
> ... Lets see how many of us can use their
> computers with the screen turned off..
Some years back I had a "total dark" lab (for experimenting with
colour film); two friends/colleagues used it too, from time to time.
There was the priviledge (compared to being blind) that we could turn
the light on for cleaning the place, putting things in order. The basic
rule though was: a dang strict physical arrangement for even the least
little thing/utility to have its defined and never-changing place.
When working there was basically TOUCHING and HEARING to go with (and
odour/smell, though this is of not much help with this analogy; but
it's another example of our underdeveloped alternative senses). The
physical arrangement was overall important - we installed even kind of
a bar where one could lean on, and which separated dry and wet spaces -
and it helped to have some "reference" point for the sound too (a
creaking little transistor radio somewhere). Quite an experience - all
the more so as temperature was kept rather near the "non-feeling" point,
adding to sensoric deprevation. Quite a good training to to coordinate
your movements and your brain (no way to note down anything...)
Much of what you need as feedback (for your own action) could indeed
come from something else than a screen, or visually. The "keyboard" -
or whatever is used for input - could as well react directly to input
definitions: blocking all other keys when [Y]es|[N]o, or [numbers] is
asked for. The newer GSMs (mobile phones) can vibrate instead of
noising - another way of transporting signals to a "human interface".
The chair one is sitting on could lean left/right forward/backward to
suggest orientation to take in a "space" (on a screen surface), or to
give respective feedback on inputs. BTW how do you label/search
diskettes - are there Braille labels ?
Sure speech seems most appropriate for output - but not necessarily
for input: keyboards could be much more than the classical letter keys
to compose words; and there could be several "keyboards", or keyboard
fields (and additional touchpads for instance). Or there were those
weird instruments - some fashion in the 'twenties - where people waved
their hands in an electro-magnetical field to produce (analoguous)
sound output; it needed quite some expertise to produce supportable
results then. But the "thread" could be taken up with better technical
means by now (for another type of interface ?)
// Heimo Claasen // <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> // Brussels 1999-07-19
HomePage of ReRead - and much to read ==> http://www.inti.be/hammer
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