Interface Culture: Week 7 Discussion Questions

Chapter 1 – Bitmapping

1. In 1968 Douglas Englebart introduced “direct manipulation” of data. How was this different than how data was interacted with before?

The mouse was easier to use because you can interact directly with the computer files by pointing and selecting an object and then execute an action on that object.With the mouse you could directly interact with the computer and move anywhere on the screen. It made guiding through the computer easier. Before the mouse interaction with the computer was impossible. The computer before was just used with a keyboard so it was basically used to type documents.

2. By creating an “information space,” how did Englebart’s advancement change the way people thought about machines/computers? In what ways did it lead the way not only to interfaces as we think of them today but virtual spaces and augmented reality?

Douglas Engelbart changed the way computers worked, from specialized machinery that only a trained scientist could use, to a user-friendly tool that almost anyone can use. He also created the bitmapped screen which allowed the user to actually see pictures, files and folders on the computer.

Chapter 2 – The Desktop

3.As discussed in Chapter 2, describe some of the advancements that took place at Xerox PARC, the people involved and what they contributed.

3. The scientists of Xerox’s PARC made various improvements to the prototype desktop interface that Englebart had introduced several years earlier. Alan Kay, for example, introduced the concept of desktop windows stacking on top of one another, which allowed them to utilize the full width and height of the screen without competing for space with other open applications. This stacking of windows, compared to the stacking of boxes on a table, which gave rise to the modern metaphor of the desktop. This one “stacked boxes” metaphor soon gave way to others, such as working with “files” and discarding things in the “trash can”, that made the use of a computer more approachable to those used to working with actual boxes and trash bins. And while Xerox’s own operating system and computer never took hold, their desktop metaphors remain an integral part of using a personal computer today.

4. Memex is an information processor that enables a user to “thread through” massive repositories of data. Vannevar’s Bush Memex is a hypertext engine. The way we communicate on the internet through hyperterxt language.