Medium as Interface

• In Event: Exploring the User Interface

Abstract

User interface compoents are, in general, the most visible elements of human communications media. This paper documents twelve common user interface components, including microphones, speakers (personal and remote), cameras, volume controls, electronic interface managers, interruptive summons signals, on/off switches, channel selectors, keypads, displays, and variants of stylus. The purpose of these descriptions is, at least for the present purpose limited to establishing that these components do occur commonly across a broad range of media, to establish the approsimate frequency of their occurance, and to document the purposes these user interface components serve, including message capture, message reproduction, and control of the medium. While these are are hardly the only user interface components used in today's communications systems, they are, with the possible exception of paper, the most commonly used user interface compoenents.

Author

• Davis A. Foulger, State University of New York, Oswego