ICT Revolution Two: Heading Your Way at Lightspeed

Sydney - 26 August 2003 - ANOTHER IT revolution is on the way - but this time, say scientists at Australia’s CRCs, it’s going to be a lot easier, safer and smoother to operate, as these three stories show:

THE MOUSE, THE KEYBOARD, even the dreaded PIN are heading towards the technological scrapheap as a revolution in user-friendly internet technologies takes hold.

Conversing with the internet, touching the internet, even grimacing or gesturing at the internet are all on the cards as replacements for clunky keystrokes, point-and-click, and cumbersome password ID systems.

At the forefront is Australia’s CRC for Smart Internet Technology with a major research effort into what’s known as the “natural adaptive user interface” – or, simply, making computers more “human” to deal with.

Listening to your email while you’re driving to work, surfing the web by audio and being able to move smoothly from home to car to office without a break in transmission are among some of the technologies now being developed, says SITCRC CEO Professor Darrell Williamson

“There are plenty of systems nowadays that do word recognition, but they are still awkward to deal with. You can’t have a conversation with them.

“So we’re adding in a bit of artificial intelligence that allows a conversation to take place. This allows the system to learn and adapt to your needs while you’re conversing.”

Other ways of contacting the internet include touching the screen or even, with the increasing use of tiny video cameras, using facial expressions and gestures combined with speech to communicate – as we do with people, Professor Williamson says. “Of course, keyboards and mice would remain for appropriate uses,” he adds.

The advent of biometrics – recognition of your physical characteristics – is likely to end forever the tyranny of the lost or forgotten password, or the mass of different passwords and PINs we all have to remember. Far easier for your home or car to recognise you, he says.

To test some of the new technology combinations the CRC is working on a single portable device to assist blind users do all they require, in one voice-activated platform.

“I expect we’ll see a lot of these new voice-activated devices appearing in cars first, before homes or offices.

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