In November 1999, MIT’s Technology Review published an article about the ten most important interfaces between man and technology.
- Loudspeaker
- Touch-Tone Telephone
- Steering Wheel
- Magnetic-Stripe Card
- Traffic Light
- Remote Control
- Cathode Ray Tube
- Liquid Crystal Display
- Mouse/Graphical User Interface
- Barcode Scanner
This is an interesting collection of some of the most important human-machine interfaces. The interfaces range from input devices, i.e., the steering wheel and the mouse, to output devices, i.e., CRTs and LCDs. There are a number of technologies that are so ubquitious that I was not thinking of them as human-machine interfaces. The Touch-Tone Telephone is an interesting example. The article talks about AT&T’s research into keypad layout and design. It reminded me that telephone numbers are a result of the system, not a human construct. Things change.