TOUCH: Creating interactional artefacts in a physical world

Smyth, Michael

Abstract

The maxim states that seeing is believing but that it is touch that determines reality. Instinctively we
reach out to touch those objects that attract or perplex. Touch conveys an intimacy both at a physical
and emotional level. In the pursuit of the digital world, the sense of engagement that touch offers has
largely been sacrificed. Instead the GUI has been created, the ubiquitous portal into the digital world,
with its levels of indirection acting as a constant challenge to HCI practitioners and users alike.
Interaction has lost its grounding in physicality

Citation

Smyth, M. (2000). TOUCH: Creating interactional artefacts in a physical world. Interfaces / the British HCI Group newsletter, 17

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2000
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 28, 2010
• Print ISSN: 1351-119X
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 17
• Keywords: Touch; intimacy; engagement; digital environment; interaction; physicality
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/3096