Module 2 Assignment: Using natural designs

Posted on August 4, 2020

Question

As you learned in this module, natural interaction can enhance the way users engage with technologies. Reflect on your personal or professional environment, and identify two technologies that could be improved by natural interaction.

Write two paragraphs for each of your two chosen technologies. Your total submission should be no longer than 400 words.

Response

As a first example, I would like to present the case of online forms, whichever they are. Not every one is able to go through them easily, and sometimes the language is overly complicated, and at other times the information necessary to fill them—e.g. a specific line in a revenue declaration, or the current state of a driver’s dossier—may be another ordeal to obtain on its own.

With a natural interface such as an artificial intelligence with a speech interface, we could be able to have a discussion with the interface, just like when we call a customer service call center on the phone to obtain assistance. This type of AI could fill those forms as the discussion happens, and even go fetch the necessary/missing information if possible. This does raise security and privacy concerns, but dreaming of the idea is the first step towards building it.

As another example, I would like to bring up the case of musicians composing during improvisation sessions. As a guitarist myself, there is something interesting about improvising with someone else, or multiple other people. Patterns evolve, agreements and disagreements emerge, and creation happens. Through discussion as well as trials and errors, a piece of music is created.

A natural interface that would be built on an artificial intelligence, with music synthesis and speech capabilities would allow for a two-way creation with the computer. At this time, most of what is seen in that field is a technologist feeding a data set to the AI, which generates a piece or adapts something in real-time on its own. Not much is made to work with feedback provided via a natural interface. As musicians play together, they oftentimes stop altogether to discuss a part they just played, or something they aim for, sometimes with mimes and hums. In the case of a natural interface, that discussion could also occur, thus improving the flow of creating music with an AI.

Learning Outcomes

– L05: Recommend natural interactions that could improve traditional user interfaces.