Vannevar Bush introduced imaginary machines with pictures in his article 65 years ago which represent his idea for helping men’s work. Interestingly these figures seem like base of modern machines. Now a days we have more advanced machines like computers than his imaginations. However it looks possible that the ideas from the long time ago brought machines and computers to this age. Norbert Wiener mentioned the relationship between men and machines in his article 55 years ago. He described how men can communicate with machines and how men and machines can help each other. According to his assertion, the machine appeared at the time not as a source of power, but as a source of control and a source of communication. Also in his view, men and machines communicate each other so he thinks energy and power are not the proper concepts of this new phenomenon. Already machines have taken a role of control part for men’s work.
In the Man-Computer Symbiosis, Licklider stated symbiosis between man and computer 12 years ago. He knew what the differences between men’s work and computer’s work and each side have strength for the process. He thought a symbiotic cooperation if successful in integrating the positive characteristics of men and computers, would be a great value. Of course there must be difficulties to overcome the gab between men and computer, this must be solved. He also indicated several prerequisites for realization of Man-Computer symbiosis such as memory requirement, memory organization, the language problem, input and output equipment.
As such imagination of human became real machines and computers, and some functionality is still processing to realize. This historical information about interaction between men and computers shows how and why human made efforts for inventing machines for the long time. We already invented high qualified computers with high technologies, but the demand for improving computers is still increasing. It seems like never ends. However it is meaningful to remember this historical view for the interaction between men and computer since we have more interaction with computers and we are still seeking appropriate way of human computer interaction.
2 responses so far ↓
moriko // 3 February 2010 at 8.47 am
I think it’s interesting that you choose to use the term “appropriate” in describing human-computer interaction because I agree with you that users are still reconciling offline behaviors with online etiquette.
Licklider extols the virtues of positive symbiotic participation with the machine (interactive meetings, cyber-romance, etc.), and there’s a ton of material deriding negative interactions (hacking, cyberterrorism, online predators, etc.), but that *muddy middle*, as I’ve personally experienced, is still being negotiated and teased out – stuff like saving photos to your computer that belong to someone else or gossiping on a blog, behaviors that have been examined, in large part, by Professor Daniel Solove.
Joanne Adeyemi // 3 February 2010 at 12.31 pm
The readings this week provide a glance into the past; it exposes the imagination of many brilliant minds that saw the possibilities of between man and machine. Man will always be intrigue with what can be achieved with “the machine”. I was particularly drawn to Licklider’s powerful essay that identify the obstacles that must be resolved in order for the relationship between man and machine to truly excel. Today man is dependent on “the machine” to perform a number of tasks in fact understanding how to use “the machine” effectively and efficiently is still an ongoing process. Man is continuously trying to better their best effort, apparently this is not new in the digital world, with these readings, it can be inferred that the word “new” will be used for a while to come.