The Stanchion Computer 2019

Beyond the Keyboard, Mouse, and Screen: New Paradigms in Interface Design

Since Douglas Engelbart’s famous demo in 1968 - the so-called “Mother of All Demos” – the keyboard, mouse, screen triad has been a fixed convention in interface design. To this day, most desktop computers on the market use a combination of these three elements as part of their basic interface. The prototypes featured in this paper explore new design typologies that challenge these conventions and sketch new directions for the development of related design research. Furthermore, they demonstrate the application of research through design as a viable methodology for the development of new HCI modalities. By developing design typologies that are inconspicuously integrated into public artifacts and the built environment, we demonstrate new paradigms for ubiquitous computing.

The Stanchion Computer is a low cost, public computing platform. It not only explores a radically new configuration for the screen and mouse, which is eliminated in favor of a mouseless keyboard and wall projection, it also employs a standing configuration, and is battery powered, so it can be situated in nearly any environment. The elimination of horizontal surfaces, such as table tops or desks allows for myriad applications that go well beyond conventional interfaces.

Like the velvet rope that is linked together with stanchions, a stanchion computer can also delimit space. Although public wayfinding was our initial user scenario, we envision many design applications and research directions that this kind of human-machine interface can be applied to.

Gonsher I. (2022) Beyond the Keyboard, Mouse, and Screen: New Paradigms in Interface Design. In: Arai K. (eds) Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2021, Volume 1. FTC 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 358. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89906-6_8