Dear Desktop Metaphor…it’s time for a change
Posted in Design, Technology and tagged with cloud, metaphors on 11/19/2008 07:23 pm by uxmelinaLately I’ve been think a lot about cloud computing…specifically how it’s going to change the way people interact with technology and even more specifically how this will change the way people use technology to collaborate. I’m really excited to be working in technology as we make this shift, because it’s going to be a big one. People won’t have a “desktop” as we see them today. They will have some virtual identity that will house all their “stuff”. This will drive a great shift in interaction methods (from a desktop, from a cellphone, from some dumb public terminal, etc). I’ve been looking at the desktop metiphor and considering if it will still be appropriate.
Will it resonate with novice users like it did in the past? Will we even have “novice” users or will the cloud be something like fridge where everyone knows how to use it, and can’t really pin point when they learned it? Even if we don’t have novice users, do we need a different model?
All those questions made me think. If we aren’t interacting with a desktop, what metipor would be more appropirate? I explained earlier in this post about the idea of humans interacting with a virual version of themselfs. I’m wondering if a person or human metaphor could be something to consider. Here are a few ideas.
Memory: Objects could be stored in a virtual brain or even a pocket (I think this is cute, and would be great for quick assess similar to the “Desktop”)
Software and Programs: These never fit into the desktop metaphor and they would change with the cloud. Their will be a lot more task based workflows as software services become more integrated (see ubiquity) so performing “actions” or “tasks” (instead of running programs) would keep consistent with the metaphor.
Trash: This is actually an element of the desktop metaphor that I can’t think of way to convert to a human metaphor (Unless you wanted to think of bodily waste every time to you hit delete…I think not!). However I don’t think that’s a problem with the human metaphor because why would you delete something in the cloud? I know this is a stretch, because it’s a learned behaviour, both in technology and in life, but look at what archive has done for gmail…no more trash! Out of site out of mind.
That’s all I have for now. I will post more on this later as I think about. Please comment on your thoughts/ideas!
Thanks
November 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I definitely agree! I have been thinking about this a lot lately too! I would like to basically not be aware of the medium I am working in..I don’t care if I am saving on my ‘desktop’ or the ‘internet’ - I just want to save! And I want my information to be there when I want to retrieve it, whether it be on the same computer, or at another remote computer - having constant access to the same up to date files would be awesome.
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