INTERFACES
DESCRIPTION
THE WORKSTATION IS THE USER'S GATEWAY TO THE OFFICE SYSTEM . USER ACCEPTANCE AND USER PERFORMANCE DEPEND ON THE DESIGN OF THE CORRESPONDING HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACE .
THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANNEL FOR INFORMATION INPUT TO THE HUMAN USER IS THE VISUAL CHANNEL . THIS CHANNEL , AS WELL AS THE BI-DIRECTIONAL VOCAL CHANNEL , HAVE EVOLVED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR MOTORIC ACTIVITIES WHICH SHOULD BE ADEQUATELY INTEGRATED IN OPERATING THE INTERFACE . IN CONSEQUENCE , VDU'S AND TOUCH KEYBOARDS AND SPEECH RECEPTORS WILL EMERGE TO FORM AN INTEGRATED INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICE SUITABLE TO MANIPULATE TEXT AND IMAGES BY DIRECT MANUAL AND VOCAL CONTROL . PREFERABLY THE SCREENS SHOULD HAVE THE DIMENSIONS AND PORTABILITY OF PAPER ( ELECTRONIC PAPER ) . ANOTHER APPROACH TO A MORE COMFORTABLE " VISUAL INPUT " WILL BE THE LARGE SCREEN DISPLAY . THE NEED FOR MULTI-FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES WILL REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEVICES WHICH ALLOW GRAPHIC INPUT AND EDITING , ON-LINE HANDWRITING AND IDEO-GRAMMATIC CONVERSATION .
AS LONG AS THERE IS NO PORTABLE PAPERLIKE DISPLAY , PRINTING WILL BE NECESSARY AND THE NEED WILL BE GROWING FOR FASTER , MORE VERSATILE ( TEXT , GRAPHIC , COLOUR ) PRINTERS AT LOW COST .
THE PROVISION OF HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACES WHICH SUPPORT THE COMPLETE RANGE OF FUNCTIONS TRADITIONALLY CARRIED OUT BY PEN OR PAPER IS NECESSARY .
A HIGH PROPORTION OF TELEPHONE OR FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION INDICATES THAT VISUAL AND SPOKEN INFORMATION WILL BE PREFERRED WHENEVER IT IS APPLICABLE . VISUAL COMMUNICATION WILL REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH DEFINITION COLOUR VIDEO SCANNING DEVICES WITH THE NECESSARY PROCESSING CAPABILITIES FOR EFFICIENT STORAGE AND TRANSMISSION AND THE USE OF THE MULTIFUNCTION FLAT PANEL DISPLAY .
THE VOCAL CHANNEL CANNOT HANDLE AS MUCH INFORMATION AS THE VISUAL CHANNEL BUT IS OUR MOST EFFICIENT CARRIER OF NATURAL LANGUAGE . VOICE COMMUNICATION WILL REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOPHISTICATED PROCESSING FOR IMPROVING THE ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENT , AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CODING SCHEMES . VOICE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MAN AND THE OFFICE SYSTEM WILL REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFICIENT SPEECH RECOGNITION AND OF A NATURAL SPEECH SYNTHESIZER .
AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF FACILITATING THE STANDARDIZATION OF THE INTERFACE WITH THE HUMAN WORLD AND THE PAPER WORLD IS EASY-TO-USE FORMALIZED LANGUAGES . THESE ARE TO BE DESIGNED IN A WAY WHICH ALLOWS THE USER , RATHER THAN THE COMPUTER PROFESSIONAL , TO SPECIFY HIS NEEDS DIRECTLY TO THE SYSTEM .
THE IMPLEMENTATIONS AND TESTING OF USER DECISION SUPPORT FUNCTIONS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE IMBEDDED IN THE WORKSTATION . AVAILABILITY OF THESE FUNCTIONS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A KEY-FACTOR IN THE COMPETITION AMONG OFFICE PRODUCTS .
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC SYSTEM INTERFACE COMPONENTS SHOULD LEAD TO A GENERAL ARCHITECTURE WHICH WILL ALLOW THE INTEGRATION OF THE SUBSYSTEMS IN AN ARCHITECTURALLY HOMOGENOUS SOLUTION . ALTHOUGH THE WORK ITEMS ARE PHRASED IN TERMS OF INTEGRATION INTO A PHYSICAL WORKSTATION , PROPOSALS SHOULD NOT NECESSARILY BE CONFINED TO THOSE WHICH ASSUME THAT ALL THE ASSOCIATED FUNCTIONALITY IS RESIDENT IN THE WORKSTATION . SOLUTIONS INVOLVING DISTRIBUTED FUNCTIONALITY ACCESSED OVER COMMUNICATION LINKS ARE