Much like the original keyboards, keystrokes would be used as input. However, the keys will not be a physical representation. Instead, it will be replaced by a virtual projection of a keyboard that is visually the same as the regular keyboard. The holographic keyboard will be projected and viewed with a microscopic projecting device and the keyboard will sustain in mid-air as users interact. As with most modern day technologies, the aim of this virtual keyboard would be a space biased media. It aims for “lighter weight, portability and they facilitate the expansion of empire over space” (Soules M., 1996).

Two major milestones that may come into play would be integrating touch capabilities into thin air for a natural feel that we are used to with original keyboards. Perhaps by wearing specialized gloves with intricate circuits and multi-sensors, a trigger may correspond to the movement of each fingertip to create the sensation and replication of physical typing. A reason for believing this innovation as a possible appearance would be because we’ve seen many multi-touch technologies that are produced already with multi-touch sensors. Another milestone would be creating a smaller compact device that projects a laptop or a cellular phone screen. With both mediums converted digitally, the wireless keyboard would be connected with the CPU and would access the hard drive with Wi-Fi from a remote server. The purpose of doing this would be to access the internet and your home personal data from anywhere, carrying minimal weight. Thereafter, the same principles would finally apply to the virtual keyboards as it did for the cellular and laptop screen, making the keyboard a projection and being able to connect to the screens and hard drives with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

In a convivial sense, veteran users of physical keyboards would be more willing to accept the new model of this virtual keyboard because they are familiar with it and can utilize it to their advantage. However, the virtual keyboard and the multi-sensor glove threaten society because of its push towards technological determinism and “its social and psychological effects on its users” (Paulin D., 2009). Because of its compatibility and space-biased quality, users may become manipulated by their genuine features and both innovations will definitely become more pervasive in society. “While all this razzle-dazzle connects us electronically, it disconnects us from each other, having us “interfacing” more with computers and TV screens than looking in the face of our fellow human beings.”(Wellman B. & Hogan B., March. 4, 2004)

When relating to previous phenomena such as the typewriter and printing press, it seems that contemporary technologies only seek to comfort our needs of convenience. With the typewriter, being a personalized machine, it was the first of its kind and drastically impacted individual’s lives. It was made for the sole purpose of faster and effective written work. On the contrary, keyboards were only built to support and enhance the convenience from the main thesis that the typewriter already established. Every keyboard technologies are just typewriters in disguise that have been electrolyzed with add-ons attached.

One of the reasons that the Holoboard technology seems believable is that the QWERTY layout would still exist within 50 years because it was democratically influential nearly a century ago with typewriters and still reigns over all keyboard designs today. Rather than being surpassed by technologies of tablets being the main medium of communication, the keyboard interface has proven to be quicker and more efficient than hand written tools. Since there have been many inventions or variation of the keyboard nowadays, there are two inventions in particular that may revolutionize the world of digital technology. One of the developments of technology would be the Microsoft Surface a programmed table that utilizes multi-touch as a way of being able to coordinate multiple points upon a surface designed with a built-in circuit. (BBC, 2007) This leads us with a scope for possible multi-sensor gloves in the future. Another modern creation that should be reviewed would be virtual keyboard. (i-Tech VKB, n.d.) This invention truly proves that engineers have already experimented with a light based with physically absent keyboard that can be used on any surface. It is only a matter of time before they enhance it with natural touch capabilities and eliminate the need of a surface.

There have been many innovations that cover every range of the human extension capability and not just keyboards. Society is coming to an age where all media will eventually become digital. “We are facing a future world infested with digital programmability” (Sterling, B., 2004)

References

BBC. (May. 30, 2007) Microsoft unveils table computer. Microsoft Surface. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6703249.stm

i-Tech VKB (n.d.) Virtual Keyboard – Worldwide support. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://www.vkb-support.com/learn_more.php

Paulin, D. (2009). SFU. Tech 114 Website. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://tech114.iat.sfu.ca/d104/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/week2_tech114_lecture.pdf

Soules, M. (1996) Harold Adams Innis: The Bias of Communications. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://records.viu.ca/~media113/innis.htm

Sterling, B. (August, 2004) When Blobjects Rule the Earth. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://boingboing.net/images/blobjects.htm

Wellman, B. & Hogan, B. (March. 4, 2004) The Immanent Internet. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/immanent/immanent.pdf

The Gutenberg Press was invented and completed by 1440 and would be the first derivation and would be counted as a pre-industrial invention because of its appearance before the Industrial Revolution in late 18th century to early 19th century (n.d., Bells). The notion of the printing press had inspired other creation of personal laptops, but because they were expensive and unnecessary during the 15th century, the product was never introduced until the early 19th century (n.d., Virtual Typewriter Museum).

Prior to the Industrial Revolution was the Renaissance which consisted of optical inventions, clocks, barometer and thermometers. As for the Industrial Revolution, it greatly influenced European society as machinery was first mass produced and steam and electricity were used and manipulated. Because of this it revolutionized many factors such as agriculture, communication, steam engines, textiles, and other practical technologies. Agriculture had been improved from the labour and less-time consuming as machines were able to produce more within less amount of time. The telephone was also invented which connected communities together and changed the way people interacted with each other entirely. Rural areas were brought up into cities, railways were constructed and the automobile was introduced. (n.d., Rempel)

When the Industrial Revolution happened, the typewriter arisen, featuring the QWERTY layout design that will eventually transfer over to the keyboard (n.d., QWERTY). On a social scale, the typewriter effected women in a way that was so gregarious that it shifted the paradigm of women not being at work and staying home (2009, Davies). This was because of its convenience and natural placement in the work office.
Although the typewriter was the most influential creation, there were many other inventions during the near end of the Industrial Revolution that bridged a gap between the typewriter and keyboard like the electric typewriter and the punched card system. (n.d., Carey).

The teletype machine, created around 1930 was also an important contribution to the timeline. The teletype combined physical aspects from the typewriter and the telegraph in order to communicate using a typewriter style interface. The punched card system was used for the telegraph and made key punches to input data (n.d., Bells). The teletype machine was made and combined along with the Eniac computer in 1948 and used punch card readers.

The electric typewriter made in 1920 and was one of the first keyboard medium that collaborated with the computer. Electric typewriters were used instead in 1949 along with Binac computers. (2009, Broadband Guide)

One of the notable trends that got carried from the typewriter and electric typewriters to the keyboard would have to be the layout and mapping of the keys. The traditional QWERTY layout had been accepted by society had been remodelled and redesigned, moving around keys in order to produce an more effective way of typing. But even through calculations of how often each keystroke were used by a person and remapping them, society rejected the newly refined set-up. This is essentially because people have gotten so used to typing in a traditional way that it would be impractical to re-teach every individual a new system of typing (n.d., XPeRT).

Later, MIT, Bell Laboratories and General Electric created Multics which presented Video Display Terminals in order to synthesize the keyboard and the computer screen (n.d., Carey).

Many futuristic keyboard concepts would seek to replace the computer keyboard in the near future. Even in our day and age we can see such rapid developments of new keyboard replacement ideas. One example could be the projector keyboard, an equipment that uses projector lights to replace physical key pads (2006, Luxist). With a society of technology changing so rapidly, there is an unknown phenomenon that is bound to revolutionize and since keyboards are already cleverly integrated into our lives almost unconsciously, we can expect to have many changes on how we interact and use these them in the future.

References
Wikipedia (2009). Typewriter. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter

Bells, M. (n.d.). History of the Computer. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://inventors.about.com/od/computerperipherals/a/computer_keyboa.htm

The Virtual Typewriter Museum (n.d.). History: Why Typewriters? Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://www.typewritermuseum.org/history/why.html

Rempel, P.G. (n.d.) Industrial Revolution. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/industrialrev.html

Qwerty (n.d.). Why QWERTY was invented. Consider QWERTY. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/whyqwert.html

Davies, M.W. (2009). Women’s Place is at the Typewriter. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/273_reg_print.html

Carey, D. (n.d.). Life123. The History of the Keyboard. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://www.life123.com/technology/computer-hardware/keyboard/the-history-of-the-keyboard.shtml

XPeRT (2003). Computer History and Keyboard History. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://www.xpertkeyboard.com/history.htm

Westorn, N. (2006, July 31) Luxist. Projector Keyboard. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://www.luxist.com/2006/07/31/projector-keyboard/

Broadband (n.d.) Computer Keyboard History. Retrieved March 19, 2009, Web site: http://www.broadband-guide.net/computer-keyboard-history.html

Wall
Info

References
Wikipedia, (2009). Retrieved March 12, 2009, from Alessandro Volta Web site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Volta

Google, (n.d.). Google Image Search. Retrieved March 12, 2009, Web site:

http://images.google.ca/imghp?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hl=en&tab=wi

The Greate Idea Finder, (2005, September 21). Inventor Alessandro Volta Biography. Retrieved March 12, 2009, Web site: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/volta.htm#DID%20YOU%20KNOW:

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, (n.d.). Volta. Retrieved March 12, 2009, Web site: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/volta.htm

Other References

http://www.facebook.com/

There are many aspects to a keyboard. The design and the way it is laid out can be one consideration to look at when examining it. There are many different models of keyboards, but most keyboards use a layout scheme called “QWERTY” which was adopted from the typewriter. (Wikipedia, 2009) Another thing to take into account would be the process of human interaction with the keyboard and the way we connect with it.

In the article that I have chosen, it lectures on how teenagers that have become experts as keyboard typists start to lose the ability to handwrite. Researchers have made studies to show that when people handwrite, they are able to articulate their thoughts properly and produce a better argument in their writings. Including the speed at which the students can type at, these are the reasons why many word processed essays are graded with a higher discipline than handwritten ones. (Noonan, G., 2008 )

Despite its practicality, the keyboard has had some negative effects on society. Although the keyboard has been a gift in accomplishing more, it also takes away the natural abilities of handwriting to a certain degree. As the article mentioned, more people are getting worse at handwriting because of the influence of the keyboard. However, this was not the only thing I noticed. Typing also takes away an individual’s signature and identity. Normally if a person wrote a note by hand, others would be able to identify the writer. People should not rely on the keyboard if the message they are trying to deliver is a more thought out and personal one. As Marshall McLuhan once stated, “The Typewriter is a means of transcribing thought, not expressing it…” This is also applicable to keyboards. (Gildig, H., n.d.) Other minor issues that may occur can involve hand and wrist injuries from excessive typing.

On the other hand, there are also some positive effects because of the radical changes that the keyboard has made for our lives. The keyboard has aided us by decreasing the amount of time it requires to write anything with legible text and has proven its productivity. Perhaps one of the best features of the keyboard and word processing would be that it can delete characters a lot faster than a pencil can and creates less mess.

It is not very likely that the keyboard would be replaced by another technology soon because of it’s useful quality. However another variation that takes a similar design from the keyboard may appear in the market in the future. The QWERTY arrangement with respect to the keyboard however, may be replaced in the near future as designers have already contemplated on a new layout for the keys. (Zhai, S., Hunter, M. & Smith, B.A., n.d.) Due to the fact that the QWERTY layout has become almost a part of society and affects the way we type, designers have attempted to break the traditional setup by changing the schematics of the overall interface.

Reference:

Keyboard (Computer) (2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 10, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_keyboard

Noonan, G. (2008, July, 28). Keyboard Kids Losing Art of Handwriting. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/keyboard-kids-losing-art-of-handwriting/2008/07/27/1217097059699.html

Gildig, H. (n.d.). Impact of Computing Technology on Education and Entertainment.
Retrieved February 11, 2009, from

http://pangea.tec.selu.edu/~hgildig/660695/mcluhan.pdf

Zhai, S, Hunter, M, Smith, B.A (n.d.). The Metropolis Keyboard –An Exploration of Quantitative Techniques for Virtual Keyboard Design. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from http://www.almaden.ibm.com/u/zhai/papers/Softkeyboard/UISTCamera.pdf

Quiz #1

Quiz #2

Some of my interests include video games, music, art, movies, anime and mangas.

A piece of technology that I admire would have to be the computer for its multi-functionality.