/Voorpagina /Mensen /Nieuws /Cultuur /English page /Onderzoek /Reportage /Bestuur /Ruis /Ranzigt /Colofon

/Faculteits Berichten /Vacatures /Mensa /Oude cursors /pdf formaat /TUE /Zoeken:

jaargang 42, 31 augustus 2000 English page

IPO Needs Top Minds How can we humanise computers? In effect, this is the key issue facing TU/eís IPO Center for User System Interaction. Internationally, IPO is one of three leading research institutes in the field of user-system interaction ñ others are the Boston Media Lab and the Xerox Park in Palo Alto. ìNot everyone can work at IPO. We only hire the best. Iíve never seen so may smart people in one place,î says IPO director, Prof. Matthias Rauterberg. Rauterberg, a German psychologist and computer scientist, has been leading IPOís efforts since May of last year. ìComputers should be made to fit userís needs, and not the other way around. Many computer scientists are focused on the wonderful possibilities of computer technology, rather than on practical applications for ordinary people. The existing systems are often hard to use by anyone but the highly educated males who designed them in the first place.î ìHere at IPO we are looking at very fundamental questions. Sometimes itís hard to improve on existing analogue methods, we must make sure computerisation isnít making things more difficult for users. Better systems shouldnít be more difficult to use even if the technology is more complex. On the contrary: they should be easier to use. We need creative solutions to improve user-systems interaction.î Prof. Matthias Rauterberg. Foto: Bram saeys Essentially, IPO is out to design a human-computer interface. The top researchers in the field are looking at more natural ways to communicate with computers. ìFor example, perhaps the mouse could be replaced by an object that feels more natural, perhaps something you could pick up and put down in both your real and your virtual environment,î says Rauterberg. He sees a future where people will not really think much about computers, but buy a fully automated home or office, or a combination of both. A home will be space that reacts to your wishes, a bit like the computer on the star ship Enterprise in the popular Star Trek series. Physical artefacts worn in clothes and on or actually implanted in the body may be part of the way this could work. ìAt the moment, the watch is really the only accepted example of this. Even a pair of glasses is really only a kind of prosthesis. Iím thinking of something along the lines of a universal suit with all sorts of built in functions,î says Rauterberg. A preliminary version of this kind of suit is already on the market. Accepted technologies, such as television or telephone, give immediate access to the events in the world. But these are only the beginning of our intelligent future environment, says Rauterberg. Of course there are human limits to how fast, efficient and intelligent our environment can be; yet another avenue of research. According to Rauterberg, ëdisobedientí software that keeps tripping you up and the urge to beat up on computers will necessarily become things of the past. Recent market research shows that many users are often tempted to hit their computers, and frequently do. This kind of problem should be solved within a decade, but this is not fast enough for Rauterberg. As complicated operating systems are often the root of these problems, Rauterberg advocates scrapping operating systems as we know them. The solution lies in developing totally different ways of communicating with computers. For example, computers may be taught to interpret certain kinds of body language. The first step on this road is of course a good spoken language interface. Philosophical Talking to this cognitive psychologist, the problem of making computers really user-friendly becomes almost philosophical. According to Rauterberg, part of IPOís mission is to try to get the attention of top minds in science. ìThis is difficult. For instance, top physicists or biologists may have to start at the bottom in computer science. But we need their input, as computers are also revolutionising their fields.î One of IPOís strong points is its experience in working with people who do not have a technical background. IPO concentrates on four research themes. These are: spoken language interface, user-centred design, information access and presentation, and multimodal interaction. A team of about twenty staff works on each area. IPO is one of TU/eís most internationalised departments, with graduate students, post-docs and professors from all over the world. Many staff also teach technological design to engineers learning to design for the commercial market at the Stan Ackermans Institute./.

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Pool Uncertain The experiment with the use of hydrogen peroxide to disinfect the water in TU/eís new swimming pool may have to be called off. The pool is now still under construction. The Dutch Health Board (Gezondheidsraad) recently published a report on hydrogen peroxide urging care in its use, as it may possibly be carcinogenic. Whether the substance is actually carcinogenic is unclear. The new poolís construction supervisor, the ëSportfondsen Nederlandí foundation, is talking to the Health Board about this. More should be clear in September. If the substance is carcinogenic, chlorine will be used instead, as it is in other swimming pools in the Netherlands. ThÍta Rowers Left for Olympic Games Five rowers and a coach from the ThÍta student sports club left for Australia last week to take part in the Olympic Games. This is the first time in the history of the sports club that its sportsmen take part in the Games. The rowers are Dirk Lippits, Jeroen Spaans and Gerard Egelmeers. They will all row for the Dutch team. Joeri de Groot and Karel Dormans are reserves. The Olympic Games in Australia will be held from September 15 to October 1. Rowing races will be held from September 17 to 24. TU/e and Nycomed Amersham Cygne Sign Long-term Deal TU/e and Nycomed Amersham Cygne will sign a long-term contract on collaboration on August 31. Both parties will invest about 50 million guilders in the new Cyclotron building, renovating the old building, buying a new accelerator and a radio pharmaceutical lab for Amersham Cygne. The Cyclotronís expansion is necessary because Amersham Cygne needs room to produce DaTSCAN, a way of detecting the early stages of Parkinsonís disease. For TU/e, collaboration will mean access to education and research areas normally only available in large research institutes. For Amersham Cygne, the cost of buying a cyclotron will be much lower and it will have the advantages of working directly with a scientific community.

TeMa Course Much Improved The TeMa (Techniek en Maatchappij) course at the Technology Management department has made an excellent recovery from the review committeeís criticism in 1997. According to a report by the ëInspectie van het Onderwijsí who visited TeMA in June, the course has ìtaken adequate measures in response to criticism and recommendations by the review committeeî. After its visit in 1997, the review committee had a long list of aspects in need of improvement. ìWe have taken a large number of measures and completely restructured the course,î says education director dr.ir. Paul Laperre. ìIn some cases we even went further than was necessary in light of the committeeís recommendations.î The visit by the ëInspectie van het Onderwijsí was a follow-up to the review committeeís visit three years ago. ìNext week will see the start of the restructured programme for all students. Itís good to have a statement from the ëInspectie van het Onderwijsí in black and white saying it is no longer a mess here,î says Laperre. University Council Agrees to Reorgani-sation Plans This Monday, the University Council agreed to the reorganisation plans resulting from the Added Value Analysis (AVA) completed last spring. A few marginal changes were made. Before the holidays, the University Council decided not to immediately lend its support to the reorganisation plans proposed by the Executive Board. The Council had a number of conditions. The recommendations by Bureau Berenschot, who implemented the Added Value Analysis, should only be informative, said the Council. Any comments on the future of specific services, content and number of permanent positions were not included in the Councilís conditional ratification. The paragraph on ëgeneral points of departure for implementationí was also marked as information only. The Council and the Board have been discussing these points during the holiday period. The result is a memo by the Executive Board entitled ëImplementation Reorganisation of Servicesí. The University Council has now agreed to the plans.