Human learning happens over time and context. Hence, the term intuitive interaction refers to those learnt interactions that are bound by time and or experiences from the past. If we decide to keep to old things, we can only create repetitive and boring experiences. While contexts help humans learn fast and hence sufficient capture of context and experimenting with innovative and customizable interactive experiences is the way forward.
Three but one:
The triune brain model suggests three parts to human brain.
1) Reptilian brain
2) Limbic brain
3) Neo-cortical brain
Neo-cortical brain is where learning happens, while emotional part happens in the limbic portion of the brain. Each part of the brain affects the other unless a portion of the brain is damaged.
The following diagram illustrates emotional states with respect to challenge and skill level.
Ref: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Boredom is the effect of repetitive interactions. The outcome is that both the work and the product would be misconstrued to be boring. It is a challenge for the interface design to be challenging and at the same time interesting.
The Liberation:
How can we liberate the work/goal/product from the clutches of boredom?
The following are some key principles that provide insights to this question.
Causality:
Necessary causes:
The effect cannot be separated from the cause. In order to change the effect, the cause has to be changed. Repetition needs to go out of the window, to address boredom.
Sufficient causes:
There can be multiple causes for the same outcome. Thus the resulting outcome may not be attributed to the presence of a single cause. For instance boredom can be the result of repetitive interaction, and associated low skill level which renders it non-challenging.
One of them is the user interface, and if addressed well then it can be one less worry.
Realization and expression of one’s own fundamental nature (sat-cit-ananda)
When people understand themselves and live in fully conscious state, then they are able to create a consistent aroused or flow state.
Sat is the experience of the true self that is possible only for the individual.
Cit is the consciousness that makes humans sense everything around them, become aware, and hence allows building rich experiences. In pure conscious states there is no difference between conscious and unconscious states.
Ananda is the state of being in the aroused and or flow states, a state of bliss. This is self-made, and cannot be created. However it can be facilitated.
All our methods (personae, user observation, user interviews, and so on) are based on our abilities to empathize, observe, analyse, and understand the end user. Based on our understanding of human cognition we are able to simplify the interface. These methods are akin to the ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ concepts. However we cannot create the arousal or flow state. All we can do is to remove the barrier of boredom, and facilitate the possibility of arousal or flow.
The fundamental flaw in our approach is that we want to come up with a generic interface for the product that can be emphatically used by many. This goal renders the entire effort marginal in its impact.
Conclusion:
Removing boredom is facilitating more positive experience, while provision of context makes learning easier. So we should provide multitude of innovative interactions within the richly defined context providing flexibility and customization. We should provide at least 2-3 variations of the most important tasks.
Examples of context based innovative interactions:
In-context feedback:
Editing folder labels:
In-context language learning: Highlighting of words
In-context labelling:
