LONDON, April 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Microsoft Research Cambridge report sees human-centred design as the
vital ingredient in successfully harnessing technology's huge potential by
2020.

A new report launched today looks at how emerging computer technologies
will change our lives by 2020. "Being Human: Human-Computer Interaction in
the Year 2020" details the findings of a Microsoft Research-hosted conference
that gathered together 45 leading human-computer interaction (HCI)
specialists from around the world in March 2007. The conference in Seville,
Spain, addressed the question, "What will human-computer interaction look
like in the year 2020?" The report explores new technologies and examines
their potential impact, both positive and negative, on human behaviour and
environments. "Being Human" makes clear recommendations that aim to set human
experience at the heart of progress to ensure that the computer's increasing
influence in society is a positive one.

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"Computers have shaped so many aspects of the modern world that we wanted
to explore how today's emerging technologies might shape our lives in 2020,"
said Abigail Sellen, senior researcher at Microsoft Corp and one of the
editors of the report. "Computing has the potential to enhance the lives of
billions of people around the world. We believe that if technology is to
truly bring benefit to humanity, then human values and the impact of
technology must be considered at the earliest possible opportunity in the
technology design process."

According to the report, advances in interfaces -- the physical way we
interact with computers -- such as surfaces that allow fingertip control of
on-screen objects, devices that can sense and react to movement, and other
techniques of controlling computers will supplement the role of the
traditional keyboard and mouse. Display technologies will soon allow us to
embed screens of all sizes in a variety of fabrics; by 2020, we will still be
reading paper books and magazines, but we will also be using paper-like
digital screens to distribute content. For example, "paper" used in books and
magazines may be digitised on foldable screens we can put in our pockets, and
our clothing may be capable of performing health diagnostics.

Vastly increased and cheaper digital storage is allowing people to
electronically record and keep more and more aspects of their lives. Our
hyperconnected world gives us the ability to interact with people from around
the globe, sharing information ever-more effectively and liberating ourselves
from fixed telephone lines, desks and offices. At the same time advances in
robotics led by the computer's ability to learn from, and make decisions
based on, experience provide the opportunity to protect humans from dangerous
situations, assist the physically impaired and even provide companionship in
the shape of artificial pets.

"New computing technology is tremendously exciting," said another of the
report's editors Tom Rodden, professor of Interactive Systems at the
University of Nottingham, "but the interaction between humans and computers
is evolving into a complex ecosystem where small changes can have
far-reaching consequences. While new interfaces and hyperconnectivity mean we
are increasingly mobile, we can also see that they are blurring the line
between work and personal space. Huge storage capabilities raise fundamental
privacy issues around what we should be recording and what we should not. The
potential of machine learning might well result in computers increasingly
making decisions on our behalf. It is imperative we combine technological
innovations with an understanding of their impact on people."

The report argues that without proper oversight it is possible that we --
both individually and collectively -- may no longer be in control of
ourselves or the world around us. This potentially places the computer on a
collision course with basic human values and concepts such as personal space,
society, identity, independence, perception, intelligence and privacy. These
are questions HCI needs to consider now.

The report gives seven recommendations for the HCI community to adopt to
ensure that human values inform future development. These include
recommendations to educate young people so that they understand HCI and the
impact of computer advances early on; to engage with governments,
policy-makers and society as a whole to provide counsel and give advance
warning of emerging implications of new computing ecosystems; to set the
boundaries of HCI's remit and recognise when specialists from other
disciplines (eg, psychology, sociology and the arts) offer more insightful
perspectives; and to recognise the need for other disciplines to be part of
the research community inventing these systems.

"This report makes important recommendations that will help us to decide
collectively when, how, why and where technology impacts upon humanity,
rather than reacting to unforeseen change," Sellen concluded. "The final
recommendation is something towards which we should all aspire: by 2020 HCI
will be able to design for and support differences in human value,
irrespective of the economic means of those seeking those values. In this
way, the future can be different and diverse because people want it to be."

The report, "Being Human: Human Computer Interaction in the Year 2020",
and a short readers' guide are available from
http://research.microsoft.com/hci2020/download.html.

About Microsoft Research

Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic
and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals
are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of
writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies.
Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with
leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of
the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface
research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies,
operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. Microsoft
Research currently employs more than 800 people in six labs located in
Redmond, Wash.; Cambridge, Mass.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England;
Beijing, China; and Bangalore, India. Microsoft Research collaborates openly
with colleges and universities worldwide to enhance the teaching and learning
experience, inspire technological innovation, and broadly advance the field
of computer science. More information can be found at
http://www.research.microsoft.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise
their full potential.

About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products
and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

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