Mastering The Hype Cycle

In a May blog post we looked at the growing activity in augmented reality, such as Nokia’s Point and Find and Mobilizy’s Wikitude. Since then, we’ve noticed a surge of interest in human computer interaction more generally, both in terms of client inquiries and press attention.

Some of this is certainly focused around augmented reality, as organizations examine how they might be able to use the cameras on mobile devices to drive image recognition as an additional cue for augmenting their view of the real world. Real time video feeds or snapshots of places and items can be compared against a database of images to identify the place or object and deliver relevant information as an overlay on top of the image feed. Use of location and compass information can limit the search space to a manageable level.

Microsoft Surface is another topic where we’ve been receiving a small but growing number of inquiries. Most of the interest is around how to use the buzz associated with this still-novel interface to drive brand image in hospitality and retail environments, from Barclay’s Bank to the iBar – a 10 foot long bar which reacts to the bottles and glasses and anything else placed on top of it (I’m feeling the need for a field trip to check that one out…)

It’s good to see these ideas emerging from niche research into real commercialization – we’ve been stuck in the WIMP interface paradigm for over three decades now. Our human computer interaction hype cycle (see below) was featured in New Scientist and Fast Company recently – perhaps an indication that the field of HCI is itself rising toward the Peak.

Human Computer Interaction Hype Cycle for 2009

(Note that this human computer interaction hype cycle is NOT the same as the emerging technologies hype cycle – we publish over 70 different hype cycles each year.)