Seminar 01 - My original interaction history to share
Since I have been working in Chinese internet industry for a while, I am going to tell something happening there, as a missing part of the interaction history.
Different from the reading materials mentioned that there is specific interaction design history based on the computer-driven communication with people or devices, from my point of view, the history of interaction design has already started to become a part of the general social history.
The keyword which changed everything is O2O. I know it is not a new conception. But people always say that it will take a while for the new conception or technology to really blend in our everyday life. Besides that, in my view, what is happening is beyond the fifth stage of “interface as work setting” — definitely is a result of the progress of O2O.
Let’s start with several simple examples.
After a long work day, people can pay their bills in chain supermarkets like 7–11 when shopping breakfasts for next day morning. And all he/she needs to do is showing a screen on cellphone to the cashier. After scanning, the deal is done without entering pin code or using a fingerprint. Now, people can use this offline payment service not only China, but also in some other Asian nations, such as Japan and Thailand. This means the physical wallet is not one of the necessities any more, therefore the way people interact with the material life has been changed in the meantime.
The second example — there is a tradition for Chinese to give “red envelopes (including money)” to families or friends during Spring Festival. In the past, people gave each others the physical envelopes. But two years ago, WeChat (the largest instant messaging APP in China with 550 million monthly active users now) launched a new feature providing a online “red envelopes” service, which allowed people to give this “festival presents” anytime, anywhere. Simultaneously, people even started to give a small random (this is something the traditional red envelop couldn’t do.) amount of money as a way to greet friends for the Chinese New Year. During the six-day Spring Festival holiday in 2016, there were 32.1 billion red envelopes have been sent. Thus, WeChat changed the interaction way of more than a thousands-year old tradition.
Furthermore, nowadays, girls can have a facial spa or hair salon service at home with their girlfriends, or even try the latest fashions at home using a free delivery service. Meanwhile, more and more people begin to join online education programs or seek for suitable medical advises through internet. These products and services not only changed the business pattern, but more importantly, it changed the social behavior pattern — the way people interacting.
Besides that, the AR and VR technology are ready to get involved in daily life. From this we can tell the way that people interacting with physical world is also evolving itself. Before long, everything in the real word will be covered with a layer of digital data. From that time point we will officially enter the brand new interaction era.
In a sum, as the new technologies are being consistently invented and introduced into all different walks, the interaction is no more just something happening between electronic devices and people, or among different groups of people. All industries are becoming parts of the internet industry. The physical world is getting involved in the notion “interaction” literally.
