THE SENSITIVE INTERFACE

One of the most important problems in human-computer interaction is th at of maximising communication between the user and the computer. We c laim that optimum communication will be facilitated when the computer can analyse and respond to the intentions of the computer user. We pro pose a philosophy for computer interface design in which the computer analyses the intentions of users through verbal and nonverbal media. W ith respect to verbal media we describe a computer program called Oper ating System CONsultant (OSCON) which can analyse users' intentions fr om English in the domain of computer operating systems. With respect t o nonverbal media we argue that computers will be better able to analy se people's intentions when recognising the media of facial expression , touch, and sound. Some results and implications from a recent experi ment on cross-cultural emotions in faces are discussed. We describe th e IDIOMS (Intelligent Decision-making In On-line Management Systems) p roject which implements a design philosophy for capturing users' conce pts and intentions. We argue that this approach will ensure the comput ers will become more understanding of their users and this will result in a more sensitive human-computer interface.