November 5th, 2008
Who wants multi-touch? I think I just might.
Fellow blogger, Mary-Jo Foley, asked an interesting question the other day about the multi-touch capabilities of Windows 7: Is it a technology looking for a solution and does anyone actually want it?
Overall, I’m with Mary-Jo. Touching my screen is something that holds no allure for me. As she puts its,
But, as I asked earlier this year, who really wants to have to touch their laptop or desktop screens to perform tasks that are easier and better done with a mouse and keyboard?
However, in Ed Tech, we have to cater to a wide variety of needs beyond those of people who are really good touch typists. While I will be the first to advocate that kids should learn to type (and type well) from a young age, this simply isn’t an option for early childhood ed or kids with significant physical disabilities. While this is obviously a niche, there are a lot of learners who could benefit from new ways of interacting with a computer.
Imagine a vision-impaired kid using simple gestures on screen to zoom text and images? Kids with language difficulties interacting with word banks on-screen instead of typing or clicking? Even mouse or touchpad skills can be difficult for people with motor issues to acquire, but a large screen supporting multi-touch gestures could drastically expand the way disabled people can interact with a computer, the Internet, and a variety of software.
There are some multimedia apps where touch could play nicely as well. How about non-linear video editing or music composition?
Which really leads me to wonder if this isn’t a technology looking for a solution but a paradigm waiting to shift. Just because traditional computer users like us can’t think of uses for multi-touch, I have a distinct feeling that kids would be quite a bit more creative. After all, kids had embraced MySpace long before social media became a buzzword in business and education.
What do you think?
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Follow Chris Dawson on Twitter! Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts and a member of the Internet Press Guild. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, but always keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his daytime employer, even if he talks incessantly about his day job.
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