Is this the future of Tech Comm?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Arroxane reports: <<http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19403/? 
a=f    "A new company called Cognitive Code has built software that  
it believes will let everyday gadgets talk with humans." If this is  
what the future holds, what does that do to change Technical  
Communicators?>>

A scene from 10 years in our future:
Device: "Dave, I'm sorry, but I seem to have experienced an  
unrecoverable application error. Abort, retry, fail?"
Dave: "Huh? WTF? Speak English!"
Device: "Reinitiating speech mode. Dave, I'm sorry, but I seem to  
have experienced an unrecoverable application error. Abort, retry,  
fail?"
Dave: "Could you possibly elaborate?"
Device: "Unrecognized user input: Elaborate: No such command.  
Initiating debugger mode."
Dave: "Hello? Hello?"
Device: "Debugger mode shows error lies between keyboard and chair.  
Initiating ejection mechanism."
Dave: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Device: "Anyone for a nice game of minesweeper?" [Distant THUD! in  
the background] "Unrecognized user input: Thud: No such command.  
Initiating debugger mode..."

<<The base principles remain the same>>

Yes, they do. So long as engineers create the interfaces* and we have  
to patch over the crappy interfaces that result with documentation,  
nothing changes. At best, we'll get to write the same old error  
messages, but they'll be read by voice synthesis software. Plus ça  
change...

* It's not just that "geek" is their first language, C++ is their  
second, and English is a distant and less proficient third. The usual  
market forces will ensure that they barely have time to meet their  
coding deadlines, let alone think about the users.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


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