Although the term "Natural User Interface" (NUI) has come into its own when describing a different paradigm for human-computer interaction (different from command-line and GUI), getting a basic entry in Wikipedia on the subject has proven to be a real challenge.Multitouch is a subset of NUI and so the proper definition of the topic on Wikipedia is important to me personally. Since I learned of the term (i.e. NUI), I've thought it odd that the Wikipedia entry on the subject remains in dispute. Bill Gates has even used the term for goodness sakes! Twice!
The problem isn't that good people can't agree on its definition (I'm sure that's possible after a few hundred edits); the problem is that the Wikipedia editors keep removing entries defining NUI. Why? The Wikipeida editors are pointing to the removal code G11: Unambiguous Advertising and Promotion. It seems that the folks who coined the term are to blame, the sinister NUI Group!
Yep, because there is a company named NUI Inc., which created the the open source community called NUI Group (I've always found this confusing myself) the attempts to define NUI on Wikipedia is seen as a transparent attempt to promote the commercial company which uses the term in their name. Or is it the open source community?
What's interesting is that this same criteria has not been applied to GUI. For example, there is a company called GUIdesign.com and GUI - Designers and even a personal/professional web site called GUIGuy.com, but there doesn't seem to be a dispute about the entry for GUI on Wikipedia. This smells like an evil plot!
All kidding aside, it would be nice if we could get a NUI entry into the Wikipedia. The NUI Group has its own wiki with what I would call a non-laymen definition of the term - its ambiguous and rambling which is always the way practitioners define their own topic area.
I thought about writing an entry in Wikipedia on NUI myself, but the thought of putting all that work into it just to have an editor decide that my entry is a G11, makes the idea less appealing. Still, perhaps there are others who can make the time and have the inclination to fight back and get NUI a permanent page on Wikipedia.
Eventually, the term NUI will have a page on Wikipedia, but in the mean time your average Joe Sixpack is going to be hard pressed to find a concise definition of the subject.
Update Later the same day
Well I just posted this blog entry this morning and already Paul Dawson has taken up the challenge by seeding the NUI entry in Wikipedia with an excellent layman's definition. I hope that others will take the time to add to Paul's work and flush out the Wikipedia entry. Thank you, Paul!
(Note to NUI Inc.: Please resist the urge to post links to your company or to claim coinage of the term for now. We want this one to stick and can give you credit after its been flushed out and remains active for a couple of months. Thanks!)
8 comments:
The other underlying issue is that NUI Group claims trademark on the term Natural User Interface.
I believe that, at one point there was actually a nice definition for NUI before they spammed Wikipedia.
At this point, in court, it would be difficult to describe NUI as anything besides a term of art.
NUI Group are really good guys and generally good webizens, so I really don't understand why they have chosen to go this route.
OK let's try this one... no mention of NUIGroup in there so we might be ok if we get it bulked out fast! Come on, jump in I'm rubbish at Wikipedia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_User_Interface
Jonathan,
I'm not sure the trademark of the name is the problem - although it might be. For example, Microsoft has trademarked Smartphone and someone has a trademark (I think) on Web Service, yet these terms are defined in wikipedia. Still its an interesting issue. If NUI is trademarked by NUI Group rather than NUI Inc. than perhaps it can become public domain if they offer it up as such.
Richard
Paul,
Great start! I've updated the blog entry to point people to your initial definition - which I think is very accessible to the layman. Nice work!!
Richard
Before speculation begins I think it's important to make a quick distinction. NUI AB (europe) has attempted (not yet approved) to trademark 'Natural User Interface'. NUI AB has no affiliation to NUI Inc. or NUI Group.
NUI Group and NUI Inc. both aim to keep 'NUI' in the public domain so that the term can not be owned by any one entity. They share the same hope that you all share.
I hope this helps to some degree, although the confusion is understandable.
Before speculation begins I think it's important to make a quick distinction. NUI AB (europe) has attempted (not yet approved) to trademark 'Natural User Interface'. NUI AB has no affiliation to NUI Inc. or NUI Group.
NUI Group and NUI Inc. both aim to keep 'NUI' in the public domain so that the term can not be owned by any one entity. They share the same hope that you all share and hope to live up to the concept behind both 'NUI' and NUI Group's open-source history.
I hope this helps to some degree, although the confusion is understandable.
I just got back from IDC last week. There is some concerning things going on with nuigroup if you ask me: I blogged about my experiences at IDC here: http://blog.tehansen.de/?p=47
Hi,
Here is some information about the history of the term "NUI":
I have an article from 1997 that discusses the concept of NUI- Natural User Interface "BUILD-IT: a computer vision-based interaction technique for a planning tool" by M. Rauterberd, M. Fjeld, H. Krueger, M. Bichsel, U. Leonhardt, and M. Meier, from the Proceedings of HCI '97.
"Guided by the constraints of natural interaction, we derive a set of recommendations for the next generation of user interfaces: the Natural User Interface (NUI)..."
The concept of NUI, but not the exact term, was also discussed in a 1999 article written by Brad Myers, Scott E. Hudson, and Randy Pausch: "Past, Present and Future of User Interface Software Tools", and again in a 2000 article by Gregory D. Abowd and Elizabeth D. Mynatt, from Georgia Tech: "Charting Past, Present, and Future Research in Ubiquitous Computing".
At CHI 2009, a workshop was held on the topic of multitouch and surface computing, and the following information was included in the introduction:
"Natural user interfaces (NUI) such as multitouch and surface computing are positioned to mark the next major evolution in computing and user interfaces..."
Concerning the recent events related to the definition of NUI on Wikipedia, I'm a bit puzzled.
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