New to the Touch

1. The problems that multitouch technology solves would be that it gives you an easier way to interact with the computer by allowing you to control everything using only your fingers. They allow you to use one or more fingers to perform special gestures that manipulate lists or objects on a screen without moving a mouse, pressing buttons, turning scroll wheels, or striking keys.

2. An advantage of multitouch interface would be that you can control everything with your fingers. You can quickly move back and forth through a series of Web pages or photos by swiping, or placing three fingers on the screen and moving them rapidly sideways. A disadvantage for the multitouch interface would be that the interface of folders and menus would be cumbersome. The multitouch interface is very useful because it makes it easier for individuals to speed up the process of doing work and getting things done.

3. The Blackberry Storm uses something called haptic touch, so when you press a button on the screen or on the virtual keyboard it feels as if you are actually pressing on that spot. It is tactile which provides more peace of mind if you are hearing impaired. Chicago’s O’Hare Airport integrated a group of TouchSmart PCs into “Explore Chicago” tourist kiosks, allowing visitors to check out a virtual Visitor’s Center. TouchSmart computing helped an autistic student speak to and communicate with others for the first time in 14 years. Touch-enabled PCs would also appeal to elementary schools seeking an easy to use computer for students in early grades, or a wall mountable information kiosk type device for parents and visitors.

4. The people issues that would be address would be the fact that you would have to train individuals to be able to use the new technology and that would incur cost. The organization issue that would occur would be that you would have to change all of the existing computers and systems with multitouch interfaces and that would incur costs as...