Friday 28th November saw the first of the Virgin Atlantic VJAM
workshops to brainstorm ways to improve the travel experience for
customers. Conchango took the Microsoft Surface unit along and I
played guardian and host of this device for most of the day. The attendees included travel professionals,
experts in social media and others who have some connection to Virgin. The Surface unit seemed quite at home at a workshop
on thought leadership and some fascinating discussions took place around the
table during the day.
One conversation which got me thinking was
around the use of technology for cognitive behaviour therapy. Dr
Mark Jones specialises in using cognitive training to improve behaviour and has
developed an interactive learning tool, Animal
Agentz, to teach children coping skills. Animal Agentz was the result of his
research as a PhD student and tested at Great Ormond Street Hospital. I was particularly
interested in how behavioural treatment through digital play could help develop
problem solving strategies.
We discussed children with ADHD - I naively thought
that children with ADHD would be encouraged to spend less time playing computer
games but a carefully balanced media diet can improve a child’s social and
coping skills. Computers are playing an
increasingly important part for children with behavioural problems.
Animal Agentz plays out real scenarios and uses animal characters to educate a user on the
consequences of an action. This software has been proven to hold a child’s
attention by engaging them through rich content and interactions. If such software can help mood regulation and
self-control then can a natural user interface (yup,
Surface) advance this further?
A child with ADHD performs better when they
are engaged. A natural user interface
(NUI) puts the focus on the software and its content and not on how to interact with the content. Surface
computing provides intuitive usability and a more natural way to interact than
using a keyboard or mouse.
It is commonsense that technologies that
remove barriers by introducing natural gestures can only further engage and
keep their attention. Inattention is a
major factor in educating users with ADHD so a NUI such as Microsoft Surface offers an intuitive
experience that doesn't hinder their creative energy or expression and allows
them to focus their energy. Microsoft Surface changes the way
that people and technology interact.
Clearly Microsoft Surface has a place in Attention
Solutions.
Over the coming months I'll be looking at developing interactive learning tools for surface
computing so if you have any ideas on this or would like to get involved then please get in touch . Or if you want to see Surface in action in London, or elsewhere in the UK, talk to us.