What is it about?
Water-HCI = Water-Human-Computer Interaction is a new field of research first introduced to the world as an academic discipline in Canada in 1998 (University of Toronto) and it has now grown internationally as an important field of study at the intersection of water, humans, and technology.
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Photo by Rikke Filbært on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Water is increasingly becoming important to our lives: freshwater in particular. Toronto is a natural birthplace of this field, as it is the largest city on the Great Lakes which hold 21% of the world's freshwater (85% of North America's) and as water becomes important worldwide, the WaterHCI field at the nexus of humans, water, and technology, is being recognized as significant everywhere, not just along the Great Lakes. We're realizing the importance of freshwater conservation, and new ways to celebrate water with less consumption of it. Rather than massive fountains that spray thousands of gallons, we can celebrate water intricately by touch, e.g. hydraulophone as a NUI (Natural User Interface) that celebrates the touch of just a few drops of water as a form of aquatic play that lets your fingers do the frolic and allows a tiny amount of water to allow you to touch and be touched by water.
Perspectives
My own perspective as inventor of hydraulophone starting the WaterHCI field in my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s and bringing this to University of Toronto in 1998 has left me with a deep understanding and appreciation of water as I swim and play in the water nearly every day year-round.
Prof Steve Mann
University of Toronto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Grand challenges in WaterHCI, May 2024, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3642052.
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