Computer capabilities for interaction

Imagining and creating new interfaces that meet users' needs is a challenge, because keeping things simple but useful is complicated. Most of the great innovations, such as the spreadsheet or Apple's iPhone, didn't just offer new functionality, but rather proposed new ideas about how, when and why people want to interact with computer technology. This lesson traces the history of the main developments in interactive computing and their impact on information technology, and describes the computational challenges that arise when designing interaction.