I me [Watakushi]
Idealism
Identity
Image
Imagination
Instinct
Intent
Interaction
Interface
Intuition (chokkan)
Isyoo
Interface
With the advent of the computer we have become generally aware of the word interface as a technical computer term. It was&sbquo however&sbquo originally a technical term in Chemistry. Its original meaning was translated by Kaimen&sbquo the japanese word for "boundary surface." Accordingly&sbquo it seems possible to define the word in reference to the original meaning. Interface came to its present use as "man/machine interface" from its employment as a computer term&sbquo where it refers to a module that establishes compatibility of computer specifications or of other things that serve as intermediaries between computer peripherals or between the computer and human beings. For design in particular&sbquo the user's assumption of a broader definition that includes the operating elements as well as the opening environment has led interfaces to become a target into which design must pour most of its attention. In a narrower sense&sbquo operation display system like the graphic user interface (GUI) has led to a trend to simply call all display systems "interfaces&sbquo" making them even more of a target for design than before. When human beings enter into a relationship with the targets of design&sbquo namely tools&sbquo devices and environments&sbquo and take them to be surface&sbquo so to speak&sbquo then it's possible for us to think of those connecting surfaces as interfaces. Accordingly&sbquo if we borrow the original terminology of Chemistry and make an analogy to the affinity of the boundary surface&sbquo the design goals of an interface can be established as its intimate&sbquo familiar and friendly relationship with human beings. The matter which design must deal with is whether human beings can attain intimacy through our relationship with the object&sbquo and whether that intimacy can move to familiarity&sbquo and finally&sbquo if the sense of trust we call affinity can exist in the interface. It is thought that the meaning of the graphical user interface in design will change in a limited sense&sbquo through computing technology and through promotion and transformation in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics with such hypothesis and experiments as the agent interface.