Touching tribute

The recent release of products such as Apple's iPhone and the Nintendo DS have resulted in an increasing number of people being exposed to portable devices that involve touch-based interactions.

While this is often perceived as a new and novel element of using these devices, research into touch-based interfaces has been going on for decades. The technology originated in the early 70s when the first transparent touchscreen interface was invented. Since this initial breakthrough, the technology has been incorporated into a number of different settings such as public information devices that provide tourist information, self-service shopping in retail environments and cash and ticket machines.

So why has this technology become so much more prominent in recent years? One of the appealing elements is that it makes interactions with systems much more intuitive — you can point at something on a screen and there is a direct and observable relationship between your finger (or stylus in some cases) and the operations of the system.