Value-add

Using real-world objects as a starting point, we can add significant value over real-world objects and mechanisms through the use of the computer in a complimentary manner.

Entering alphanumeric phone numberThe current implementation of the RealPhone was designed primarily to explore the Focus and Transition premises; however, it does enhance the real-world phone by allowing the user to dial an alphanumeric phone number. The user simply types the characters, such as 1-800-CALLIBM. While this is just one minor enhancement, imagine what might be accomplished with further analysis and design.

For example, the myriad of options available on telephones today, such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller-id, caller-id blocking, and many more, have created a user model so complicated that most people don't even know there are exclusive interactions between these functions - some must be cancelled in order to enable others. The interaction using today's real-world telephone requires dialing a series of *nn codes such as dialing *70 to cancel call waiting. This is an area of great opportunity for telephone implementations on the computer. An implementation such as the RealPhone, extended to provide this added value, might even be a model on which future real-world (computerized) telephones could be designed.

Strictly emulating the real-world may not be the best answer for all kinds of objects and all tasks. While it may intrigue and delight new users, and entice them to delve deeper in exploration, the real-world imposes limits of its own - limits that we can surpass by using computers.