At the same time, interaction designers also need to think about user privacy and data usage. AI systems usually require a lot of data to operate, but I don’t think people can just collect or abuse user information for the sake of training models. The purpose of the data should be explained in advance, and users should be given the right to choose as much as possible, such as whether to agree to share data, to help them build trust in AI instead of manipulating their behavior.

Nevertheless, some core elements remain unchanged, such as the basic layout of the desktop, windows, icons, and mouse pointers, and these familiar structures help users quickly adapt to the new system.

As technology advances, there is still room for improvement in GUIs, such as smarter personalized interfaces, more efficient information presentation, and stronger accessibility support. Future interface design should focus on multi-device collaboration, AI-assisted interaction, and more natural human-computer communication to adapt to evolving user needs.

Suchman’s research challenges the assumptions about user behavior in traditional technology design. In many early technical systems, designers often assumed that users would follow pre-set operating steps to complete tasks, that is, all interactions were based on clear plans. However, Suchman found through observations of copier users that human behavior is highly adaptable and flexible in actual environments. Her “situational action” theory shows that users’ decisions are not entirely dependent on prior plans, but will be adjusted according to specific circumstances. This discovery directly influenced modern interaction design and prompted designers to pay attention to users’ actual behavior.

The reason why Xerox Star was revolutionary was that it proposed the concept of “object-based user interface”, which enabled users to interact with computers in an intuitive way. Compared with the command line interface at the time, GUI lowered the threshold for using computers and made it easy for non-professional users to operate. This innovation not only influenced the development of personal computers, but also provided new possibilities for office automation.

However, despite the technological foresight of Xerox Star, its commercial performance did not meet expectations. The main reasons were high prices and the rapid follow-up of competitors. Despite this, its core concept still had a far-reaching impact and promoted the progress in the field of human-computer interaction.

First of all, it demonstrated a new way of interaction, which is the computer interaction that people are familiar with now, and demonstrated jumps, window interfaces and other methods for the first time. I think it is the predecessor of today’s computer interaction, and the collaborative computing in it demonstrated the concept of remote screen sharing and real-time collaboration, which foreshadowed today’s video conferencing, online collaborative office and other technologies. The wooden mouse at that time was also a revolutionary innovation in the computer field

The impact on future generations can also be seen intuitively. After Steve Jobs saw GUI technology at Xerox PARC, he introduced it to Macintosh and changed the personal computer industry. Tim Berners-Lee later invented the World Wide Web based on the concept of hypertext

The most important of these is Engelbart’s idea. He believed that computers are not just computing tools, but should help people expand their thinking, improve creativity and collaboration. His vision has had a significant impact in various fields and has been put into practice in today’s artificial intelligence, cloud computing, human-computer interaction and other fields.

For the symbol to compare with it, I chose the “eye” in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is usually associated with gods in ancient Egypt, expressing sacred characteristics, and usually contains many metaphors, such as rights and supervision.

By comparing these two, I think their common point is that they both express meanings with objects, but ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs usually have deeper metaphors, and modern icons are generally designed to make people understand faster, so that people can associate faster. For example, the current “user” icon mostly uses a simple human figure, but in ancient Egypt, “house” generally refers to temples and more sacred places. This is their difference.