CAW N 09

Japan's Position on the Technical Direction of User Interfaces

Source: National Body of Japan

Status: National Body contribution to be considered at the JTC1 Cultural Adaptability Workshop in Ottawa, Canada on 1998-01-20 to 22

As per JTC 1 Ottawa Plenary Resolution 16 and accompanying resolutions on the comments to JTC 1 N4780 in JTC 1 N5015, the National Body of Japan re-submits its position on the Technical Direction of user interfaces as follows.

  1. Although "User Interfaces" is one of the most important information technology areas, the feasibility or validity of standardization in this area is a different story. In general, the appropriateness of a user interface is dependent on various factors such as its target application area, a user's level of proficiency, taste, physical condition (handicapped or not), cultural background and so forth. In other words, "User Interfaces" are essentially application dependent. Therefore, JNB (Japan National Body) considers that it is not possible to develop generic standard user interfaces without defining their application domain. This is evidenced by the fact that there has been no success in the past in the attempts to standardize general purpose keyboards. It is also quite unlikely that Microsoft icon sets, for example, will be adopted as an International Standard. In the more sophisticated user interface areas which involve intelligent dialogue technologies with help and error recovery functions, it will far more be difficult to reach any consensus status in the near future.
  2. JNB also considers that standardization on the matters related to ergonomics or safety aspects of human interfaces such as keyboard ergonomics should be handled by the existing specialized TCs and not by JTC 1.
  3. What JTC 1 should deal with in this area is the standardization of the interfaces for interconnection which enable users to select the most appropriate user interfaces for their own applications (e.g. standard interface for keyboard connection). This subject is basically the matters of standardizing the Interfaces for Interconnection of Equipments, SSI (Systems Software Interface) or API (Application Program Interface) and thus should be taken care of by each existing specialized SC. JNB believes that JTC 1 does not need any independent SC for this subject.
  4. In conclusion, although standardization of "User Interfaces" is feasible for a specific domain, it is essentially not possible to standardize them in a general form as generic standards in JTC 1. The standardization of application dependent "User Interfaces" should be handled by each application specific TC for a specific domain and not by JTC 1.
  5. Therefore, JNB recommends that JTC 1 dispose the User Interface group as an Ad Hoc WG directly reporting to JTC 1 for the time being, and thoroughly review and reexamine the projects and the work items for this group again to make a final decision on whether JTC 1 should keep this group as a standing WG or not in the future.