Devices that know where you are, that remind you to pick up your dry cleaning as you pass the shop, could be the kind of technology that people will be using in the not too distant future.

Some of the world's leading experts in human-computer interaction are meeting in Sydney this week to discuss emerging technologies and how to better gear them to users.

Organised by CSIRO, the OZCHI conference is looking at how we, the users, interact with the ever-growing array of new devices and technologies with a view to making them more usable.

Organiser Dr Cécile Paris of CSIRO says that the conference, which is being held at The University of Technology, Sydney, is a forum for discussing research and reviewing current issues in computer-based interfaces.

"Computers are increasingly integrated into our lives. They are in homes, offices and cars - and increasingly in our pockets," she says.

"With this move away from desktop and work-based applications to home-based and entertainment systems, computers and computer-like devices are affecting a growing number of people, in a growing number of situations."

"As a result, the way people actually use these devices is becoming a crucial factor in whether new products are successful," she says.

The conference attracts experts in fields as diverse as ergonomics, cognitive psychology, social science and information technology.

"It's a forum for assessing the effects of computer interfaces on users and exploring ways of making the next generation of consumer devices more usable," says Dr Paris.

Just a few of the areas of research are under discussion during the conference are:

• Ways of delivering useful content to devices with tiny screens
• Interfaces which respond to a wider range of human actions, behaviours and feelings
• Developing a vocabulary for colour use in interface design
• Error messages - why they are so hard to understand?
• Virtual Reality systems for education, including virtual environments with the sense of touch
• Web searching tailored for kids
• Designing systems for older users
• Smart rooms that are non-intrusive and feel like home
• New types of musical instruments
• Computer packaging that helps you get started

Researchers are also exploring some of the new ways of communicating that result from new technologies. One group from Italy has compared the different strategies employed by teenagers in seeking dates via face-to-face, telephone and chat-room interaction.

Others are looking at how far the process of user-friendliness can go - they have designed a mobile phone interface with only one key.

At the other end of the spectrum are complex services that require more complex models of interaction - such as a healthcare tool for supporting collaborative management of diabetes.

The only subject that appears to be missing is "How to program a video".

"In the future, we will be amazed at how unfriendly these early devices were," says Dr Paris. "Before long you will program your video (or whatever device replaces it) as easily as you now make toast for breakfast."

OZCHI runs from Monday 4^th December to Friday 8^th December at the University of Technology, Sydney. The conference will be opened on Wednesday 6^th December at 8:30 am by Mr Barry O'Farrell MP, NSW Shadow Minister for Information Technology.

Keynote speakers are:

Richard Helm, Boston Consulting Group
John Carroll, Center for Human Computer Interaction, Virginia Tech, USA
Penny Sanderson, SCHIL Director, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne
Gerhard Fischer, Professor, University of Colorado, USA
Brian Gaines, Professor Emeritus, University of Calgary, Canada

Conference web site: http://www.cmis.csiro.au/OZCHI2000