Sci-fi interfaces

Stop watching sci-fi. Start using it.

Menu

Skip to content
  • Best of…
  • Facebook
  • Mastodon
  • YouTube

CONTACT

chris{at}scifiinterfaces.com

Follow

Enter your email address to follow us and receive notifications of new posts by email. RSS at scifiinterfaces.wordpress.com/feed/

GET THE BOOK

  • About the book
  • About the critical stance of this blog
  • About this site
  • Book authors
  • Contribute!
  • Errata
  • How to Order
  • Paid and placed content
  • The Fritzes 2020 Winners
  • The Fritzes 2021 Winners
  • The Fritzes 2022 Winners
  • Who makes these things?

Content on scifiinterfaces.com is licensed as CC BY-SA 3.0.

Blogs from Other Mogs

  • Future Interface
  • HUDS + GUIS
  • Interface Love
  • Kit FUI
  • Sci-fi GUI
  • Speculative Identities
  • Typeset in the Future

Tag Archives: immediacy

P.K.E. Meter

31 Oct 2014 by Christopher Noessel

2

Ghostbusters have a handheld device that detects “psycho-kinetic energy” (PKE), called, appropriately, the P.K.E. Meter.

PKE-meter-01

Early in the library scene, Spengler is holding the device up in front of his eyes when he explains to Stentz that, “It’s moving.” So theoretically, there is some way by which it helps locate the source of PKE concentration. When we see the front of the device, it’s a bunch of small indictor lights, and impossible to make any sense of what we see there. (In fact, the later scene seems to have the orientation of the device horizontally flipped.) The inscrutability of the interface is fine, diegetically, since it’s a custom device built by scientists for themselves, but as they try and hire new ghostbusters and train them, they’re going to want to think about ease-of-training.

PKEMeter

You might think that that green display we see in this first scene is pointing in a cardinal direction, i.e. just behind Spengler, but when we see the same device later, right next to the Keymaster, those indicator lights are spinning around a center that’s off the edge of the screen, so, again, the meaning of these lights is inscrutable.

PKEMeter

Its most salient feature are the two arms that rotate out from either side, which are topped with a line of amber lights. When in the presence of high levels of PKE, the arms raise up and the lights blink more rapidly. At max PKE, the arms extend horizontally and the lights blink quite rapidly (see above). Unlike the user interface, these little guys are awesome. Let me explain why.

PKE-meter-04

Both their lights and their extension help convey immediately the main point of the device: more PKE nearby. Notably they do so using two hard-to-miss signals that build on universal mental maps: up equals more, and faster blink is more urgent. Even if you can’t parse the UI, you get this. The immediacy means a lower cognitive load for the ghostbuster who’s attention needs to be on the environment around them primarily and on this device secondarily. Having physical motion and blinking even means it could be well in their peripheral vision and still convey the information. But it gets better. Even if it was out of sight, the motors that move the arms would provide a bit of sound and even haptic information that something has changed.

And lastly, we should keep in mind that ghostbusting is a service, and the customers are a vital part of that equation. Even if they don’t use it directly, they see it being used, and what it conveys to them as a touchpoint is important. If they are doubting, for example, the existence of ghosts, the little arms and lights would provide an immediately-understandable sense of whoa, and there’s a direct-feedback loop to verify that it’s not random. It’s detecting something in the environment. That would give the customers and onlookers a confidence that is important to new businesses operating within dubious domains.

So, seriously, those PKE arms are awesome and now I wish I had gone as a P.K.E. Meter for Halloween this year. Well, there’s always next year maybe at a sci-fi interfaces all-costume Halloween ball.

Posted in Ghostbusters (1984). Tagged anticipation, device, faster blink is more urgent, fuigetry, handheld, haptic feedback, immediacy, led, P.K.E. Meter, paranormal, served users, service touchpoint, up is more

Post navigation

TIP JAR

Properties

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (8)
  • 2017 (14)
  • Alien (1979) (5)
  • Alien (franchise) (4)
  • Aliens (1986) (4)
  • Andromeda Strain (1971) (1)
  • Armageddon (1998) (1)
  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018) (2)
  • Back to the Future Part II (1989) (24)
  • Barbarella (1968) (21)
  • Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009) (4)
  • Battlestar Galactica: The Mini-Series (2003) (16)
  • Black Mirror (2011–) (12)
  • Black Panther (2018) (16)
  • Blade Runner (1982) (12)
  • Children of Men (2007) (12)
  • Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) (8)
  • Contagion (2011) (1)
  • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) (1)
  • Deep Impact (1998) (2)
  • Destination Moon (1950) (4)
  • Doctor Strange (2016) (17)
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (1)
  • Edge of Tomorrow (2014) (1)
  • Evolution (2001) (1)
  • Firefly (2002) (3)
  • Flash Gordon (1936) (1)
  • Forbidden Planet (1956) (17)
  • Frites 2023 (1)
  • Fritzes 2021 (4)
  • Fritzes 2022 (3)
  • Fritzes 2023 (2)
  • Galaxy Quest (1999) (2)
  • Gattaca (1997) (1)
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995) (19)
  • Ghostbusters (1984) (8)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (1)
  • Her (2013) (10)
  • Hitchhicker’s Guide the Galaxy (2005) (1)
  • Idiocracy (2006) (19)
  • Independence Day (1996) (2)
  • Inside Out (2015) (1)
  • Interstellar (2014) (1)
  • Iron Man (5)
  • Iron Man (2008) (4)
  • Iron Man 2 (2010) (1)
  • Iron Man 3 (2013) (3)
  • Johnny Mnemonic (1995) (23)
  • Jurassic Park (1993) (17)
  • Jurassic World (2015) (1)
  • La Voyage Dans La Lune (1904) (1)
  • Las Luchadoras vs el Robot Asesino (1969) (7)
  • Logan's Run (1976) (21)
  • Mars Attacks! (1996) (1)
  • Metropolis (1927) (9)
  • Minority Report (2002) (4)
  • Mission to Mars (2000) (8)
  • Moon (2009) (1)
  • Oblivion (2013) (30)
  • Outbreak (1995) (1)
  • Person of Interest (2011–2016) (2)
  • Prometheus (2012) (36)
  • Prospect (2018) (1)
  • Red Dwarf (1989–1999) (1)
  • Redesigning Star Wars (3)
  • Soylent Green (1973) (8)
  • Space 1999 (1975-1977) (1)
  • Spacesuit series (7)
  • Spacesuits (8)
  • Star Trek (3)
  • Star Trek: Discovery (2017–) (3)
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996) (5)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) (6)
  • Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969) (1)
  • Star Wars (9)
  • Star Wars Holiday Special (14)
  • Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) (6)
  • Star Wars: Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi (1983) (1)
  • Starship Troopers (1997) (43)
  • Stowaway (2021) (2)
  • Strange Days (1995) (2)
  • Sunshine (2007) (4)
  • The Avengers (2)
  • The Avengers (1961–1969) (1)
  • The Avengers (2012) (25)
  • The Cabin in the Woods (2012) (14)
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (9)
  • The Expanse (2015–) (1)
  • The Faithful Wookiee (8)
  • The Fifth Element (1997) (58)
  • The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) (1)
  • The Good Place (2016) (1)
  • The Incredibles (2004) (1)
  • The Jetsons (1962) (2)
  • The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) (1)
  • The Lawnmower Man (1992) (1)
  • The Martian (2015) (1)
  • The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) (1)
  • The Space Between Us (2016) (1)
  • THX-1138 (1971) (1)
  • Tomorrowland (2015) (1)
  • Total Recall (1990) (2)
  • TRON: Legacy (2010) (1)
  • WALL•E (2008) (12)
  • Wearable (7)
  • White Christmas (11)
  • World War Z (2013) (1)
  • X2 (2003) (1)
  • ~ Active academy (2)
  • ~ April Fools (1)
  • ~ Book news (3)
  • ~ Comps (18)
  • ~ Drone Week (5)
  • ~ Glossary (2)
  • ~ Interview (8)
  • ~ Marvel Cinematic Universe (11)
  • ~ Movie Night (15)
  • ~ Overview (20)
  • ~ Piloting (3)
  • ~ Readership poll (14)
  • ~ Report Cards (21)
  • ~ Sci-Fi University (3)
  • ~ scifianimatedgifs (85)
  • ~ Site news (31)
  • ~ Web (9)
  • ~Author bio (6)
  • ~Gendered AI (19)
  • ~Meta (34)
  • ~opportunity (2)
  • ~The Fritzes (12)

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
Powered by WordPress.com. Theme: Sunspot by WordPress.com.
 

Loading Comments...