Pressing buttons on a mobile phone chooses various functions, as if the phone's functions are controlled by a code. Mobile phones are difficult to use almost entirely because their code is difficult to use. We can design a new code systematically, and using Huffman codes we can find one that is much faster and simpler than the manufacturer's original code.
Harold Thimbleby is professor of computer science at Swansea University where he established the Future Interaction Technology Lab. His passion is designing dependable computer systems to accommodate human error. He has been a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award holder and a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow. He has also contributed to the Encyclopedia Brittanica and was Gresham Professor of Geometry between 2001 and 2004.
All of Professor Thimbleby's previous lectures may be accessed here.
