Human-computer interaction: input devices

All aspects of human-computer interaction, from the high-level concerns of organizational context and system requirements to the conceptual, semantic, syntactic, and lexical levels of user interface design, are ultimately funneled through physical input and output actions and devices. The fundamental task in computer input is to move information from the brain of the user to the computer. Progress in this discipline attempts to increase the useful bandwidth across that interface by seeking faster, more natural, and more convenient means for a user to transmit information to a computer. This article mentions some of the technical background for this area, surveys the range of input devices currently in use and emerging, and considers future trends in input.