Trying to sell a PC to a bonobo

Some of the stuff that happens around us in this, our time, is just plainly astonishing. I don't want to minimize the discoveries of those that came before us -and we DO stand on their shoulders- but with Open Source initiatives, the available technology used as an enabler and crowdsourcing, the degree of progress is accelerating in this age, sometimes to alarming points.

The Bonobo Great Ape Trust Sanctuary have been experimenting with making available to their primates large touch-screen computer keyboards with symbols that correspond to different words. They're also working on ways to make computers automatically translate a series of symbols into a coherent sentence.

Now they started a Kickstarter campaign to help provide their bonobos with personal interconnected keyboards they can use to chat with humans anytime, and almost anywhere. Apparently, in initial tests the primates can effectively communicate with the use of these tools. Read the article on the Huffington Post HERE.

I cannot stop to wonder about these incredible animals and play some of the "Planet of the Apes" scenes in the background of my brain, but what really caught my attention is how this experiment is the pinnacle of User Interface testing.

Old Computer + Bonobo = Banana on monitor
Tablet + Bonobo = Communication

Wow.

If you look at the basic functionality, the traditional computers are all capable devices to transmit communications. Capable of doing email, chat, even voice. But it happens to be that THE USER INTERFACE is the middleware that connects the species to the device and apparently tablets are best received by our primate cousins. The takeaway? The user interface can make or break your application, whatever it may be!

Of course, you could always argue that bonobos are just hardcore Appleheads and they just would not use anything different than an iPad! :-)