Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sample.eng.ohio-state.edu!purdue!haven.umd.edu!mimsy!witsend.cs.umd.edu!plaisant From: plaisant@witsend.cs.umd.edu (Catherine Plaisant-S) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: Touchscreens Message-ID: <35628@mimsy.umd.edu> Date: 14 Jun 91 15:51:02 GMT Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu Reply-To: plaisant@cs.umd.edu (Catherine Plaisant-S) Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742 Lines: 272 Since the touchscreen discussion is still going... Here is a list of publications from the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland dealing with touchscreens. Some projects are controlled experiments, the others are examples of applications where the touchscreen was used successfully in innovative ways. The first papers listed have already been published and are available in journals and magazines, the ones in the second group are to be published or technical reports. We will be happy to send you a copy if you request it (send mail to sears@cs.umd.edu) If you have questions about the projects... contact one the authors listed in the paper [Andrew Sears (sears@cs.umd.edu) or of course me Catherine Plaisant (plaisant@cs.umd.edu) and Ben Shneiderman (ben@cs.umd.edu)] Recently we also put together a video with several demos of touchscreen applications (and other things like the already known pie menus of Don Hopkins or a study of Table of Content browsers). I add the announcement at the end of this message. If you are interested contact me [plaisant@cs.umd.edu] (Unfortunately we have to charge $30 US ($35 US Overseas) for the video...) Catherine Plaisant Assistant Research Scientist Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory A.V. Williams Bldg. tel: (301) 405-2768 University of Maryland plaisant@cs.umd.edu College Park, MD 20742, USA fax: (301) 405-6707 (-- et vous pouvez parler Francais si vous preferez! --) -------------------------------------------------------------- Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory HCIL PUBLICATIONS about TOUCHSCREENS -------------------------------------------------------------- HCIL A. V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 // PUBLISHED = already accessible // --- Shneiderman, B., (March 1991), Touch screens now offer compelling uses, IEEE Software 8, 2, (March 1991), 93-94, 107. A brief review of the advantages of high precision touchscreens with dragging and lift-off. Examples and screen prints show home scheduling, message board, fingerpainting, and small touchscreen keyboards. Suggestions for novel directions are offered. --- Sears, A., and Shneiderman, B. (June, 1989), High precision touchscreens: Design strategies and comparisons with a mouse. Technical Report CS-TR-2268, CAR-TR-450. International Journal of Man-Machine Interaction, 34, 4 (April, 1991). Three studies were conducted comparing speed of performance, error rates, and user preference ratings for three selection devices. The devices tested were a touchscreen, a touchscreen with stabilization (stabilization software filters and smooths raw data from hardware), and a mouse. The task was the selection of rectangular targets 1,4,16,32 pixels per side (0.4x0.6, 1.7x2.2, 6.9x9.0, 13.8x17.9 mm respectively). Touchscreen users were able to point at single pixel targets, thereby countering widespread expectations of poor touchscreen resolution. The results show no difference in performance between the mouse and touchscreen for targets ranging from 32 to 4 pixels per side. In addition, stabilization significantly reduced the error rates for the touchscreen when selecting small targets. These results imply that touchscreens, when properly used, have attractive advantages in selecting targets as small as 4 pixels per size (approximately one-quarter of the size of a single character). Ideas for future research are presented. --- Plaisant, C., Shneiderman, B. and Battaglia J. (1990), Scheduling home-control devices: A case study of the transition from the research project to a product. Human Factors in Practice. December 1990, 7-12. Santa-Monica, CA: Computer Systems Technical Group, Human Factors Society. ///Ask us a copy if you can't access this new magazine /// This case study describes the transition from a research project on scheduling home-control devices to a product integrated in an existing home automation system. First we describe the research that explored several designs to schedule devices over time periods ranging from minutes to days: four designs were compared, three of them prototyped and tested. One of the designs was selected for implementation in the commercial system. We then categorize the actions that were taken in order to improve and mold the prototype design into an integrated product. Finally we report on an additional study that emerged from the first one - the scheduling of periodic events - and on the extensions of the scheduler interface design to other aspects of home automation. --- Potter, R.L., Weldon, L.J., and Shneiderman, B.,(May 1988), Improving the accuracy of touch screens: An experimental evaluation of three strategies. Proceeding of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Washington, DC, 1988, 27-32. --- Potter, R., Berman, M., and Shneiderman, B. (Nov. 1988), An experimental evaluation of three touchscreen strategies within a hypertext database, Technical Report CS-TR-2141, CAR-TR-405, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 1(1) (1989), 41-52. --- Sears, A., Kochavy, Y., and Shneiderman, B. (1989), Touchscreen field specification for public access database queries: Let your fingers do the walking. Proceedings of the ACM Computer Science Conference (Feb. 1990). Database query is becoming a common task in public access systems; touchscreens can provide an appealing interface for such a system. This paper explores three interfaces for constructing queries on alphabetic field values with a touchscreen interface; including a QWERTY keyboard, an Alphabetic keyboard, and a Reduced Input Data Entry (RIDE) interface. The RIDE interface allows field values to be entered with fewer "keystrokes" (touches) than either keyboard while eliminating certain errors. In one test database, the RIDE interface required 69% fewer keystrokes than either keyboard interface. --- Shneiderman, B., Brethauer, D., Plaisant, C., and Potter, R. (May 1989), The Hyperties electronic encyclopedia: An evaluation based on three museum installations, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 40(3), 172-182. // TO APPEAR // -- Sears, A., Plaisant, C. and Shneiderman, B. (June 1990), A new era for touchscreens: High precision, dragging icons and refined feedback. Technical Report CAR-TR-506, CS-TR-2487. To appear in Hartson, R. and Hix, D. ed., Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, Vol.3, Ablex Publ., NJ. While many input devices allow interfaces to be customized, increased directness distinguishes touchscreens. Touchscreens are easy to learn to use, fast, and result in low error rates when interfaces are designed carefully. Many actions which are difficult with a mouse, joystick, or keyboard are simple when using a touchscreen. Making rapid selections at widely separated locations on the screen, signing your name, dragging the hands of a clock in a circular motion are all simple when using a touchscreen, but may be awkward using other devices. This paper presents recent empirical research which can provide a basis for theories of touchscreen usage. We believe recent improvements warrant increased use of touchscreens. --- Sears, A. (Sept. 1990), Improving touchscreen keyboards: Design issues and a comparison with other devices. Technical Report CAR-TR-515, CS-TR-2536. To appear in Interacting with Computers. This study explored touchscreen keyboards using high precision touchscreen strategies. Phase one evaluated three possible monitor positions: 30, 45, and 75 degrees from horizontal. Results indicate that the 75 degree angle, approximately the standard monitor position, resulted in more fatigue and lower preference ratings. Phase two collected touch bias and key size data for the 30 degree angle. Subjects consistently touched below targets, and touched to the left of targets on either side of the screen. Using these data, a touchscreen keyboard was designed. Phase three compared this keyboard with a mouse activated keyboard, and the standard QWERTY keyboard for typing relatively short strings of 6, 19, and 44 characters. Results indicate that users can type approximately 25 words per minute with the touchscreen keyboard, compared to 17 wpm using the mouse, and 58 wpm when using the keyboard. Possible improvements to touchscreen keyboards are suggested. --- Plaisant, C.(Nov. 1990), Guide to Opportunities in Volunteer Archaeology - Case study of the use of a hypertext system in a museum exhibit. Technical Report CAR-TR-523, CS-TR-2559. To appear in Berk E., ed. Hypertext/Hypermedia Handbook, McGraw-Hill Publ. (1991). This case study shows how a hypertext system was used in a traveling exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution. The database about archaeology was constructed by a professor and students of the history department of the University of Maryland. Regular updates of the database were made for each new venue of the exhibit. Finally the database was translated into French and automatically rebuilt to be used in Canada. Helpful features of the hypertext system as well as the difficulties encountered are described. System users were observed in the museum and collected usage data was analyzed. --- Plaisant, C., and Shneiderman, B. (November 1989), Scheduling ON-OFF home control devices: Design issues and usability evaluation of four touchscreen interfaces, Technical Report, CS-TR-2352, CAR-TR-472. To appear in the International Journal of Man Machine Studies. This article describes four different user interfaces supporting scheduling two state (ON/OFF) devices over time periods ranging from minutes to days. The touchscreen-based user interfaces including a digital, 12-hour clock, 24-hour linear and 24-hour dial prototypes are described and compared on a feature by feature basis. An informal usability test with 14 subjects, feedback from more than 30 reviewers, and the flexibility to add functions favors the 24-hour linear version. // TECH REPORTS // --- Sears, A., Revis, D., Swatski, J., Crittenden, R. and Shneiderman B. (April 1991), Investigating Touchscreen Typing: The effect of keyboard size on typing speed. Technical Report CAR-TR-553, CS-TR-2662. This study investigated the effect keyboard size has on typing speed and error rates for touchscreen keyboards. Four keyboard sizes were investigated ranging from 24.5 cm to 6.8 cm wide (23% larger to 64% smaller than standard keyboards). Results indicate that novices can type approximately 9 words per minute (WPM) on the smallest keyboard and 20 WPM on the largest. Users with moderate experience with the keyboards improved to 21 WPM on the smallest keyboard and 32 WPM on the largest. These results indicate that although slower, very small touchscreen keyboards are possible and can be used for limited data entry when the presence of a regular keyboard is not practical. Results also indicate the increased importance of experience on these smaller keyboards. Possible research directions are suggested. --- Plaisant, C. and Wallace D. (Nov. 1990), Touchscreen toggle switches: Push or slide? Design issues and usability study. Technical report CAR-TR-521, CS-TR-2557. This article describes six different touchscreen based toggle switches allowing the control of two state (ON/OFF) devices. The user interfaces, ranging from button type toggles to sliding toggles are described and compared. A usability test with 15 subjects was conducted. Error rates, user preferences and subjective satisfaction ratings were collected. Results indicate that all the toggles described here can be used with low error rates. The sliding toggles were rated harder to use and were least preferred. Individual differences in personal preference were shown to be very large. It was also observed that users spontaneously or after one trial use a sliding motion to activate a control showing a sliding affordance. ----------------------------------------------------- VIDEO ANNOUNCEMENT ----------------------------------------------------- UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION LABORATORY VIDEO "HCIL Open House 91 Videotape": a one hour tape containing reports and demonstrations of HCIL projects: 1-Introduction: Ben Shneiderman 2-Scheduling home control devices: Catherine Plaisant and Ben Shneiderman 3-Touchscreen toggles: Catherine Plaisant 4-A home automation system: Reuel Launey from Custom Command Systems Presented by Ben Shneiderman 5-PlayPenII: A novel fingerpainting program: Andrew Sears and Ben Shneiderman 6-Touchscreen Keyboards: Andrew Sears and Ben Shneiderman 7-Pie menus: Don Hopkins 8-Three interfaces for browsing tables of contents: Rick Chimera Request for the tape (VHS-NTSC only) may be sent to Mildred Johnson, HCIL, A.V. Williams Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Submit a check for $30 ($35 for overseas) made out to the University of Maryland (no purchase order or cash please). [For questions about the video send mail to Plaisant@cs.umd.edu] -- Catherine Plaisant Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory A.V. Williams Bldg. tel: (301) 405-2768