Extended reality (XR) technology is positioned to become more ubiquitous in life and the workplace in the coming decades, but the problem of how to best perform precision text-entry in XR remains unsolved. Physical QWERTY keyboards are the current standard for these kind of tasks, but if they are recreated virtually, the feedback information from sense of touch is lost. We designed and ran study with 24 participants to explore the effects of using auditory feedback to communicate this missing information that typists normally get from touching a physical keyboard. The study encompassed four VR mid-air keyboards with increasing levels of auditory information, along with a fifth physical keyboard for reference. We evaluated the auditory augmentations in terms of performance, usability, and workload, while additionally assessing the ability of our technique to communicate the touch-feedback information. Results showed that providing clicking feedback on key-press and key-release improves typing compared to not providing auditory feedback, which is consistent with literature on the topic. However, we also found that using audio to substitute the information contained in physical-touch feedback, in place of actual physical-touch feedback, yielded no statistically significant difference in performance. The information can still be useful, but potentially would take a lot of time to develop the muscle memory reflexes that typists already have when using physical keyboards to type. Nonetheless, we recommend others consider incorporating auditory feedback of key-touch into their mid-air keyboards, since it received the highest levels of user preference among keyboards tested. / Master of Science / Extended reality (XR) refers to technology that allows users to either immerse themselves in virtual worlds or incorporate virtual objects into the real world. XR is positioned to become more ubiquitous in life and the workplace in the coming decades, but the problem of how to best perform precision text-entry in XR remains unsolved. Physical QWERTY keyboards are the current standard for these kind of tasks, but if they are recreated virtually, the information inherent to sense of touch is lost. We designed and ran study with 24 participants to explore the effects of using auditory feedback to communicate this missing information that typists normally get from touching a physical keyboard. The study encompassed four virtual reality (VR) mid-air keyboards with increasing levels of auditory information, along with a fifth physical keyboard for reference. We evaluated the auditory augmentations in terms of performance, usability, and workload, while additionally assessing the ability of our technique to communicate the touch-feedback information. Results showed that providing clicking feedback on key-press and key-release improves typing compared to not providing auditory feedback, which is consistent with literature on the topic. However, we also found that using audio to substitute the information contained in physical-touch feedback, in place of actual physical-touch feedback, yielded no statistically significant difference in performance. The information can still be useful, but potentially would take a lot of time to develop the muscle memory reflexes that typists already have when using physical keyboards to type. Nonetheless, we recommend others consider incorporating auditory feedback of key-touch into their mid-air keyboards, since it received the highest levels of user preference among keyboards tested.

Mobile devices gain increasing computational power and storage capabilities, and there are already mobile phones that can show movies, act as digital music players and offer full-scale web browsing. The bottleneck for information flow is however limited by the inefficient communication channel between the user and the small device. The small mobile phone form factor has proven to be surprisingly difficult to overcome and limited text entry capabilities are in effect crippling mobile devices’ use experience. The desktop keyboard is too large for mobile phones, and the keypad too limited. In recent years, advanced mobile phones have come equipped with touch-screens that enable new text entry solutions. This dissertation explores how software keyboards on touch-screens can be improved to provide an efficient and practical text and command entry experience on mobile devices. The central hypothesis is that it is possible to combine three elements: software keyboard, language redundancy and pattern recognition, and create new effective interfaces for text entry and control. These are collectively called “shape writing” interfaces. Words form shapes on the software keyboard layout. Users write words by articulating the shapes for words on the software keyboard. Two classes of shape writing interfaces are developed and analyzed: discrete and continuous shape writing. The former recognizes users’ pen or finger tapping motion as discrete patterns on the touch-screen. The latter recognizes users’ continuous motion patterns. Experimental results show that novice users can write text with an average entry rate of 25 wpm and an error rate of 1% after 35 minutes of practice. An accelerated novice learning experiment shows that users can exactly copy a single well-practiced phrase with an average entry rate of 46.5 wpm, with individual phrase entry rate measurements up to 99 wpm. When used as a control interface, users can send commands to applications 1.6 times faster than using de-facto standard linear pull-down menus. Visual command preview leads to significantly less errors and shorter gestures for unpracticed commands. Taken together, the quantitative results show that shape writing is among the fastest mobile interfaces for text entry and control, both initially and after practice, that are currently known.

Submitted by Cláudia Bueno (claudiamoura18@gmail.com) on 2016-03-03T20:22:51Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Thamer Horbylon Nascimento - 2015.pdf: 3404276 bytes, checksum: 8b96b87a1ad94259e867e586b0cdde9b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-03-04T11:20:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Thamer Horbylon Nascimento - 2015.pdf: 3404276 bytes, checksum: 8b96b87a1ad94259e867e586b0cdde9b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-04T11:20:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Thamer Horbylon Nascimento - 2015.pdf: 3404276 bytes, checksum: 8b96b87a1ad94259e867e586b0cdde9b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-13 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / This paper proposes a method for gesture-based text input to be used in devices with touch screens. The steps required for this are: recognizing gestures, identify actions needed to enter letters and recognize letters with up to two interactions. To the recognition of gestures, we used the incremental recognition algorithm, which works so that it is not necessary to finish a gesture for this to be recognized, that is, works with continuous gesture recognition. Furthermore, a template is used as a reference for the recognition of gestures. The algorithm identifies the likelihood of the gesture being a running the template. As the incremental recognition algorithm did not have curves in templates using the reduced equation of the circle, was created a template with curves and straight lines were also added in it. The template created served to create a database for entering the letters of the alphabet from A to Z, using user gestures. This base was used for training of a Naïve Bayes classifier, which identifies the probability of inserting a letter entered by the user based on the gestures. Three experiments were conducted to test the method developed. It was found that most users entered a letter using up to two interactions when inserted the five vowels and the five most frequent consonants. When inserting the five vowels and five consonants less frequent, users were also able to enter the letters with up to two interactions. Thus, there is evidence that the method to solve the problem which has been proposed as a solution. / Este trabalho propõe um método para entrada de texto baseado em gestos para ser usado em dispositivos com telas sensíveis ao toque. Os passos necessários para isso são: reconhecer gestos, identificar gestos necessários para inserir letras e reconhecer letras com até duas interações. Para fazer o reconhecimento dos gestos, foi utilizado o algoritmo de reconhecimento incremental, o qual trabalha de forma que não seja necessário terminar um gesto para que este seja reconhecido, ou seja, trabalha com reconhecimento contínuo de gestos. Além disso, um template é utilizado como referência para o reconhecimento dos gestos, assim, o algoritmo identifica a probabilidade de o gesto em execução ser um do template. Como o algoritmo de reconhecimento incremental não possuía curvas em seus templates, utilizando a equação reduzida da circunferência, foi criado um template com curvas e foram também adicionadas retas nele. O template criado serviu para a criação de uma base de dados para a inserção das letras do alfabeto de A a Z, utilizando gestos de usuários. Essa base foi utilizada para treinamento de um classificador Naïve Bayes, que identifica a probabilidade de inserção de uma letra baseado nos gestos inseridos pelo usuário. Foram realizados três experimentos para testar o método desenvolvido. Verificouse que a maioria dos usuários inseriu uma letra utilizando até duas interações, quando inseriram as cinco vogais e as cinco consoantes mais frequentes. Ao inserir as cinco vogais e cinco consoantes menos frequentes, os usuários também conseguiram inserir as letras com até duas interações. Assim, há evidências de que o método resolva o problema para qual foi proposto como solução.

To date, hundreds of millions of mini-QWERTY keyboard equipped devices (miniaturized versions of a full desktop keyboard) have been sold. Accordingly, a large percentage of text messages originate from fixed-key, mini-QWERTY keyboard enabled mobile phones. Over a series of three longitudinal studies I quantify how quickly and accurately individuals can input text on mini-QWERTY keyboards. I evaluate performance in ideal laboratory conditions as well as in a variety of mobile contexts. My first study establishes baseline performance measures; my second study investigates the impact of limited visibility on text input performance; and my third study investigates the impact of mobility (sitting, standing, and walking) on text input performance. After approximately five hours of practice, participants achieved expertise typing almost 60 words per minute at almost 95% accuracy. Upon completion of these studies, I examine the types of errors that people make when typing on mini-QWERTY keyboards. Having discovered a common pattern in errors, I develop and refine an algorithm to automatically detect and correct errors in mini-QWERTY keyboard enabled text input. I both validate the algorithm through the analysis of pre-recorded typing data and then empirically evaluate the impacts of automatic error correction on live mini-QWERTY keyboard text input. Validating the algorithm over various datasets, I demonstrate the potential to correct approximately 25% of the total errors and correct up to 3% of the total keystrokes. Evaluating automatic error detection and correction on live typing results in successfully correcting 61% of the targeted errors committed by participants while increasing typing rates by almost two words per minute without introducing noticeable distraction.

As technology evolves, new devices and interaction techniques are developed. These transformations create several challenges in terms of usability and user experience. Our research faces some challenges for data input or content exploration in scenarios with restrictions. It is not our intention to investigate all possible scenarios, but we deeply explore a broad range of devices and restrictions. We start with a discussion about the use of an interactive coffee table for exploration of personal photos and videos, also considering a TV set as an additional screen. In a second scenario, we present an architecture that offers to interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications the possibility of receiving multimodal data from multiple devices. Our third scenario concentrates on supporting text input for iDTV applications using a remote control, and presents an interface model based on multiple input modes as a solution. In the last two scenarios, we continued investigating better ways to provide text entry; however, our restriction becomes not using the hands, which is the kind of challenge faced by severely motor-disabled individuals. First, we present a text entry method based on two input symbols and an interaction technique based on detecting internal and external heel rotations using an accelerometer, for those who keep at least a partial movement of a leg and a foot. In the following scenario, only the eyes are required. We present an eye-typing technique that recognizes the intended word by weighting length and frequency of all possible words formed by filtering extra letters from the sequence of letters gazed by the user. The exploration of each scenario in depth was important to achieve the relevant results and contributions. On the other hand, the wide scope of this dissertation allowed the student to learn about several technologies and techniques. / Com a evolução da tecnologia, novos dispositivos e técnicas de interação são desenvolvidas. Essas transformações criam desafios em termos de usabilidade e experiência do usuário. Essa pesquisa enfrenta alguns desafios para a entrada de dados e exploração de conteúdo em cenários com restrições. Não foi intenção da pesquisa investigar todos os possíveis cenários, mas sim a exploração em profundidade de uma ampla gama de dispositivos e restrições. Ao todo cinco cenários são investigados. Primeiramente é apresentada uma discussão sobre o uso de uma mesa de centro interativa para a exploração de fotos e vídeos pessoais, a qual também considera um aparelho de TV como tela adicional. Com base no segundo cenário, uma arquitetura que oferece a aplicações de TV digital interativa (TVDI) a possibilidade de receber dados multimodais de múltiplos dispositivos é apresentada. O terceiro cenário se concentra no suporte a entrada de texto para aplicações de TVDI usando o controle remoto, resultando na apresentação de um modelo de interface baseado em múltiplos modos de entrada como solução. Os dois últimos cenários permitem continuar a investigação por melhores formas de entrada de texto, porém, a restrição se torna a impossibilidade de usar as mãos, um dos desafios enfrentados por indivíduos com deficiência motora severa. No primeiro deles, são apresentados um método de entrada de texto baseado em dois símbolos de entrada e uma técnica de interação baseada na detecção de rotações do pé apoiado sobre o calcanhar usando acelerômetro, para aqueles que mantêm pelo menos um movimento parcial de uma perna e um pé. No senário seguinte, apenas os movimentos dos olhos são exigidos. Foi apresentada uma técnica de escrita com o olho que reconhece a palavra desejada ponderando o comprimento de a frequência de ocorrência de todas as palavras que podem ser formadas filtrando letras excedentes da lista de letras olhadas pelo usuário. A exploração de cada cenário em profundidade foi importante para a obtenção de resultados e contribuições relevantes. Por outro lado, o amplo escopo da dissertação permitiu ao estudante o aprendizado de diversas técnicas e tecnologias.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2017-08-01T10:48:34Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Joyce Siqueira - 2017.pdf: 19412017 bytes, checksum: ed71bf6287eda5153f70caad31c82d62 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-08-01T15:16:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Joyce Siqueira - 2017.pdf: 19412017 bytes, checksum: ed71bf6287eda5153f70caad31c82d62 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-01T15:16:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Joyce Siqueira - 2017.pdf: 19412017 bytes, checksum: ed71bf6287eda5153f70caad31c82d62 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-14 / Touch screens have made smartphones much more dynamic. However, due to the absence of the physical keyboard, they also made them less accessible for visually impaired people. Considering the input of text as a primary function, the objective of this research was to develop a method that uses the Braille System for typing, from a new virtual keyboard, which is supported by a tactile film superimposed on the touch screen. The method was constructed considering the mobile accessibility guidelines developed by the W3C, World Wide Web Consortium, and the monitoring of a specialist user with congenital blindness and Braille literacy. As a result, BrailleÉcran was developed, the combination of an Android application with a tactile film modeled for 3D printing. Besides the film, the application has the "Configuration Panel", which allows the application to adapt to user preferences and the "Help Center", which provides a spoken tutorial. For evaluation, 10 volunteers performed the experiments that allowed the verification of speed, accuracy, usability and user experience. As a result WPM = 2.52 and TER = 2.68. The usability questionnaire brought positive results, of which we highlight the "You liked to use" issue with 90% acceptance. In the PANAS questionnaire, all the positive affects obtained a maximum score and the negative affects a minimum score. It is estimated that this research offers society not only a method but a quality assistive technology that provides more independence for the visually impaired. In addition, to expand the studies in this area, the prototypes are open source and are available for access and future contributions. / As telas sensíveis ao toque tornaram os smartphones muito mais dinâmicos. No entanto,devido à ausência do teclado físico, também os tornaram menos acessíveis para pessoascom deficiência visual. Considerando a entrada de texto uma função primária, o objetivodesta pesquisa foi o de desenvolver um método que utilizasse o Sistema Braille paradigitação, a partir de um novo teclado virtual, que tenha como suporte uma película tátilsobreposta à tela sensível ao toque. O método foi construído considerando as diretrizesde acessibilidade móvel, desenvolvidas pelaWorld Wide Web Consortium(W3C) e oacompanhamento de um especialista, com cegueira congênita e alfabetizado em Braille.Como resultado, desenvolveu-se o BrailleÉcran, a combinação de um aplicativo Androidcom uma película tátil, modelada para impressão 3D. Além da película, o aplicativo contacom o “Painel de Configuração”, que permite a adaptação do aplicativo às preferênciasdo usuário e a “Central de Ajuda”, que disponibiliza um tutorial falado. Para avaliação,10 voluntários realizaram os experimentos que possibilitaram a verificação da velocidade,da taxa de erros, da satisfação e da experiência do usuário. Como resultado obteve-se queo valor médio de palavras digitadas por minuto (WPM) foi de 2,52 e a taxa total de erros(TER) foi de 2,68%. A entrevista sobre a satisfação do usuário trouxe resultados positivos,dos quais destaca-se a afirmativa “Você gostou de usar”, com 90% de aceitação. Emrelação a experiência de uso, aplicou-se o questionário Afeto Positivo e Afeto Negativo(PANAS) e como resultado obteve-se que todos os afetos positivos foram aflorados,ao contrário dos negativos. Estima-se que esta pesquisa possa oferecer à sociedade ummétodo de qualidade. Ademais, para expansão dos estudos, os protótipos são de códigoaberto e estão disponíveis para acesso e futuras contribuições.

There is a growing interest in bringing online and streaming content to the television. Gaming platforms such as the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii are at the center of this digital convergence; platforms for accessing new media services. This presents a number of interface challenges, as controllers designed for gaming have to be adapted to accessing online content. We conducted a user study examining the limitations and affordances of novel game controllers in an interactive TV (iTV) context and compared them to "second display" approaches using tablets. We looked at task completion times, accuracy and user satisfaction across a number of tasks and found that the Wiimote is most liked and performed best in almost all tasks. Participants found the Kinect difficult to use, which led to slow performance and high error rates. We discuss challenges and opportunities for the future convergence of game consoles and iTV. We also analyzed the usability of the interfaces themselves with respect to each device. Accuracy ratings and context of task type were used to determine ideal component attributes such as button size and spacing. Additional strategies like snapping cursor to buttons in the case of small targets were also suggested. Paying attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each input method, we put forth a set of design recommendations for future iTV interfaces that leverage novel input devices. / Graduation date: 2012

As technology evolves, new devices and interaction techniques are developed. These transformations create several challenges in terms of usability and user experience. Our research faces some challenges for data input or content exploration in scenarios with restrictions. It is not our intention to investigate all possible scenarios, but we deeply explore a broad range of devices and restrictions. We start with a discussion about the use of an interactive coffee table for exploration of personal photos and videos, also considering a TV set as an additional screen. In a second scenario, we present an architecture that offers to interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications the possibility of receiving multimodal data from multiple devices. Our third scenario concentrates on supporting text input for iDTV applications using a remote control, and presents an interface model based on multiple input modes as a solution. In the last two scenarios, we continued investigating better ways to provide text entry; however, our restriction becomes not using the hands, which is the kind of challenge faced by severely motor-disabled individuals. First, we present a text entry method based on two input symbols and an interaction technique based on detecting internal and external heel rotations using an accelerometer, for those who keep at least a partial movement of a leg and a foot. In the following scenario, only the eyes are required. We present an eye-typing technique that recognizes the intended word by weighting length and frequency of all possible words formed by filtering extra letters from the sequence of letters gazed by the user. The exploration of each scenario in depth was important to achieve the relevant results and contributions. On the other hand, the wide scope of this dissertation allowed the student to learn about several technologies and techniques. / Com a evolução da tecnologia, novos dispositivos e técnicas de interação são desenvolvidas. Essas transformações criam desafios em termos de usabilidade e experiência do usuário. Essa pesquisa enfrenta alguns desafios para a entrada de dados e exploração de conteúdo em cenários com restrições. Não foi intenção da pesquisa investigar todos os possíveis cenários, mas sim a exploração em profundidade de uma ampla gama de dispositivos e restrições. Ao todo cinco cenários são investigados. Primeiramente é apresentada uma discussão sobre o uso de uma mesa de centro interativa para a exploração de fotos e vídeos pessoais, a qual também considera um aparelho de TV como tela adicional. Com base no segundo cenário, uma arquitetura que oferece a aplicações de TV digital interativa (TVDI) a possibilidade de receber dados multimodais de múltiplos dispositivos é apresentada. O terceiro cenário se concentra no suporte a entrada de texto para aplicações de TVDI usando o controle remoto, resultando na apresentação de um modelo de interface baseado em múltiplos modos de entrada como solução. Os dois últimos cenários permitem continuar a investigação por melhores formas de entrada de texto, porém, a restrição se torna a impossibilidade de usar as mãos, um dos desafios enfrentados por indivíduos com deficiência motora severa. No primeiro deles, são apresentados um método de entrada de texto baseado em dois símbolos de entrada e uma técnica de interação baseada na detecção de rotações do pé apoiado sobre o calcanhar usando acelerômetro, para aqueles que mantêm pelo menos um movimento parcial de uma perna e um pé. No senário seguinte, apenas os movimentos dos olhos são exigidos. Foi apresentada uma técnica de escrita com o olho que reconhece a palavra desejada ponderando o comprimento de a frequência de ocorrência de todas as palavras que podem ser formadas filtrando letras excedentes da lista de letras olhadas pelo usuário. A exploração de cada cenário em profundidade foi importante para a obtenção de resultados e contribuições relevantes. Por outro lado, o amplo escopo da dissertação permitiu ao estudante o aprendizado de diversas técnicas e tecnologias.

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