[Colloq] Colloquium - Monday, November 6 - Scott MacKenzie, York University

[Rachel Kalweit]

College of Computer and Information Science Colloquium

Presents:
Scott MacKenzie
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, York University, 
Toronto, Canada

Who will speak on:
Text Entry Using a Small Number of Buttons

Monday, November 6, 2006
12:00pm
366 West Village H
Northeastern University

Abstract:
This talk focuses on systems where the user enters text by pressing keys 
or buttons, and where more than one character or letter is assigned to 
each button. Such keyboards are ambiguous because there is uncertainty 
as to the intended symbol when a key is pressed. There is recent 
worldwide interest in such ambiguous keyboards because of mobile 
computing where space is limited. Also, such keyboards widen the 
communications possibility for users with physical disabilities who have 
insufficient motor facility to operate a full-size keyboard. We will 
first investigate the design possibilities. Many are variants of the 
phone keypad, while others use fewer keys (more ambiguity) or more keys 
(less ambiguity). Metrics to characterize such keyboards are defined and 
given, such as T-factor (the number of keys bearing letters) and KSPC 
(the average number of keystrokes to produce each character of text in a 
given language using a given interaction technique). Human performance 
issues are also noted, since disambiguation methods require additional 
attention for users. The promise of combining predictive techniques, 
such as word completion, with ambiguous keyboards is noted and 
demonstrated using software tools.

Biography
Scott MacKenzie is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and 
Engineering at York University in Toronto, Canada. His research is in 
human-computer interaction with an emphasis on human performance 
measurement and modeling, interaction devices and techniques, 
alphanumeric entry, and mobile computing. Home page: www.yorku.ca/mack/.

Host: Peter Tarasewich