The usability of scribble matching - Semantic Scholar
APRIL
13-18,
1996
CH196
The usability David
●
~m
of scribble
Frohlich
Richard
+44 1179228800 [email protected].
+44 1179228070 [email protected]
Scribble matching is a facility developed for pen-computers which aliows users to search electronic ink. Here we report our fwst user evaluation of scribble matching in a scribble phonebook application. 12 users each retrieved 40 phone numbers using combinations of scribble look-up, text look-up and manual browsing. Scribble look-up was prefen-ed to the other two methods despite problems in
KEYWORDS:
original handwritten Pen, handwriting,
labels in the phonebook. retrieval, usability
Two other research groups have reported attempts to develop a similar facility within the same paradigm [3,4], but there is as yet no published data on the usability or usefidness of scribble look-up in a real application. In the rest of this paper we describe an experiment to collect such data. PHONEBOOK
APPLICATION
A scribble phone-book application was developed on a 486 PC mnning Windows for Pen. An active Wacom PL-1OOV’ tablet was used instead of a CRT monitor. A three column phonebook formed the core of the application. Each row was a phonebook entry with an alphanumeric phone number shown in the right hand column. The middle cohtnm contained a textual name for the number while the left handl column contained a handwritten label. The entire phonebook, was organised in pages containing 9 entries each and arrows
INTRODUCTION The predominant paradigm in pen computing is to use the pen as an alternative to the keyboard on small portable appliances. Handwriting recognition technology is central to this paradigm as the means by which handwritten input is However, current handwriting converted to ascii text.
to turn forwards or backwards in the book.
recognition software is only appropriate for certain tasks [3], and has created considerable market resistance to the use of
USER TASKS
pen computers in general.
For the purposes of the experiment
In our group we have been exploring an alternative paradigm which we call ‘handwriting-as-data’. Within this view the pen is used to input handwriting, drawings or gestures which remain unprocessed by the computer and yet available for manipulation by the user. The job of the computer is then to assist the user in this task. To this end we have developed an algorithm for searching electronic ink called scribble matching [2] This takes a fragment of unrecognised handwriting (or scribble) and compares it to a larger set in order to return one or more similar fragments. The algorithm currently of the time, from a 200 can therefore be used variety of pen-based form-filling, messaging,
returns a single correct match 97% word dictionary. Scribble matching to perform scribble look-up in a applications including notetaking, and PIM.
Permission to make digilal/frard copies of all or part of this material for personsl or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the. Copyright notice, the title of the publicrrtion and its date appear, and notice is gwxr that copyright is by permission of IIte ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to rtpubliah, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires specific permission and/or fee. CHI ’96 Companion, Vancouver, BC Canada Q 1996 ACM &89791 -83~.()/9fj/@$. .$3.5t)
.
Hull
Hewlett Packard Laboratories Filton Road, Stoke Gifford Bristol BS126QZ, UK
com
.,.
matching
Hewlett Packard Laboratories Filton Road, Stoke Gifford Bristol BS126QZ, UK
ABSTRACT
remembering
.
AND METHODS fiu-ther features were
added to the application to present it as a pen-based fax appliance supporting 2 tasks phoning and faxing out. Thus two icons for phoning and fining appeared on the tablet togsther wit!-t a phonebook icon. When users clicked on these icons the system displayed a phone dialing, form and a fax cover sheet respectively (see Figure 1).
,. 1 ,.
&A#—. pu’2r-
—
—-. 1---
mm
Figure 1. An example fax cover sheet For both phoning and faxing users had to retrieve a number from the phonebook. They could do this in three ways:
189
CH196
13-18,
1996
before returning to the phone or fax forms.
Such preference for Scribble look-up is especially interesting in the light of the actual eftlciency of each method. In fact, Scribble and Browsing were faster than Text look-up (main
(b) Text look-up: by clicking the keyboard icon next to the ‘Full name’ field on either form, typing a textual label on a
more reliable than Scribble and Text (main effect on errors
soft keyboard display and then pressing the ‘Look up’ button.
X2=23.8, df=2, p
13-18,
1996
CH196
The usability David
●
~m
of scribble
Frohlich
Richard
+44 1179228800 [email protected].
+44 1179228070 [email protected]
Scribble matching is a facility developed for pen-computers which aliows users to search electronic ink. Here we report our fwst user evaluation of scribble matching in a scribble phonebook application. 12 users each retrieved 40 phone numbers using combinations of scribble look-up, text look-up and manual browsing. Scribble look-up was prefen-ed to the other two methods despite problems in
KEYWORDS:
original handwritten Pen, handwriting,
labels in the phonebook. retrieval, usability
Two other research groups have reported attempts to develop a similar facility within the same paradigm [3,4], but there is as yet no published data on the usability or usefidness of scribble look-up in a real application. In the rest of this paper we describe an experiment to collect such data. PHONEBOOK
APPLICATION
A scribble phone-book application was developed on a 486 PC mnning Windows for Pen. An active Wacom PL-1OOV’ tablet was used instead of a CRT monitor. A three column phonebook formed the core of the application. Each row was a phonebook entry with an alphanumeric phone number shown in the right hand column. The middle cohtnm contained a textual name for the number while the left handl column contained a handwritten label. The entire phonebook, was organised in pages containing 9 entries each and arrows
INTRODUCTION The predominant paradigm in pen computing is to use the pen as an alternative to the keyboard on small portable appliances. Handwriting recognition technology is central to this paradigm as the means by which handwritten input is However, current handwriting converted to ascii text.
to turn forwards or backwards in the book.
recognition software is only appropriate for certain tasks [3], and has created considerable market resistance to the use of
USER TASKS
pen computers in general.
For the purposes of the experiment
In our group we have been exploring an alternative paradigm which we call ‘handwriting-as-data’. Within this view the pen is used to input handwriting, drawings or gestures which remain unprocessed by the computer and yet available for manipulation by the user. The job of the computer is then to assist the user in this task. To this end we have developed an algorithm for searching electronic ink called scribble matching [2] This takes a fragment of unrecognised handwriting (or scribble) and compares it to a larger set in order to return one or more similar fragments. The algorithm currently of the time, from a 200 can therefore be used variety of pen-based form-filling, messaging,
returns a single correct match 97% word dictionary. Scribble matching to perform scribble look-up in a applications including notetaking, and PIM.
Permission to make digilal/frard copies of all or part of this material for personsl or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the. Copyright notice, the title of the publicrrtion and its date appear, and notice is gwxr that copyright is by permission of IIte ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to rtpubliah, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires specific permission and/or fee. CHI ’96 Companion, Vancouver, BC Canada Q 1996 ACM &89791 -83~.()/9fj/@$. .$3.5t)
.
Hull
Hewlett Packard Laboratories Filton Road, Stoke Gifford Bristol BS126QZ, UK
com
.,.
matching
Hewlett Packard Laboratories Filton Road, Stoke Gifford Bristol BS126QZ, UK
ABSTRACT
remembering
.
AND METHODS fiu-ther features were
added to the application to present it as a pen-based fax appliance supporting 2 tasks phoning and faxing out. Thus two icons for phoning and fining appeared on the tablet togsther wit!-t a phonebook icon. When users clicked on these icons the system displayed a phone dialing, form and a fax cover sheet respectively (see Figure 1).
,. 1 ,.
&A#—. pu’2r-
—
—-. 1---
mm
Figure 1. An example fax cover sheet For both phoning and faxing users had to retrieve a number from the phonebook. They could do this in three ways:
189
CH196
13-18,
1996
before returning to the phone or fax forms.
Such preference for Scribble look-up is especially interesting in the light of the actual eftlciency of each method. In fact, Scribble and Browsing were faster than Text look-up (main
(b) Text look-up: by clicking the keyboard icon next to the ‘Full name’ field on either form, typing a textual label on a
more reliable than Scribble and Text (main effect on errors
soft keyboard display and then pressing the ‘Look up’ button.
X2=23.8, df=2, p
