Summary
Pen-based interfaces can be extremely useful, intuitive, and accurate in many domains, much more than the current use of a mouse. Different systems that use pen-input include Tablet PCs, interactive white-/blackboards in classroom use, and personal data assistants (PDAs). All of these devices can either be passive, where a stylus is used on a touch screen, a “tap” being equivalent to a mouse click, or active , where a special pen uses electromagnetic signals to relay it’s position to the display, moving the cursor without having to tap the pen to the surface.
One domain where pen-input systems using digital ink (saving a sketch as the raw sketch and not performing any recognition procedures to deduce meaning) or sketch recognition systems (trying to deduce meaning from drawings) excels is in the classroom. In conjunction with other software/hardware combinations such as digital projectors and screen capture/recording programs (including audio), pen-input systems can be used to add dynamic content to static lectures, provide a medium for distributing, receiving, and grading electronic version of homework assignments, and helps provide immediate feedback within the classroom setting. The notes jotted on lecture slides can be saved as digital ink, whereas supplementary materials like chemical formulae, mathematical equations, and physics demonstrations can be drawn/written and passes into a sketch recognition program to build 3D molecule models, plot function graphs, and animate physical interactions.
The FLUID framework (based on the LADDER and GUILD sketch recognition system), allows users to define new domains and systems to recognize new sets of sketches. Providing a method for obtaining pen-input data, the framework will assign meaning to the drawings based on the user’s specifications, and then optionally pass this data on to another program (such as a CAD system for manipulating physical models of real world objects).
Discussion
I was skeptical about the authors’ claims that mice “do not have the natural feel of a pen, nor [do they] provide a pen’s accuracy.” Being a long time computer user and owning a high grade optical mouse, I am quite satisfied with my level of accuracy and comfort with a mouse. However, I realize I am the exception and that everyone is familiar with a pen and anyone that can write on paper can write on a pen-input device with very little training curve. Getting that accuracy out of a mouse takes quite a bit more use and practice. Additionally, after using both the Wacom monitors and Table PCs in the lab, I realize just how easy it is to use a pen-input device. Yes, it is much more intuitive than a mouse.
One of the ideas I like most about this paper is the use of digital ink for white-/blackboard presentations and lecture annotations. While in class, I almost constantly wish for some easy method to capture the content of the blackboard. I can transcribe what the professor writes into my own notes, but again I’m left without the flexibility of editing, copying, pasting, and “time lapse” that digital ink could provide. The paper left me very excited about the possibilities of pen-input and sketch recognition systems.
6 comments:
On your comment about the mouse vs pen, there have been studies that an indirect pointer actually performs better than a direct input [Device Comparisons for Goal-Directed Drawing Tasks]. Of course, other studies disagree. You are correct though that it shouldn't just be an assumption. After all most people actually have as much keyboard/mouse interaction as they do pen/paper these days.
You should check out Georgia Tech's eClass http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/eclass/ if you want to learn more about the possibilities of digital blackboards. They've done great work over there trying to capture lectures and augmenting presentations with pen input.
Oh, this seems to be a relatively popular post to comment on by our fellow classmates. I'll dive in, too.
I was also intrigued by your comments about the pen vs. mouse. Naturally, all of us in the class have had significant experience with using a mouse (I hope we all do), as well as with physically writing with pens and pencils. I may have to go back to the paper for that particular statement, but I believe in essence that it was used in a qualified sense. But your observations about both input devices was right on target.
There are some additional comments I wanted to add about the "natural feel" of pen usage. While a normal pen feels natural to use, there were two aspects that I didn't feel was too natural with the use of a computer pen. The first was writing on a pad stationed flat on the table while looking at the results on a vertical monitor, due to the lack of directly seeing what one writes. The second was writing on a vertical monitor itself, which isn't as natural as writing on horizontal surface. The Tablet PC slates do avoid those complications and emulate the natural feel of writing with a pen.
/end rant
I find it funny (topical?) that this morning a high school teacher posted to Slashdot about advice on using a tablet and wireless projector in his math and science course. They received some backlash in the comments on how technology in the classroom has failed.
Link
I have to agree with your mouse-v-pen comments. I often do some fairly detailed GIS shapefile editing and if I had to use a crappy pen instead of my laser mini-mouse, who knows what I would end up with. Perhaps it is because I have trained myself over the years but still, at least in my experience, the pens need a lot of work. In the meantime, I'll stick with my mouse.
Again with your mouse vs. pen comment, although it's true that most people nowadays are familiar with a mouse and saying that a pen is "better" might meet skepticism, think of years in the future. When computers get smaller and eventually are all projections (I don't know when, but one day I'm going to have one of those futuristic panels that pops up out of thin air as my computer) this will eliminate the need for the "clunky" mouse. Think of a pen as temporary substitute for someone's finger, and one day technology will catch up and replace it.
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