CMSC 838G - Spring 2004
Prof Guimbretiere

Advanced usability: New Devices for New Interactions


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Students are encouraged to form small multi-disciplinary groups who will conduct one research project throughout the semester. While there will be 3 project checkpoints during the semester, only the final version of the project will be graded. At each checkpoints, the current status of each project will presented and discussed in class. The goal of the project is for you to produce a research paper suitable for submission to a conference.

Schedule:

02/12/04: Project proposal;
03/04/04: Bibliography review & presentation to class;
04/01/04: Design and methods & presentation to class;
04/22/04: Preliminary results & presentation to class;
04/11/04: Final project & presentation to class.

Possible Projects

Students are encouraged to propose their own project reflecting their interests. The list presented here is only intended as providing examples of possible projects.

  • Better mouse for kids. Current mouse at not well adapted to kid hands. They are also too sensitive which make it difficult for kids to keep the mouse still while clicking on the mouse button. What can be done to fix this problem?

  • Better mouse for the older users. What will be the perfect mouse for older users, who might move the mouse slower than other users, have difficulty with buttons and be impedes by small tremors?

  • A better pen for the Tablet PCs. Can one design a more ergonomic pen for the Tablet PC (making it easier for example to press the pen button)?

  • A tactile display for visually impaired users. While several tactile mice are on the market (such as the VirTouch mouse), they force users to scan the screen. Can we do better?

  • Better document navigation for Tablet PCs. How one can improve digital document navigation on a Tablet PC. Can we go beyond the page-up, page-down button (For example see this paper on manipulative interface)?

  • A digital drawing table. Using this study on how people draw as a starting point, is it possible to design a better digital drawing table?

  • Better text input mechanisms for small devices. How can we improve text entry for our cell phones, PDAs and pocket PCs?

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