HCI Group at UC Merced Presents

Dr. Scott MacKenzie

Associate Professor

Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

York University, Canada

Friday, February 22, 2019 at 11:30 AM in COB 114

Analytics for Text Entry Methods and Research

Abstract

A common task for users of desktop or mobile computers is the input of text. Whether preparing a report or 'texting' a friend about where to have lunch, we can't avoid this ubiquitous computing task. This talk will explore analytic methods of characterizing and comparing text input methods. We are interested in quantifying the work invested to enter text. For the Qwerty keyboard, entering "hello" takes five keystrokes. If input uses a soft keyboard on a smartphone combined with word completion, fewer keystrokes, or finger taps, are required. A special case is an ambiguous keyboard: fewer keys, >1 letter per key. The phone keypad places 26 letters on just 8 keys. But, what about other keyboards with 26 letters on, say, 7 keys, or 6 keys, or 5 keys, or ... How about text entry with just one key? This talk will present, compare, and quantify the text input process for a variety of keyboards, some with as few a 1 key.

Short Bio

Scott MacKenzie's research is in human-computer interaction with an emphasis on human performance measurement and modeling, experimental methods and evaluation, interaction devices and techniques, text entry, touch-based input, language modeling, accessible computing, gaming, and mobile computing. He has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (including more than 30 from the ACM's annual SIGCHI conference) and has given numerous invited talks over the past 25 years. In 2015, he was elected into the ACM SIGCHI Academy. That same year he was the recipient of the Canadian Human-Computer Communication Society's (CHCCS) Achievement Award. Since 1999, he has been Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at York University, Canada.