Author(s): Sulaiman A N, Olivier P, Heslop P
Abstract: TANGISOFT is a hybrid of a physical and a soft keyboard designed specifically for digital tabletops. The aim of the design was to combine the advantages of tangible and directtouch interaction in a tool for the tabletop. TANGISOFT was realized by printing a keyboard on paper, tracking the paper, allowing text entry by direct-touch on the printed layout, and augmenting printed layout through projection. The design hypotheses were that making the keyboard tangible would elicit two-handed interaction, leading to improved mobility, and better integration of text entry with higher level activities. The goal was to introduce a novel keyboard that is more suited to tabletop applications that require high mobility and frequent switching between text entry and other tasks. A study was conducted to explore and contrast people’s use of TANGISOFT and soft keyboards. The results showed that mobility is largely a characteristic of the user rather than the tool, but still, TANGISOFT did elicit two-handed interaction in which positioning the keyboard became a subconscious operation integrated with the larger activity and leading to more mobile users as compared to using a soft keyboard. These results mean that in a number of situations TANGISOFT is a more appropriate alternative to soft or conventional physical keyboards.
Keywords: Digital tabletops, tangible interaction, pen- based input, large
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Professor Patrick Olivier
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