Physical Keyboard Research Articles

Ergonomic modelling and optimization of the keyboard arrangement with an ant colony algorithm

The arrangement of letters on a keyboard greatly influences the user's comfort and typing speed. With repetitive muscular injuries emerging and the amount of text to be treated increasing, the need for a better arrangement has come forth. To solve the problem, a non-trivial abstract representation of a physical keyboard layout and of type-writing rules is introduced. Having justified the choice of heuristic ergonomic criteria, a mathematical function for the ergonomic evaluation criteria is developed. Based on the ant colony optimization algorithm, an optimization algorithm is designed and applied to the problem described. The computational results representing the quality of the keyboard arrangements obtained for several languages are finally discussed and new solutions for optimization of the keyboard are presented.

Enhancing an appointment diary on a pocket computer for use by people after brain injury.

People with memory loss resulting from brain injury benefit from purpose-designed memory aids such as appointment diaries on pocket computers. The present study explores the effects of extending the range of memory aids and including games. For 2 months, 12 people who had sustained brain injury were loaned a pocket computer containing three purpose-designed memory aids: diary, notebook and to-do list. A month later they were given another computer with the same memory aids but a different method of text entry (physical keyboard or touch-screen keyboard). Machine order was counterbalanced across participants. Assessment was by interviews during the loan periods, rating scales, performance tests and computer log files. All participants could use the memory aids and ten people (83%) found them very useful. Correlations among the three memory aids were not significant, suggesting individual variation in how they were used. Games did not increase use of the memory aids, nor did loan of the preferred pocket computer (with physical keyboard). Significantly more diary entries were made by people who had previously used other memory aids, suggesting that a better understanding of how to use a range of memory aids could benefit some people with brain injury.

Comparison of pocket-computer memory aids for people with brain injury

Two styles of pocket computer memory aid were compared as support for people who had sustained non-progressive, closed-head brain injury. A purpose-designed interface provided a diary with auditory alarms, a notebook and links between diary entries and specific notepages. One computer had a physical keyboard, the other did not. Twelve adult volunteers were loaned each computer for 2 months, with a 1 month gap between, in counterbalanced order. It was found that all participants could use the memory aids, and most (83%) found them useful. Little customizing was needed, but amount of use varied widely. Predictors of usage included use of other reminding systems before joining the project, and speed in calculator addition which may reflect working memory. High users preferred the computer with a physical keyboard; low users made more entries with the palm-size computer. These data highlight the need to distinguish ability to use from willingness to use.

The role of visual search in the design of effective soft keyboards

As portable, handheld computing devices become more common, alternatives to traditional keyboards must be explored. These alternatives must be compact, lightweight and sufficiently efficient to support the users' tasks. One alternative is the use of small physical keyboards or soft keyboards presented on touch-sensitive surfaces. Many alternative layouts have been explored, including the QWERTY, Dvorak, telephone and various alphabetic organizations. Soukoreff and MacKenzie proposed a model to predict typing times for alternative layouts, but have experienced limited success matching their predictions to observed performance. This paper proposes a revision of the visual search component of their model that considers the familiarity of the organization and the number of letters represented by each key. Results are reported of an experiment that supports the claim that both familiarity and the number of letters per key must be considered when predicting visual search times for alternative keyboard layouts.

Text entry on handheld computers by older users

Small pocket computers offer great potential in workplaces where mobility is needed to collect data or access reference information while carrying out tasks such as maintenance or customer support. This paper reports on three studies examining the hypothesis that data entry by older workers is easier when the pocket computer has a physical keyboard, albeit a small one, rather than a touchscreen keyboard. Using a counter-balanced, within-subjects design the accuracy and speed with which adults over 55 years of age could make or modify short text entries was measured for both kinds of pocket computer. The keyboard computer was the Hewlett Packard 360LX (HP), but the touch-screen computers varied across studies (experiment 1: Apple Newton™ and PalmPilot™; experiment 2: Philips Nino™; experiment 3: Casio E10™). All studies showed significant decrements in accuracy and speed when entering text via the touch-screen. Across studies, most participants preferred using the HP's small physical keyboard. Even after additional practice with the touch screen (experiments 2 and 3) many entries still contained errors. Experiment 3 showed that younger people were faster but not more accurate than older people at using the touch-screen keyboard. It is concluded that satisfactory text entry on palm-size computers awaits improvements to the touch-screen keyboard or alternative input methods such as handwriting or voice. Interface developments that assist older people typically benefit younger users too.

Comparing telephone-computer interface designs: Are software simulations as good as hardware prototypes?

Widespread interest in the evaluation of human-system interfaces has led to the development of various techniques in usability engineering. Usability evaluations are usually carried out on interface prototypes. However, if the design involves hardware implementation, such as a special keypad or a control panel layout, producing hardware prototypes for evaluation can be expensive and time-consuming. One solution to this problem is to use software tools for design simulation. In this case, a question which must be answered is: will a simulated prototype produce the same conclusions as a hardware prototype? That is, is software simulation a valid approach? The main purpose of this paper is to address this issue through an experiment. A multimedia authoring package was used to simulate several potential telephone handset designs for telephone-computer interfaces. The simulated prototypes were tested and compared with a physical keyboard for validation. The experiment did confirm the validity of simulation in this particular setting. It also demonstrated the advantages of using a software tool to build the prototype and to automate the evaluation process, including user training, test setting, and data collection.

The Reactive Keyboard: a predictive typing aid

The Reactive Keyboard, a device that accelerates typewritten communication with a computer system by predicting what the user is going to type next is described. The version described is designed for entering free text and runs on any Apple Macintosh computer with at least 1 MB of memory (though 2 MB is preferred). It makes full use of the Macintosh mouse-and-window environment to give users convenient control over display and acceptance of predictions, and it requires no physical keyboard. The interface increases the speed and ease of communicating with a computer, especially for physically disabled people. >