Paper Reading #5: A Framework for Robust and Flexible Handling of Inputs with Uncertainty

A Framework for Robust and Flexible Handling of Inputs with Uncertainty

By:
Julia Schwarz, Scott E. Hudson, Jennifer Mankoff, Andrew D. Wilson.

Presented at UIST 2010

• Julia Schwarz has a BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington and is currently working on her PhD in HCI at Carnegie Mellon.
• Scott E. Hudson has a BS and an MS in Computer Science from Arizona State University, along with a PhD (also in Computer Science) from the University of Colorado. He is currently a professor at Carnegie Mellon teaching and researching HCI.
• Jennifer Mankoff has a BA from Oberlin College and a PhD in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently a professor at Carnegie Mellon teaching and researching HCI.
• Andrew D. Wilson is currently a Senior Researcher Microsoft Research. He has a BA from Cornell University and an MS and PhD to go along with that from MIT.

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors state that they have developed a method to better handle ambiguous user inputs so as to allow a more interactive environment in the future for humans to interact with computers. They find the current system of handling interactive user input to be insufficient and and improper, thus inhibiting users from maximising their interaction with the computer. By modifying the handling of user inputs they have enabled their system to take in and deal with all sorts of uncertain inputs thus making the system more use able even for people with motor impairments.

Methods
To test their framework they chose to attempt various tasks and actions that a user would be required to do under normal use of a computer. Tasks attempted included responding to dialog boxes, scrolling, and text boxes that take an audio input and transcribe it to text. All the tests were done by the authors themselves except for the testing of buttons by users with motor impairments.

Results
Upon testing their framework operated as expected. It handled uncertainty extremely well thus opening up ways for greater interaction between humans and computers. In regards to operability for users with motor impairments, they saw large a reduction in errors when using their probabilistic method of handling inputs.

Contents
The entire objective of this paper was to challenge the current attitude towards the handling of interactive user inputs and demonstrate the benefits of a more probabilistic method. They demonstrated how the improvement of technology aided with proper handling of uncertain inputs greatly improved the operation of systems accepting interactive user input thus allowing greater interaction.

Discussion
I found the step away from the rigid and inhuman precise interpretation of human actions to be very refreshing. The fact that they designed a system that takes inputs and interprets and treats them as human inputs as opposed to taking in human inputs and immediately converting and then treating them like computer inputs is bound to be useful. This method of handling, interpreting and treating inputs should really open the way for greater functionality being added to interactive operations on computers. In addition this should also greatly help users with disabilities by allowing them to be less precise in their actions, thus letting them be more human.