HCC-Small: Wristwatch Interfaces for Microinteractions

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the development of new forms of mobile human-computer interaction that can be called "microinteractions." These are short interactions that, in some cases, are performed almost without conscious thought, comparable to checking the time on a wristwatch by a mere glance. Such microinteractions are already major uses of mobile computing and communication technologies: being reminded of an appointment, displaying the caller ID of an incoming call, noting a phone number or URL, making an appointment, or receiving a short e-mail. Yet few devices support microinteractions well, leading to a lack of use of the functionality, and there exist few design guidelines for microinteraction interfaces. This research will increase the fundamental knowledge and the design principles required to achieve substantial advances in this emerging field. The research will investigate barriers to microinteractions, create design guidelines for microinteraction interfaces, create a MAGIC (Mobile Action and Gesture Interface Control) toolkit that enables gesture-based microinteraction techniques, and produce and study prototypes that instantiate the research results. The project will concentrate on the wristwatch as a socially acceptable, fast-to-access interaction platform. Previous work suggests that access time - the time to retrieve a device and navigate through its interface - is a major contributor to "balking," or deciding not to use an interface. The research will quantify the effects of access time on balking, create design guidelines on appropriate access times for typical microinteraction tasks, and give concrete suggestions for minimizing balking by quantifying access times for the wristwatch as compared to other typical device mounting locations such as the pocket or belt. Specifically, four types of microinteractions will be examined: glances, computer-initiated events, user-initiated events, and a new style of interaction, "dual purpose speech," where key phrases in the user's conversation simultaneously trigger actions on the mobile device. The project will create wristwatch-based gesture, touchscreen, and speech system prototypes that support each of the microinteraction types. This work will encourage new directions in mobile interface research. The extensive involvement of students in the project will allow them to develop a wide range of hardware and software prototyping skills.