Gait phase effects in mobile interaction

Crossan, A., Murray-Smith, R., Brewster, S.A., Kelly, J. and Musizza, B. (2005) Gait phase effects in mobile interaction. In: CHI '05 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Portland, Oregon, 2-7 April 2005, pp. 1312-1315. ISBN 1581139985 (doi: 10.1145/1056808.1056904)

Abstract

One problem evaluating mobile and wearable devices is that they are used in mobile settings, making it hard to collect usability data. We present a study of tap-based selection of on-screen targets whilst walking and sitting, using a Pock-etPC instrumented with an accelerometer to collect information about user activity at the time of each tap. From these data the user’s gait can be derived, and this is then used to investigate preferred tapping behaviour relative to gait phase,and associated tap accuracy. Results showed that users were more accurate sitting than walking. When walking there were phase regions with significantly increased tap likelihood, and these regions had significantly lower error rates,and lower error variability. This work represents an example of accelerometer-instrumented mobile usability analysis,and the results give a quantitative understanding of the de-tailed interactions taking place when on the move, allowing us to develop better mobile interfaces.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Keywords: Accelerometer, targeting, pen-based interfaces, mobile de-vices, rhythmic interaction, gait effects, instrumented usability
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Murray-Smith, Professor Roderick and Crossan, Dr Andrew and Kelly, Mr James and Brewster, Professor Stephen
• Authors: Crossan, A., Murray-Smith, R., Brewster, S.A., Kelly, J., and Musizza, B.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science; Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Publisher: ACM Press
• ISBN: 1581139985
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2005 ACM Press
• First Published: Firsr published in CHI 2005: Technology, Safety, Community: Conference Proceedings: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher