Comparing Evaluation Methods for Encumbrance and Walking on Interaction with Touchscreen Mobile Devices

Ng, A., Williamson, J. and Brewster, S. (2014) Comparing Evaluation Methods for Encumbrance and Walking on Interaction with Touchscreen Mobile Devices. In: MobileHCI'14, Toronto, ON, Canada, 23-26 Sep 2014, pp. 23-32. ISBN 9781450330046 (doi: 10.1145/2628363.2628382)

Abstract

In this paper, two walking evaluation methods were compared to evaluate the effects of encumbrance while the preferred walking speed (PWS) is controlled. Users frequently carry cumbersome objects (e.g. shopping bags) and use mobile devices at the same time which can cause interaction difficulties and erroneous input. The two methods used to control the PWS were: walking on a treadmill and walking around a predefined route on the ground while following a pacesetter. The results from our target acquisition experiment showed that for ground walking at 100% of PWS, accuracy dropped to 36% when carrying a bag in the dominant hand while accuracy reduced to 34% for holding a box under the dominant arm. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of each evaluation method when examining encumbrance and suggest treadmill walking is not the most suitable approach to use if walking speed is an important factor in future mobile studies.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: Published in: MobileHCI '14 Proceedings of the 16th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices and services, pages 23-32.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Brewster, Professor Stephen and Ng, Dr Alexander and Williamson, Dr John
• Authors: Ng, A., Williamson, J., and Brewster, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISBN: 9781450330046
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 ACM
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

Related URLs

• Organisation