Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!tekecs!orca!brucec From: brucec@orca.UUCP Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: Question on the mouse, comments abou - (nf) Message-ID: <1342@orca.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-Jun-83 14:33:38 EDT Article-I.D.: orca.1342 Posted: Wed Jun 29 14:33:38 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 30-Jun-83 17:01:24 EDT Lines: 23 The classic paper on evaluation of computer input devices is "Evaluation of Mouse, Rate-Controlled Isometric Joystick, Step Keys, and Text Keys for Text Selection on a CRT" Card, et. al., Xerox Technical Report SSL-77-1, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, 1977. The paper compares the devices for speed and error rate in selecting characters, and derives some equations from the data in an attempt to find a basis in control theory for the results. At this time there is a rather large body of research on various aspects of manual control, much of it stimulated by the military or the space program. Unfortunately, it's a relatively esoteric study as far as most engineers or computer scientists are concerned (neither ACM SIGCHI, nor IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics society is large). So there aren't a lot of people who know that there is prior art when they design an interactive computer system. I hope that this will change as the emphasis on human interface technology increases. Bruce Cohen UUCP: ...!teklabs!tekecs!brucec CSNET: tekecs!brucec@tektronix ARPA: tekecs!brucec.tektronix@rand-relay