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From: garye@hpdsla.HP.COM (Gary Ericson)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Human Factors: Paper-Like Interface
Message-ID: <2690003@hpdsla.HP.COM>
Date: 8 Dec 88 17:23:39 GMT
Organization: HP - Pacific Technology Park
Lines: 22

A few months ago, IBM announced it was working on something it called the
Paper-Like Interface (PLI) project.  To quote InfoWorld:

   "It uses an electronic pen to write on the transparent [digitizing] 
    tablet, which lies directly on an LCD screen, combining the functions 
    of a keyboard and a monitor, according to project manager Jim Rhyne.
	    
    The computer was trained to recognize handwritten characters and 
    symbols, allowing users to perform tasks faster than possible with 
    either a mouse or keyboard, IBM said."
	
The idea of this kind of interface has been around for a long time.  Have there
been any human factors studies done on this type of technology?  Specifically:

   - would a user consider this kind of interface more intuitive than,
     say, a mouse and keyboard, as some have claimed?  is it "faster"?

   - what are the ergonomic effects of looking *down* at a tablet instead
     of *straight-ahead* at a screen for an extended period of time?

Gary Ericson - Hewlett-Packard, Technical Systems Division
               phone: (408)746-5098  mailstop: 101N  email: gary@hpdsla9.hp.com