Shena Hoffmann
Patrick Frith
Reference Information
Title - Enhanced area curors: reducing the find pointing demands for people with motor impairments
Authors - Leah Findlater, Alex Jansen, Kristen Shinohara, Morgan Dixon, Peter Kamb, Joshua Ratika, Jacob O. Wobbrock
Summary
This article was about one particular solution to helping motor impaired computer users. The article wanted to see if enhanced area cursors help or hinder the usage of computer for these particular users. This study included users with different diseases, such as muscular dystrophy. The idea behind this technology is that the cursors with with smaller, denser targets. The study tested four different cursors to see how well they improved the way we use the computer. In the study, they used 12 able body, and 12 impaired users to test and compare results across the board. This studied evaluated several different aspects including: target clutter, target size, cursor type, and target spacing.
Discussion
I really thought this article was fascinating in some sense. Technologies like these, that help the impaired to use computers seem to be increasing a lot. I liked that the study used 12 able bodied and 12 impaired to get a better perspective of results. It would have been nice to see a few more from each category though. I could see how this technology could become extremely useful to the physically impaired in the very near future.
Interesting proposal. It's nice to see technology used to help physically impaired users, despite its growing complexity. I read a story about a deaf boy loving his iPhone--I thought that was pretty incredible given the lack of tactile feedback.
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