Ian Oakley

Haptic devices are now commercially available and thus touch has become a potentially realistic solution to a variety of interaction design challenges. We report on an investigation of the use of touch as a way of reducing visual overload in the conventional desktop. In a two-phase study, we investigated the use of the PHANToM haptic device as a means of interacting with a conventional graphical user interface. The first experiment compared the effects of four different haptic augmentations on u

The increasing complexity and pervasiveness of handheld devices is demanding the development of interaction techniques explicitly tailored for mobile scenarios. This paper examines one such technique: the use of device orientation to navigate through one dimensional lists or menus. We describe a novel input mapping, directly relating list position to device orientation, and two studies quantifying user performance with this system. We believe vibrotactile feedback would be significant in movemen

At first glance, multi-element forearm mounted vibrotactile displays would appear to have considerable potential as an output device for mobile computing. The devices are small, robust and discrete, and the body site both easily accessible and socially acceptable for such a purpose. However, due to the absence of a thorough account of vibrotactile perception, it is hard to determine their feasibility, or even what might form an appropriate arrangement of vibrating elements or tactors. We describ

The touch screen interaction paradigm, currently dominant in mobile devices, begins to fail when very small systems are considered. Specifically, "fat fingers", a term referring to the fact that users' extremities physically obstruct their view of screen content and feedback, become particularly problematic. This paper presents a novel solution for this issue based on sensing touches to the perpendicular edges of a device featuring a front-mounted screen. The use of such offset contact points en

Users of collaborative systems are typically restricted to communication through voice and video links. Users find this difficult -- it does not encompass the richness of communication they are accustomed to in the real world. Attempting to address this problem we describe the implementation of a novel mechanism for haptic communication based around interactions between users' cursors. An initial, and mainly observational, evaluation is described, along with some promising results. We s

While haptic feedback has been shown to enhance user performance and satisfaction in single target interactions in desktop user interfaces, it is not clear whether this will hold for more realistic, multi-target interactions. Here we present an experimental study of haptically enhanced menus. We evaluate a visual condition, a haptic condition and an adjusted haptic condition designed to support menu interactions. We conclude that thoughtful design can create multi-target haptic augmentations tha

Interacting with smartwatches poses new challenges. Although capable of displaying complex content, their extremely small screens poorly match many of the touchscreen interaction techniques dominant on larger mobile devices. Addressing this problem, this paper presents beating gestures, a novel form of input based on pairs of simultaneous or rapidly sequential and overlapping screen taps made by the index and middle finger of one hand. Distinguished simply by their temporal sequence and relative

Abstract. As mobile computers become more sophisticated, highly graphical stylus driven interaction techniques are becoming overloaded. The combination of movement based input and vibrotactile haptic output offers a promising alternative. To this end we have developed a hardware platform with these sensing and affecting capabilities and have begun to consider them in the specific scenario of scrolling. In general terms, we describe the methods by which movement, in the form of tilting, can be us

Abstract Wearables are a rapidly emerging device category with wide-reaching use scenarios. The novel form factors and broad potential of this technology pose new security challenges: devices are typically on and close to a user. Furthermore, while they possess limited input and output channels, they often feature rich sensing, computing and communication capabilities. Due to this novel context, this paper argues that researchers need to reconsider the functional, technical and social aspects of

Smartwatches are emerging device category that feature highly limited input and display surfaces. We explore how touch contact areas, such as lines generated by flat fingers, can be used to increase input expressivity in these diminutive systems in three ways. Firstly, we present four design themes that emerged from an ideation workshop in which five designers proposed concepts for smartwatch touch area interaction. Secondly, we describe a sensor unit and study that captured user performance wit

At first glance, multi-element forearm mounted vibrotactile displays would appear to have considerable potential as an output device for mobile computing. The devices are small, robust and discrete, and the body site both easily accessible and socially acceptable for such a purpose. However, due to the absence of a thorough account of vibrotactile perception, it is hard to determine their feasibility, or even what might form an appropriate arrangement of vibrating elements or tactors. We describ