(Panic Time)

I defend Friday.  (Yes, yes, I know: it's about damn time.)  From what I can tell, someone has it out for me already.  Although he's not listed, I know that Dr. Du will be sitting on the committee for some reason, and he always asks the strangest, most tangential questions.  Add to that the fact that, had I not gone looking for it today, I would never have found room H303.

It's not that I didn't know where the room was, it's just that all possible routes to it save one out-of-the-way one have been blocked off by construction inside the building.  I found it anyway, so at least I don't have to be worried about arriving late on Friday because I couldn't find the room I was supposed to be in.

I meet with Jo tomorrow for one final run-through of my presentation.  I already know that there are a few changes to my dissertation that have been requested by the internal readers.  Ignoring all that though, I'm getting dangerously close to no longer being a student, at which point I just become one of the unemployed.  Crap.  I need to work on that.

FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
NOTICE OF ORAL DEFENCE

MCS Degree

The Effects of Audio and Handwriting on Text Entry in Mobile Environments
By
Andrew Gammell
Examining Committee:
Supervisor: Dr. Jane Fritz & Dr. Joanna Lumsden
Chairperson: Dr. Ken Kent
Internal Reader: Dr. John Dedourek
External Reader: Dr. Lloyd Waugh
(Dept. of Civil Engineering)

Friday, August 18th, 2006
1:30 p.m.
Head Hall 303

ABSTRACT
In the field of mobile computing, the environment in which the device is utilized plays a larger role than it does in traditional desktop systems. The primary environmental effects are that the device may be used whilst in motion and that the user of the device may need to devote some portion of his or her attention to another task. Current software text entry techniques for these devices either implement the traditional desktop methods, or are tested without taking these factors into account.

In an attempt to ascertain the effect of mobility on text entry using mobile technologies, we implemented and tested a single-stroke text entry system in both stationary and mobile environments. We expected mobility to result in a decrease in user performance. As such, we embedded two versions of audio enhancement into the text entry system so as to convey feedback about the system and user actions. As predicted, mobility resulted in a significant detrimental effect on user ability to accurately enter text. However, though the audio enhancements resulted in no decrease in participant ability, neither did they result in any increase. As an additional avenue of research, participants' handwriting was categorized using a simple classification system. Those participants whose handwriting exhibited characteristics similar to cursive writing performed significantly better than those with a handwriting style closer to handprint.

Concluding from these results, we believe that any systems implemented for use with a mobile device must be designed and tested whilst taking into account the environmental characteristics which differentiate the device from traditional computing systems.

ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND