[Edu-sig] Interactive learning: Twenty years later

[Terry Hancock]

On Saturday 28 June 2003 10:21 pm, Bill Bradley wrote:
> Seabrook, Richard wrote:
> > back in the 60s -- NASA/Ames? -- that created the mouse for
> > one hand and the chord-player for the other.  We were supposed
> > to learn one-handed typing with a set of 5 or 6 double-detent
> > keys so one hand would always be on the keyboard -- never happened!

I think the question about the "chord player" (never heard it called that,
but then I'm probably looking at a derivitive concept) is whether it is
harder to learn to type using it or to learn how to type on a standard
keyboard one-handed, which I do quite a lot (anybody who does a
lot of CAD drawing will wind up doing this, I also do it a lot while
programming).  It's largely a question of availability -- AFAIK, the chord
systems are not consistent, so you'd spend time learning each one,
and they are not so widely available that the user can expect to
find one on a computer they want to use (i.e. it's custom).

You have to be really motivated to customize your computer
to a non-standard input device.  And I'm not sure the improvement
over a standard keyboard is enough to motivate most people.

Of course, the caveat is that I've never tried one.  Maybe if I tried
one at a fair or something I'd get sold on it and want to buy one.

> 	I wouldn't say that.  My IBM Thinkpad's Trackpoint is a very 
> combination that allows me to use a mouse (well pointer) and keyboard 
> without having to leave the home row or move my thumbs more than a 
> quarter inch from the spacebar to click. 

Yeah, the trackpoint concept is nice.  I used to find it a little
disconcerting, but I sometimes find myself prefering to do certain
tasks on the laptop because of it.

I always snicker a little when people talk about "home keys" and
such -- I guess you must've learned to touch type in a class? I
learned it by typing on computer keyboards *a lot*.  So, I can
actually type with either or both hands (faster with two, though),
and if I'm in a very graphic-intensive task, I'll type with the left and
mouse with the right.  I go to two-hands when typing email,
though.  You might say I don't do it "right", though.  But I can
indeed type without seeing the keyboard, so I guess it's still
"touch typing".  I'm not sure I should be proud of this.

Actually lately, I've had to experiment with wrist-only mouse
motion while holding a baby and typing left hand even for
email and stuff.  Sheesh.  ;-)  Of course, now she's starting to
"type" too, so I have to be extra careful.

I'm looking forward to trying out an actual tablet -- I remember
wanting one of these before even mice were commercially
available, and they're actually pretty affordable nowadays.

Another thing that really fascinates me is the 6-axis input devices
like the "Space Ball" or "Space Puck" that came out a few years
back. These are a really cool concept.  I was actually trying to
design something like this (hard) before I found them commercially
available!  Basically it's an object which you hold and can move
through all 6 axes (XYZ/PYR) of translation and rotation.  It'd be
great for the "gripping hand"  in a VR environment, or with a variable
end-effector trigger as a robotic teleoperation control (really it
would then have 7 axes).  The downside is, I think they start at
about $800 and I haven't got one.  I was able to find enough
information to write a driver for Linux though (and one may
already exist).  Someday maybe I'll try to find them again, if
they're still available. :-P

VR gloves by comparison still seem very gimmicky and cumbersome
to me.  It's hard for me to imagine using them on a daily basis.

For me, the point of these fancy input devices is *not* to replace
the role the keyboard plays in existing computer interactions so
much as it is to make it possible to do new stuff with the computer
that the text interface just can't handle.  For a programmer,
I'm a pretty visually oriented person, and these things are really
interesting to me.

Cheers,
Terry

--
Terry Hancock ( hancock at anansispaceworks.com )
Anansi Spaceworks  http://www.anansispaceworks.com