HCC-Small: The End of Pointing and Clicking: Improving Computer Access with Goal Crossing

尽管许多有运动障碍的人在无障碍研究方面做出了认真的努力，但他们仍然发现很难使用台式计算机。文献继续表明，由于成本、复杂性、配置、维护、不可用以及对培训的需要，专门的辅助技术经常被放弃或从未获得。相反，日常鼠标和轨迹球等商品设备被许多运动障碍者广泛使用，但目前的图形用户界面与这些用户的能力不太匹配。在这个项目中，PI的目标不是尝试让特殊用户适应标准的点击式界面的疲惫方法，而是从根本上改变用户界面，使其更适合用户，方法是消除运动障碍患者成功进行人机交互的两大障碍：需要指向受限区域，以及需要在其中单击。PI将通过目标交叉来实现这些目标，这是一种交互技术，人们只需移动鼠标越过门槛，而不需要获得一个区域或执行稳定的点击。虽然目标穿越已经被研究并应用于笔式界面，但它还没有被应用于基于鼠标的界面或用于改善计算机访问。基于鼠标的界面中的目标交叉是具有挑战性的，因为遮挡问题，即不想要的目标位于期望的目标之前(尽管鼠标按钮可以用来消除歧义，但有运动障碍的人不能可靠地拖动)。然而，PI进行的一项初步研究发现，对于运动障碍的人来说，目标穿越比区域指向具有更高的吞吐量、更快，并显示出更多的路径和子运动准确性。PI将在当前项目中利用这些绩效调查结果，创建跨用户界面的可访问目标。他将通过以下四个步骤完成这项工作：开发和评估交叉小部件(这一步将使用高度迭代的过程来创建交互原型，并与运动障碍患者一起测试它们)；创建和评估样本交叉应用程序(此步骤将构建三个范例应用程序，用于文本编辑、绘图和照片，将探索交叉小部件的布局、分组和交互)；开发用于交叉小部件的程序员工具箱(此步骤将创建和部署交叉小部件工具箱，以使开发人员能够创建基于交叉的应用程序)；创建了Supple-X自动用户界面生成器(基于Supple++的自动用户界面生成器，能够通过测量用户的功能能力来创建基于能力的目标交叉界面)。这项研究将由信息学院、计算机科学与工程系和华盛顿大学康复医学系合作进行。更广泛的影响：这项工作将使人们更好地认识到如何定制软件以满足运动障碍用户的需求，并使这一用户群体更容易获得信息技术。这项研究将建立一种新的可访问计算模式，可能会转移到其他平台，如移动触摸屏、信息亭和基于连续语音的鼠标控制。项目成果将包括可免费下载的已部署应用程序和编程工具。

Many people with motor impairments still find it difficult to use desktop computers despite earnest efforts in accessibility research. The literature continues to show that specialized assistive technologies are often abandoned or never acquired due to cost, complexity, configuration, maintenance, unavailability, and the need for training. Instead, commodity devices like everyday mice and trackballs are widely used by many people with motor impairments, but current graphical user interfaces are not well matched to the abilities of these users. In this project, rather than attempting the tired approach of adapting special users to standard point-and-click interfaces, the PI's goal is to radically change user interfaces to be better suited to users, by removing the two major obstacles to successful human-computer interaction for people with motor impairments: the need to point to confined areas, and the need to click within them. The PI will accomplish these objectives with goal crossing, an interaction technique in which people only need to move their mouse across a threshold without acquiring an area or executing a stable click. Although goal crossing has been studied and employed in pen-based interfaces, it has not been employed in mouse-based interfaces or for improving computer access. Goal crossing in mouse-based interfaces is challenging because of the occlusion problem, where an unwanted goal lies in front of a desired one (although the mouse button could be used to disambiguate, people with motor impairments cannot reliably drag). Nevertheless, a preliminary study conducted by the PI found that goal crossing has higher throughput, is faster, and exhibits more path and submovement accuracy than area pointing for people with motor impairments. The PI will leverage these performance findings in the current project, in the creation of accessible goal crossing user interfaces. He will do this through the following four steps: Development and evaluation of crossing widgets (this step will employ a highly iterative process to create interactive prototypes and testing them with people with motor impairments); Creation and evaluation of exemplar crossing applications (this step will build three exemplar applications for text editing, drawing, and photos that will explore crossing widget layout, grouping, and interaction); Development of a programmers' toolbox for crossing widgets (this step will create and deploy a crossing widget toolbox to enable developers to create crossing-based applications); Creation of the SUPPLE-X automatic user interface generator (an automatic user interface generator based on SUPPLE++ that is capable of creating ability-based goal crossing interfaces by measuring users' functional capabilities). This research will be conducted as a collaboration between the Information School, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. Broader Impacts: This work will lead to greater awareness of how software can be tailored to meet the needs of users with motor impairments, and to increased accessibility to information technology for this user community. The research will establish a new paradigm of accessible computing that may be transferable to other platforms, such as mobile touch screens, information kiosks, and continuous voice-based mouse control. Project outcomes will include deployed applications and programming tools that can be downloaded free of charge.