UIST 2009: Ripples

Summary - The "Ripples: utilizing per-contact visualizations to improve user interactions with touch displays" focuses on the problem of user frustration and user lack of confidence inherent in most single touch and multi-touch displays, and the solution that the authors have come up with, a visualization system titled Ripples. The two main problems discussed in the article are:


Fat Finger Problem - Essentially this is when you touch a touchscreen and your finger covers a larger area than what the "touch" signal is actually reduced down to, causing a "miss".


Feedback Ambiguity Problem - The feedback ambiguity problem is when a user touches a touchscreen and does not achieve the desired result, and the system provides no feedback or cues as to what might have happened. For example, when you think you've touched a button, but you actually missed it (according to the system) and there is no feedback provided as to what happened, so you begin to lose confidence that the button actually works, or perhaps that the system is laggy.

The authors then go on to describe the system they implemented to help user's learn how to solve these two problems, which is, simply put, to places ripples and other visual cues at contact points on the screen when it is touched. The ripples run on top of whatever application is running in the background, so they can remain consistent and application-independent.

Shaun's Opinion - I think what is presented in this article is a very clear-cut, simple solution to problems with touch screens that I personally have experienced. Having a computer engineering background helps me to grasp the source of erroneous touch inputs easier than the average user, and I even find myself frustrated with touch screens. I think the ripples effect on touch screens would have quite a large impact on user confidence in touch screen applications, allowing them to visualize what the system is seeing, as opposed to what the user thought they did. All in all, I think this system would allow users to learn from their mistakes and be able to make better use of touch screen applications.