ProjectProposal-MaksimLirov
From CS160 User Interfaces Fa06
Contents |
Overview
Instant messaging over the internet is fast becoming one of the most heavily-used forms of communication in the world. The response times over instant messaging is faster than that of snail mail and even email. However, the main input device of instant messaging - the keyboard - makes it a hassle to include complex symbols in the instant messages such as equations, foreign symbols, music notes, etc.... Adding the Anoto digital pen and paper as an input device to instant messaging programs would greatly increase the utility of instant messaging.
Target User Group
The target user group is people who would like to input complex notes into their instant messages. Primarily, this would be useful for people who are separated by great distances physically but would like to collaborate with each other in the same way as people who sit in the same room write ideas and information on paper. One such group of people is the academia sector (students and teachers), who would like to collaborate on solving difficult math or writing brainstorm problems.
Problem Description
The biggest advantage of instant messaging is that people separated by small and great distances can receive responses from each other instantly over the internet. A big hassle in instant messaging applications is inputting such forms of data as complex math problems, foreign language phrases, and music notes. However, it is very easy to input these forms of data on paper. As an example, an equation such as E equals m times c-squared would be typed into the intant message windows as E=mc^2. In most cases, writing equations by hand increases readability and is far easier than typing them up.
Collaboration over the Internet often requires the response times of instant messaging, and the ease of use of paper. It seems natural to combine the Anoto pen and paper system with the instant response of instant messaging.
Problem Context and Forces
Instant messaging is used when it is not feasible for two or more people to meet in one place and time. Unlike with a telephone call session, various forms of multimedia can be sent through an instant messaging session. In addition to instant messaging, the other popular solutions to communication from different places are telephone calls, email, and regular mail. Phone calls provide instant response similar to that of instant messaging, but they include only audio - one cannot show anything visual through a telephone call. Email can include the same forms of multimedia as instant messaging, but its response time is not as fast. Regular mail is intuitive to produce, but the response time is very slow. For these reasons, instant messaging coupled with handwriting appears to have potential to be the most useful form of collaboration for people separated by distances.
Currently, tablet PCs exist that allow instant collaboration through such programs as Microsoft Netmeeting. In addition, a research project called Livenotes headed by UC Berkeley student Matthew Kam created a framework for group annotation of lecture notes with tablet PCs during classroom sessions. While both projects present similar benefits as the proposed pen-and-paper with instant messaging solution, the cost of a tablet PC is restrictive to many people. In addition, most people are still more comfortable writing on paper than on a tablet PC.
The user group consists of people who would like to collaborate over the Internet, but who do not want to spend much money in more technology. People in the user group want instant feedback from each other. Phone and regular mail do not provide acceptable solutions to the situation of this user group. The need for instantaneous feedback rules out email also. A pen and paper approach would be preferable to tablet PCs in that the price of new technology would be significantly reduced. In addition, writing on paper still feels more natural to most people than writing on a tablet PC.
Solution Sketch
The following sequence represents a typical timeline of events for handwritten entry into the instant messaging system.
The user would write their data on paper, and the pen strokes would instantly be streamed to the computer and the instant messenging window, which would show the drawing of pen strokes in real time. This solution would not allow the user on the receiving end of the connection to edit this written data, but he/she would be able to print the written notes and edit them with his/her own pen and paper. Another feature would be the instant replay of pen strokes. Since each pen stroke would be bundled with a timestamp and page ID, the user would be able to watch many times as the notes are being written on his/her instant messaging window.
