Human Computer Interaction Group
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CIS Department
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
541.346.3974
Current Research Projects
The HCI group is actively pursuing research projects in several areas. If you are a potential student interested in other areas of research, please see the Research Goals page for a more complete listing of faculty areas of interest.- Pointing Devices and Haptic Interaction
- WinFitts: Software for Pointing Device Experiments
- User Interface Design for WWW Scientific Databases
- Cognitive Modeling
- Accessibility for People with Disabilities
Pointing Devices and Haptic Interaction
For the past seven years we have investigated, with help from Steve Keele and Mike Posner in the University of Oregon Psychology Dept., the rich body of psychological literature on human rapid aimed movement (pointing) with the purpose of better understanding computer-mediated pointing. Two previous areas of research focus have been the evaluation of keyboard-based pointing devices, and the explanation of human performance differences between isotonic (mouse) and isometric (joystick) pointing devices. The results of that research have been published in several papers and a book, The ergonomics of computer pointing devices, (Springer-Verlag, 1997). Much of this work has been done in collaboration with former Ph.D. students Kartik Mithal, who received his Ph.D. degree in August 1995, and Arthur Kirkpatrick, who received his Ph.D. degree in August 2000.
Current research projects in this area:
- Haptic feedback in physical control devices (Kirkpatrick and Douglas)
- Haptic access for visually disabled users (Willson and Douglas)
Software for Pointing Device Experiments
We have developed WinFitts, a program for running two-dimensional Fitts experiments on Windows 95 and NT. The program is available for use and modification by other groups performing pointing device research (Download Winfitts).
User Interface Design for WWW Scientific
Databases
Our research group has spent the past eight years
creating a Web-based genetics database, ZFIN, for the Zebrafish science
community. This project, sponsored by NSF, the Keck Foundation and NIH,
is one part of the broad research goals of the Human Genome Project:
to establish species-specific genetics databases. Because many such databases are now on the Web with many more in the planning
stages, it is critical that they meet the needs of the scientific
community. In response, our research has focused on developing
a human-centered and distributed participatory design approach
that can be used by other developers to create useful and usable
systems.
Current research projects in this area:
Cognitive Modeling
For complete information on current research in Cognitive Modeling at the University of Oregon, please visit Professor Anthony Hornof's pages.
Doctoral student Shasta Willson has been
working in the area of access for people with disabilities. Her current research focuses on experimentally determining how people perceive haptic representations of basic quantitative information. She is interested in eventually contributing to the effective representation of mathematical and scientific information in a manner accessible to people with visual disabilities.
Current research projects in this area:
Accessibility for People with Disabilities