Presentation Transcript

1. Alternative Input Technologies

   Presenter: John Beckett, DBA Professor, School of Computing Class: CPIS 210
2. Overview “Good” input principles Physical types of input Commonly used for MIS Not (yet) commonly used for MIS Quality and Security issues Appropriate Use Issues Trends / The Future
3. “Good” Input Principles Captured as near as possible to the source Entered using an appropriate method Verified by people who have an interest in it being correct Correctable as early as possible in the chain of events
4. Physical Types of InputCommonly used for IT
5. Keyboards Standard “QWERTY” – over 100 years old Inefficient but “everybody” knows it Alternative: DVORAK Multi-key boards haven’t made the cut Touch versus price versus size IBM Selectric is the gold standard (speed & accuracy) Elastomeric is cheapest and worst “Chicklets” are deprecated Small-width keys, non-moving keys, and multiple-strokes slow the process (Netbook, PDA, cell phone)
6. Pointing Devices Mouse Trackball 3-D devices Pens Touch Screen Eye trackers New wave: Kinetic gestures, multiple-pointer Will iAnything and Windows agree?
7. Wireless Warning Any form of wireless is to some extent vulnerable to monitoring or meddling or jamming Encryption (if it is used) helps – perhaps a great deal Never “bind” in an insecure location
8. The GUI Question(Graphical User Interface) Command/Keyboard Ctl GUI Control Easier learning Unless things get moved around, wasting users’ investment and discouraging them Slower entry Requires hand-eye coordination Requires 3 hands Or lost time going to and from pointing device Steeper learning curve Must memorize keyboard methods Faster entry Requires two hands
9. The GUI Solution Use the GUI method Learn the short-cut keys Test your users Provide incentives
10. Mark Sense Specific areas on an input document have specific meanings Became mainstream 1936-1950 Useful for low-tech environments with many sources and small amounts of data Time cards Multiple-choice tests 40 2
11. Is High-Tech Better? Case: Optical scanner used in 1974-77 to enter classes for students. 1,800 5-digit student IDs with 6 4-digit class numbers in 2 days = 225,000 keystrokes 11 students per minute Reliability problems due to moving the device to the gym for Registration, environment Pilot test showed that 2.5 people could enter on keyboards just as fast. We implemented 4. 2 people was enough; 4 meant we could relate to customer After the next year’s experience, we junked the scanner Take-home: New technology is not “better” if it makes your solution substantially less reliable
12. Bar Codes Code 3 of 9 Universal Product Code Looser spec Easier to print Higher first-read rate Lower accuracy Number assigned by central agency No duplication danger Tighter spec More expensive to print Lower first-read rate Higher accuracy Locally assigned number Duplication possible 2D Codes Multiple types in current use
13. Turnaround Documents Document printed by system, then read when client returns it Utility Bills (old punched-card system) Airline check-in (printed bar code) Wal Mart Site2Store (printed bar code)
14. Magnetic Stripes Usually used on credit card size devices Requires an encoder Can’t just use a photocopier to duplicate Two stripes on one card is po$$ible Used for two incompatible systems Proprietary stripes for high security from Weigand
15. ID tag/card recording characteristics Bar Code Magnetic Stripe Standards: ABA, Drivers License Cost: 10¢ -up Applied oxide strip Requires special machine to make Marks invisible to people Contains up to ~ 100 chars Standards: UPC, 3of9 Cost: a penny or less Can be part of packaging Easy to duplicate/falsify Somewhat human-readable Contains up to ~25 chars
16. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) -> Voice synthesizer <- DTMF (touch-tone) keypad <- Voice recognition Great way to handle structured customer service (e.g. prescription refills) Frustrating for people who would rather talk with a person Preferred by people who want simple transactions 24x7 Possible problem: Certain peoples’ throats have overtones that trigger DTMF receiverss
17. Scanning and OCR Scanning produces a digital picture of a document OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software attempts to extract text from a document Challenges: Font may not be recognized Layout can confuse the software Reproduction quality may not be good enough Rule of thumb: If you plan to publish it, hand-keyboarding may be better (less costly at a given quality point) than OCR
18. Specialized Methods MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) Used for checks (a dying breed, BTW) Old technology required magnetic ink Purely optical methods used nowadays RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) Used to detect stolen merchandise Deactivation actually destroys the transmitter Far less useful for inventory control – requires unique ID for each product box
19. Physical Types of InputNot (yet) Commonly used for MIS
20. Contact Smart Cards Contain a computer and a small amount of data storage Encryption used to keep Bad Guys from making unauthorized changes Requires electrical connection Some history of compromise by hackers
21. Non-Contact Smart Cards Reader uses magnetic induction to provide power to a computer on the device Device links by coded radio conversation History of security problems Hong Kong Octopus Card (Balance kept on card) Mobil SpeedPass Links to bank card account
22. Encryption Uses mathematical algorithms (transformation) for hiding information in random-looking stream of data “Strength” of encryption indicated by how many bits are in the key Effective key length can be multiplied by multiple passes through the algorithm, e.g. DES3 often used for HIPAA Buys you time before decryption Eventually it will be decrypted, if only by brute force Your protection: Computers are not infinitely fast That protection is weakening every year Sometimes people “break” encryption, sharply reducing the time to decrypt the broken algorithm HDTV algorithm is broken, but would require a new chip No guarantee that the algorithm designer did not include a “back door” so they can get in With state-of-art methods, encryption is “good enough” And necessary!
23. Infra-Red Light, long wavelength that people cannot see Useful for small amounts of information such as controls for TV equipment Short-lived attempt to use for printer connections Not reliable enough Note: Digital cameras can be used to verify that an IR controller is working
24. Biometric Still have relatively high false positive and false negative error rates compared to digital objects such as mag-stripe ID cards Biometrics can be falsified better than most other ID systems Fingerprint is better than other biometrics Primarily useful as an additional dimension in a security system
25. Media Input Audio Video Requires an adapter Either internal or external Except in “media” computers, There are many video formats and protocols Not necessarily compatible Converters (codecs) are available, sometimes for $ Most PCs and Macs have an audio input jack PC input jack is specialized, for a monaural condenser microphone Line input jack is available on desktops as well Mac input jack is similar to hi-fidelity stereo “line input” Depends on model Many laptops now contain microphones & cameras
26. Quality and Security
27. Input Data Quality “First read rate” (false positives & negatives) Causes of success & failure Temperature Contamination Interference Physical Disability Poor design (Mayfield example) Manual Bypass
28. Tradeoff Parameters When considering an input technology, ask about: Equipment Cost Media Cost Connectivity (both hardware and software) Data capacity Speed Quality Security
29. Appropriate Use Issues
30. Cost & Durability Is the unit cost appropriate for the situation? Will the media hold up over the expected lifetime? Will the device survive expected use? Is it practical to replace broken devices?
31. Human Factors Does this person know how to type? Does the device require socially unacceptable behaviors? Fingerprint devices, formerly an issue Does this device work at an appropriate data rate? Does the user have to touch-type a lot of data on an elastomeric or touch-screen keyboard?
32. Security Can this input device be “sniffed?” Shoulder surfing (perhaps a shield will help) Technical devices (need encryption?) Can input from this device be falsified? Bar codes can be copied For money, duplicate magnetic stripes Biometric devices have been fooled by latex copies
33. Trends / The Future
34. Smart Phones More-than-a-cellphone devices are gradually becoming ubiquitious Platform proliferation: iPhone/iPod/iPad Windows CE & friends Palm ? (Everybody is making one now) Linux – sorry about this one! Small form factor: Increased dependence on excellent human-factor design Combine gesture, typing, voice, and camera (still & video) input
35. The iPhone Deposit Application
36. What About the iPad? Looks like an over-grown iPod Touch Removes screen size limitation Leverages existing technology Doesn’t fit in a pocket Might be good for situations where you are interacting with a client Bed-side Casual settings