On the MTAGIC project we have been working on developing better touchscreen interfaces for children, starting with understanding how kids actually use touchscreens and whether this differs from how adults do. We’ve seen evidence in our earlier studies that kids’ touch input and gesture input patterns do differ from adults’ in ways that are hard for current software to accommodate [1,2]. We are continuing our work this fall by looking in more depth at these factors. We are currently running user study sessions with adults for a new study in this area, and are about to start working at a local school to recruit children to participate as well.

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Florida and being a part of the MTAGIC project has increased my knowledge in the field of research and computer science. I am one of the current experimenters running the adult user studies and through this experience I have learned how to properly conduct research studies. Being a part of the MTAGIC project is definitely a learning process. I am starting to learn new techniques on how to analyze the data such as Shell Scripting and how to use Pivot Tables.

– Julia Woodward

1. Anthony, L., Brown, Q., Nias, J., Tate, B., and Mohan, S. 2012. Interaction and Recognition Challenges in Interpreting Children’s Touch and Gesture Input on Mobile Devices. Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS’2012), Cambridge, MA, to appear.

2. Brown, Q. and Anthony, L. 2012. Toward Comparing the Touchscreen Interaction Patterns of Kids and Adults. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Workshop on Educational Software, Interfaces and Technology (EIST’2012), Austin, TX, 05-06 May 2012.