Investigating temporal-spatial characteristics of mouse and touch input

Abstract

This paper explores differences between user actions employing mouse and touch input devices when performing a collaborative task on a tabletop interface. We explore temporal and spatial characteristics of drag actions of users through mouse (indirect) and touch input (direct) devices. Our analysis is based on system-logged interaction data we collected in an exploratory study. The analysis reveals that touch users performed more drag actions than mouse users. Furthermore, touch users dragged artefacts on a tabletop for a shorter period of time than mouse users. At the same time, touch users dragged objects in the workspace shorter distances than mouse users. We also identify differences based on the temporal-spatial histograms of the drag actions. We discuss our findings based on observations we made during the collaborative task and interviews with participants after the study. The results may be related to the performed task and to ergonomic design issues of the setup. We describe the possible implications on co-located and remote collaboration. © 2009 Springer.