Sean Gustafson (Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam)

In this talk, I will explore the role of visual and tactile cues during interaction with a palm-based imaginary interface (i.e., a screen-less ultra-mobile interface offering no visual feedback). I will show how an audio-based interface for visually impaired users can be adapted to enable exploration of an unfamiliar imaginary interface and I will present the results of three studies that highlight how the various forms of visual and tactile feedback contribute to this system’s performance. While these findings are primarily useful to help explain the foundations of imaginary interfaces, they also suggest that a palm-based imaginary interface may have benefits for visually impaired users, potentially outperforming the touchscreen-based interaction they use today.