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Jacob et al. (1993) state that “The bottleneck in improving the usefulness of interactive systems increasingly lies not in performing the processing task itself but in communicating requests and results between the system and its user” (p. 1). This statement presaged the current dilemma in mobile computing today.

According to Jacob et al. (1993), we continue to struggle with the ‘demand-pull’ versus ‘technology-push’ of user interface design in the development of new and mobile computing technologies. Driven by market forces and perceived user preferences, not necessarily human-centric design, technology developers are almost ambivalently barreling down two paths: one where personal technology devices appear to be converging into a single primary interface versus one where they are diverging and becoming increasingly specialized, even personalized. More and more designers are suffering from featuritis (Chang, Gouldstone, Zigelbaum, & Ishii, 2007) and users from feature fatigue (Thompson, Hamilton & Rust, 2005). From skins and ringtones to Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and altimeters, the sea of possible ways to use and

customize personal computing devices is limitless. Though the mouse and keyboard have been around as the primary interaction devices for desktop and laptop systems, these systems and their interaction devices have been eclipsed by the advent of small form factor computing and, as a consequence of size, a wide variety of new and unproven interaction styles. As complexity increases, the synergy between devices breaks down. For the typical computer user this means that she can no longer take advantage of the skills she has developed to interact with one system when interacting with another (Yamashita, Barendregt, and Fjeld 2007). This also works in reverse; a newer device with improved interaction may precipitate frustration when integrated into a user’s computing suite because other devices in the network do not perform to the

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same standard. Because a significant number of users now own and [want to] synergistically operate between a desktop, laptop, tablet, and sometimes multiple mobile devices, identifying a simple straightforward set of interface standards could significantly enhance this interaction.

With the advent of the personal computer came the keyboard, mouse and display. Since that time, the variations on these three forms of input have been substantial. From the joystick to the Wii glove, modern technology has sought to translate human gestures into recognizable and meaningful human-computer

interactions. Though the focus to date has been on keyboards, typing, mousing and a visual interface, more recent trends are focusing on handwriting and voice recognition, gesturing and multi-touch interaction as well as virtual reality and projection systems. Indeed, there is a need for a ‘paradigm shift’ in interaction styles, techniques and devices where mobility, ubiquity and computing devices are concerned (Lumsden & Brewster, 2003).

Beyond mere adoption, technological advancements have pushed us toward an ever-increasing paradox: the challenge of complexity. Mahler and Weber’s (2008) ‘Paradox of Technology’ (see Figure 1—7) illustrates how we are bound by the continual development of new features to solve old problems. Mobile devices have become increasingly complex in an attempt to address the tension between small display size and the resulting interaction style for a mobile context.

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Figure 1-7. Titled “The Paradox of Technology”. Reprinted from Mahler, T., & Weber, M. (2008). Mobile Device Interaction in Ubiquitous Computing. Advances in Human- Computer Interaction, 311-330. Copyright 2008 by Mahler & Weber. Reprinted with permission.

It is broadly recognized that the greatest weakness of mobile devices is directly related to their greatest strength: small display size. Despite their unprecedented uptake and use, it remains unclear whether mobile devices are really capable of supplanting traditional laptop or desktop computers for a significant number of tasks. While most manufacturers and wireless carriers have overcome the limitations of battery life,

operating system failures, software availability, network availability (data and voice) and cost, significant issues still remain. Increasingly, consumers are experiencing feature fatigue—frustration with the complexity that additional features can promote, interaction issues (like that of a virtual keyboard) and display size limitations. There remain a significant number of tasks which seem quite difficult to perform on a mobile device: composing music or a term paper, working on architectural drawings, performing a financial analysis, reading an X-ray, conducting scholarly research, etc. These, even, are extreme examples. Over the last decade researchers have been trying to better understand use of mobile devices for Internet searching. In so doing, it is clear that both display size and interaction issues remain the single biggest barriers to extension of use beyond simpler personal information management tasks such as email, texting,

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maintaining contact lists and a calendar. Still, mobile devices are poised to become a primary means of accessing the Internet.

With the advent of multi-touch devices with small form factor, portability and high resolution displays like that of the iPhone/iPod touch, a question about computing device replacement or surrogacy has arisen. The reason this technology is pacesetting is not due to increased screen real estate (which remains small), rather it is the pinch and zoom resizing options that make web browsing with or without user interface

modifications finally plausible. Since the first appearance of web browsing in the mobile environment, efforts have been made to improve the user experience through design of web pages, software, and interaction devices. Today, the topic has shifted to

fundamental improvements in device design and human computer interactions which would facilitate improved interaction without requiring the tailoring of the content for different display devices.

For the last decade, mobile phone technologies have been the fastest growing segment of the technology market. While the debate about whether computing technologies are converging into a single device for the majority of users or diverging into increasingly specialized and sophisticated tools wears on, the issue of adoption and sustained use remains centered on two pivotal human computer interaction factors: display size and interaction style. For some, the availability of features in any given computing device today can be so overwhelming as to cause feature fatigue. This combined with myriad differences in display size and interaction styles creates an

environment where research and development are consistently confounded by significant variability among devices within these factors alone. The research outlined here seeks to understand more about the execution portion of task performance on a range of computing devices.

It is important to determine where and how efficiency, measured as task execution time, varies for an important subset of information searching tasks, across

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‘best in class’ display devices in popular use. Fundamentally, we do not know what the real efficiency cost is to perform a similar information search task on a smartphone (iPod Touch) versus a tablet (iPad) versus a desktop (gold standard). The provision of that information could inform design strategies to provide a more commensurate experience across platforms.