The change keyboard screen prompts
the test administrator to switch keyboards. This screen informs the person
which keyboard is next. The order of the keyboards is determined by the
ID number of the subject.Thank you for participating in this experiment. You are ID Number XX. You will be asked to complete four typing tests and three short training sessions on three different keyboards. After each typing test you will be given a short, four question, questionnaire.
The first thing to be administered is a typing pre-test. The functionality of the typing test program will be identical for all tests. You will be asked to type in a short (under 200 word) story. The story will be given to you on paper. You are encouraged to correct errors as you go. There will be no way of correcting the errors after you are done
After the pre-test, a dialogue will apear asking for the administrator to switch keyboards. Once this is accomplished, you will be ready to begin training. A options dialogue will appear with the following buttons: Typing Tutor, Space Game, Typing Test. Select "Typing Tutor" to enter the training. The training program is intended to introduce features of a particular keyboard. The computer will prompt you to enter in a line of text and when you are done with a given line hit return and a new line will appear. Continue until you are relatively comfortable with a given keyboard. When finished, select the Quit button. The options dialogue will reappear.
The space game can be run be selecting the "Space Game" button. A space game is availiable to help you remember the position of the backspace key. The game is simple use the backspace and space bar to avoid falling rocks. The backspace key moves your planet to the left and space bar moves it to the right. Press Q to quit the game.
After training, select the "Typing Test" button. The typing test is identical to the pre-test (except with different text). Once the text has been entered select the "Done" button. Correct the errors as you go because there will be no corrections after you select the "Done" button. After selecting the "Done" button, the questionaire will appear.
Rate the particular keyboard for each question by dragging the slider to the appropriate number. When finished, select the "Continue" button. A dialogue box will now appear that prompts the administrator to switch keyboards for you. The process now repeats for each keyboard.
We wrote a program for our project using Visual Basic. The program logs typing times for each typing test. The program logs total typing time, average time for a key sequence (e.g. time between an 'a' keypress and a subsequent key 'c', and maintains a history of keys pressed and the time in the session the key was pressed. This is important so we may track the time it takes to hit the backspace key, and we can look to see if some key sequence times are reduced / increased by the new placement of the backspace key. The program also includes a game to help users get used to the back space key arrangement. In the game you use the space and back space keys to keep the earth from being hit by asteroids.
The Program contains 6 screens (click image to see actual size screen)
The change keyboard screen prompts
the test administrator to switch keyboards. This screen informs the person
which keyboard is next. The order of the keyboards is determined by the
ID number of the subject.
The typing practice screen allows the
user to become accustomed to the new keyboard. Errors are underlined down
to the character level. The only data recorded is the amount of time spent
practicing.
The typing test screen is the heart of the
testing program. The user enters the data given to them on the sheet. Errors
are underlined down to the word level. The time between keystrokes is recorded
as well as the number of keystrokes (creating two 100 x 100 matrices for
each test [four for each subject]). Total time is also recorded.
The options dialogue is used to switch
between the various portions of the program. No data is recorded from this
screen.
The questionaire is used to determine
the subjective satisfaction for a particular keyboard. The subjects ratings
are recorded.
The space game is used to help the subjects
become more instinctively aware of the positon of the back space key. In
the game the user steers an icon of planet Earth through an asteroid belt,
using only the space and back space keys to maneuver our endangered planet.
The program is downloadable in .zip format. You will need VB to run the program. A screen capture is available to view.The
Need a Trim? The 74-year-old owner of a car dealership chased off an armed robber with a weed trimmer, whacking him in the behind after the gunman menaced, Old man, I've got you now. The robber showed up at Oran McGlamry's dealership Thursday with a .38-caliber pistol, Police Chief James Vick said. McGlamry, forced to give up his wallet in a holdup Monday, rushed the gunman with his humming weed trimmer. The surprised robber turned to run and fell. That's when McGlamry kicked his trimmer into full throttle and whacked him in the buttocks, Vick said. The robber ran away but sheriff's deputies found him, Vick said. I was just trying to do what any other man would have done to protect his business, his wife and his life, McGlamry said Friday. Jason Gordon, 17, was charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a pistol without a license, police said. Gordon had two cuts in the seat of his pants. He didn't require medical help but I'm sure it stung pretty good, Vick said. Vick quoted the robber as telling McGlamry, Old man, I've got you now. McGlamry responded: No you don't.
Classy Cats Headed for Day in Court Cats may have the luxury of nine lives, but do they have the right to live them in a posh penthouse? In the weeks to come, five judges of Brazil's Superior Justice Tribunal must decide whether three of them can continue to romp around the 5,800-square-foot apartment bequeathed to them by their late owner. When Luci Carmen Bianchi died in 1995, her will stipulated that her cats Puppy, Laika and Branquinho have all the creature comforts they were accustomed to while she was alive -- including her apartment in Porto Alegre, 700 miles south of Sao Paulo. A local court sided with disgruntled family members who challenged the will, saying animals do not have legal rights or obligations. But Mrs. Bianchi's brother, Altamiro, was on the cats' side. He appealed. All I want is for my sister's will to be respected, at least while the animals are still alive, he said in a telephone interview Friday. The court said no date had been set for the case to be heard. In the meantime, the cats are living with Altamiro.
Coffin Swapping? After the funeral, the widow asked for one last look at her husband of more than 50 years. When the casket was opened, she found the body of a stranger in her husband's suit. Ethyln Boese now is suing the owners of Restlawn Funeral Home in Salem for $500,000 for negligence and emotional distress. It was very traumatic for Mrs. Boese and her family, said her attorney, Frank V. Langfitt III. The funeral took place last July 25, one day after James Boese died, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. There was no wake. Afterward, Mrs. Boese, 71, asked that the casket be opened. The funeral director at first refused to concede that the body inside was not that of James Boese, but later acknowledged the mistake, according to the suit. The couple's son was able to find another set of clothes and the funeral was held later that day, the suit said.
Outpacing the Pacemaker At 115 years old, John E. Bell is getting a new heart pacemaker. He outlasted his old one, put in when he was 104. He outlived the battery, said Dr. Ronald Berger, the Johns Hopkins Hospital cardiac specialist who performed the surgery on Thursday. He deserves to have a heartbeat for as long as the rest of his body allows him to. Asked his secret for longevity, Bell said Thursday: I treat everybody like they should be treated. God said, Feed his sheep. Bell has been known for years in his Baltimore neighborhood as the mayor of Oldtown, and has been honored for his work helping the poor and cleaning up trash. Medicare will pick up most of the bill for Bell's procedure, roughly $6,500. Except for glaucoma that has blinded him in the left eye and a stroke about 10 years ago, Bell is in good health, doctors said. I'll be delighted to replace the pacemaker when he's 125, Berger said.
excerpted from "The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went Round the World", from Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets by Edward Lear (1871)
Once upon a time, a long while ago, there were four little people whose names were Violet, Slingsby, Guy and Lionel; and they all thought they should like to see the world. So they bought a large boat to sail quite round the world by sea, and then they were to come back on the other side by land. The boat was painted blue with green spots, and the sail was yellow with red stripes; and when they set off, they only took a small Cat to steer and look after the boat, besides an elderly Quangle-Wangle, who had to cook dinner and make the tea; for which purposes they took a large kettle. For the first ten days they sailed on beautifully, and found plenty to eat, as there were lots of fish, and they only had to take them out of the sea with a long spoon, when the Quangle-Wangle instantly cooked them, and the pussy-cat was fed with the bones, with which she expressed herself pleased on the whole, so that all the party were very happy. During the daytime, Violet chiefly occupied herself in putting salt-water into the churn, while her three brothers churned it violently, in the hope that it would turn into butter, which it seldom, if ever did; and in the evening they all retired into the Tea-kettle, where they all managed to sleep very comfortably, while Pussy-cat and the Quangle-Wangle managed the boat. After a time they saw some land at a distance; and when they came to it, they found it was an island made of water quite surrounded by earth. Besides that, it was bordered by evanescent isthmusses with a great Gulf-stream running about all over it, so that it was perfectly beautiful, and contained only a single tree, 503 feet high. When they had landed, they walked about, but found to their great surprise, that the island was quite full of veal-cutlets and chocolate-drops, and nothing else. So they all climbed up the single high tree to discover, if possible, if there were any people; but having remained on the top of the tree for a week, and not seeing anybody, they naturally concluded that there were no inhabitants, and accordingly when they came down, they loaded the boat with two thousand veal-cutlets and a million of chocolate drops, and these afforded them sustenence for more than a month, during which time they pursued their voyage with the utmost delight and apathy.
The questionaire is admistered as a portion of the testing program. The questionnaire asks four questions after the users has completed a test:
Easy of Use: (Difficult <--------> Easy)
Comfort: (Uncomfortable <--------> Comfortable)
Remembering Key Placement: (Difficult <---------> Easy)
Do you like the Keyboard?: (Don't Like <-----------> Like)