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Interacting At A Distance Using Semantic Snarfing
journal contribution
posted on 2001-01-01, 00:00 authored by Brad A. Myers, Choon Hong Peck, Jeffrey Nichols, Dave Kong, Robert MillerIt is difficult to interact with computer displays that are across the
room, which can be important in meetings and when controlling computerized
devices. A popular approach is to use laser pointers tracked by a camera, but interaction
techniques using laser pointers tend to be imprecise, error-prone, and
slow. Therefore, we have developed a new interaction style, where the laser
pointer (or other pointing technique such pointing with a finger or even eye
tracking) indicates the region of interest, and then the item there is copied
(“snarfed”) to the user’s handheld device, such as a Palm or PocketPC handheld.
If the content changes on the PC, the handheld’s copy will be updated as well.
Interactions can be performed on the handheld using familiar direct manipulation
techniques, and then the modified version is sent back to the PC. The content
often must be reformatted to fit the properties of the handheld to facilitate
natural interaction.