Paper #1 - Introduction to Sketch Recognition

Paper:
Introduction to Sketch Recognition
(Tracy Hammond and Kenneth Mock)

Summary:
Sketch Recognition had its beginnings in 1963 with Dr. Ivan Sutherland’s vector-based Sketchpad system, consisting of a light pen and keyboard input to allow the user to produce complicated 2-D graphics. Despite its graphical superiority of smooth lines over raster-based computers, computers with raster graphics and its mouse input prevailed with its lower cost and superiority in other graphical features. Difficulties in sketching with a mouse, as well as recent technological advances, allowed for the emerging Tablet PC technology to penetrate the market.

Tablet PCs are, in essence, notebook computers with the added feature of touch or pen-based input capabilities. To track an input’s location, a digitizer is employed by the Tablet PC. There exists three types of digitizers: 1) passive (i.e., touch), 2) active (i.e., specialized pen), and 3) hybrid (i.e., combination of both). Two common physical styles also exist for the Tablet PC: 1) slate (i.e., keyboard-less) and 2) convertible (i.e., twist/rotate monitor). The operating system most commonly supported by Tablet PCs is Windows, but aftermarket modifications and installation of additional drivers allow for support with Mac OS X and Linux too.

Instructors who adapt Tablet PCs into their lectures discover flexibility in their teaching methods by allowing dynamic functionality over traditional static teaching materials, but disadvantages in implementing them come in greater cost in money and resources compared to traditional teaching methods. Student use of Tablet PCs in the classroom setting showed advantages of more detailed note-taking, greater collaboration with teachers and classmates, and also additional academic resources at their disposal.

One framework to help instructors produce sketch recognition interfaces in their curriculum is the FLUID framework. This framework implements the LADDER language and GUILD sketch recognition generator to let instructors not have to deal with programming sketch recognition code. The technology instead allows the instructor to focus on specifying shapes to be used in the curriculum with the framework. Two particular case studies of Tablet PCs used in the classroom setting involved the use of video recordings in the first case and tablet usage to post curriculum material in the second case.

Discussion:
With Tablet PCs combining the features that conventional notebook PCs already have with the added functionality of touch and pen-based input, its significance can be seen in opening up new uses and extending current ones without losing capabilities that notebook PCs already have. In terms of its use in pedagogy, Tablet PCs implementation to long-standing traditional methods is also significant. Instructors can advance their teaching methods by extending or easing their current teaching methods with Tablet PCs, while students can use Tablet PCs to supplement and better elaborate what they are already learning.

Despite the advantages of Tablet PCs, there will be cases when its technologies may be used in areas that may not be needed or is simply overkill, as a parody of Microsoft’s Surface demonstrates:



Since the paper’s release, there has been some progress with overcoming the limitations of passive digitizers. For example, the iPhone demonstrated the ability to overcome the passive digitizers’ inability to distinguish single-click from double-click by tapping two fingers on the screen for double-tap instead of one finger. The video below of touch screen typing on the iPhone demonstrates how advances can be made in the merging of convenience in passive digitizers with versatility in active digitizers:



Along with the advances made by the iPhone, touch and pen-based Tablet PCs can definitely benefit from combining the advantages of passive and active digitizers while overcoming the imprecision of passive digitizers and the overhead inherent in current active digitizers.