Sketch Recognition from the User's Perspective

Prof. Christine Alvarado

Computer Science

Harvey Mudd College

Date: Friday, Feb. 22, 2008
Place: Buchanan 1940
Time: 2:00 pm — 3:00 pm


Abstract:

Programs that can recognize students' hand-drawn diagrams have the potential to revolutionize education by breaking down the barriers between diagram creation and simulation. Much recent work (including much of our own work) focuses on building robust recognition engines, but researchers have paid surprisingly little attention to the potential users of these systems.

In this talk I will discuss two studies that examine the problem of sketch recognition from the user's perspective. In the first study we examined freely-drawn digital logic diagrams created by students in an electrical engineering class. Our goal was to understand how to construct a recognition engine that is robust to the way students actually draw in practice. Our analysis reveals considerable drawing style variation between students and that standard drawing style restrictions made by sketch recognition systems to aid recognition generally do not match the way students draw. In the second study we investigated four critical sketch recognition user interface issues: how users integrate the process of triggering recognition into their work, when users prefer to indicate which portions of the diagram should be recognized, how users prefer to receive recognition feedback, and how users perceive recognition errors. We found that user preferences emphasize the importance of system reliability, the minimization of distractions, and the maximization of predictability. Finally, I will discuss the implications the results from both studies have on the design of sketch recognition systems.


CHRISTINE ALVARADO is an assistant professor of computer science at Harvey Mudd College. Her primary research interests lie in the intersection of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. She focuses on building robust, free-sketch recognition-based interfaces and exploring how to resolve the user interface challenges associated with these interfaces. In addition to her sketch understanding research, Prof. Alvarado is actively involved in outreach efforts to increase the number of women in computer science, and in designing novel introductory computer science curriculum that appeals to a broad scientific audience. Prof. Alvarado received her undergraduate degree in computer science from Dartmouth in 1998. She received her S.M. and Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2000 and 2004, respectively.

Host: Prof. Tim Sherwood, Computer Science