Information theory meets writing October 12, 2010

Keyboards are inefficient for two reasons: they do not exploit the predictability of normal language; and they waste the fine analogue capabilities of the user's muscles. Professor MacKay will present two human-computer interaction systems, both designed from scratch using information theory. The benefits of this information-theoretic approach are most striking in the case of users with limited physical abilities. Dasher is a communication system that can be driven by one-dimensional or two-dimensional continuous gestures, or by pressing buttons. Users can achieve single-finger writing speeds of 35 words per minute and hands-free writing speeds of 25 words per minute. Dasher works in over 100 languages and is a free software. Nomon is a selection system using a single switch. It adapts to the user's timing accuracy, can be used for any task traditionally solved by 'point and click', and can exploit information about the probabilities of the alternatives.

Official Website: http://royalsociety.org/Clifford-Paterson-Lecture-2010/