@ -1,4 +1,42 @@
|
||||
%----------Kurzfassung DEUTSCH----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||||
|
||||
\addsec{Kurzfassung}
|
||||
Deutschsprachige Kurzfassung...
|
||||
|
||||
Tastaturen sind in der modernen Gesellschaft allgegenwärtig. Ob in
|
||||
Krankenhäusern, Einzelhandelsgeschäften, Büros oder zu Hause - die Tastatur ist
|
||||
nach wie vor das meistgenutzte Eingabegerät für fast alle, die mit einem
|
||||
Computer arbeiten. Einige Benutzer:innen empfinden jedoch irgendwann Unbehagen
|
||||
oder sogar Schmerzen bei der Verwendung einer Tastatur, da die Finger viele
|
||||
kleine und sich wiederholende Bewegungen ausführen müssen, um die Tasten zu
|
||||
bedienen. Daher versuchen wir in dieser Bachelorarbeit, ein alternatives, nicht
|
||||
uniformes Tastaturdesign zu evaluieren, bei dem jede einzelne mechanische Taste
|
||||
mit einer Feder ausgestattet ist, die einen Widerstand aufweist, der dem
|
||||
spezifischen Finger entspricht, der sie normalerweise bedient. Die Idee hinter
|
||||
diesem angepassten Design ist, insbesondere die schwächeren Finger zu entlasten
|
||||
und trotzdem die Produktivität beizubehalten oder sogar zu verbessern. Deshalb
|
||||
versuchen wir die Frage zu beantworten, ob eine Tastatur mit einer für jeden
|
||||
Finger angepassten Betätigungskraft einen positiven Einfluss auf die Effizienz
|
||||
und die allgemeine Zufriedenheit während der Benutzung hat. Darum haben wir die
|
||||
aktuelle Verfügbarkeit von Widerständen für mechanische Tastenschalter evaluiert
|
||||
und eine erste telefonische Befragung (n = 17) durchgeführt, um Präferenzen,
|
||||
Anwendungsfälle und bisherige Erfahrungen mit Tastaturen zu ermitteln. Darüber
|
||||
hinaus führten wir ein weiteres Experiment durch, bei dem wir die maximal
|
||||
ausübbare Kraft für jeden Finger in verschiedenen, mit dem Drücken einer Taste
|
||||
verbundenen Positionen maßen und im Anschluss als Grundlage für unser
|
||||
angepasstes Tastaturdesign verwendeten. Schließlich wurden in einer dreiwöchigen
|
||||
Laborstudie mit 24 Teilnehmern das angepasste Tastaturdesign und drei
|
||||
herkömmliche Tastaturen mit 35 g, 50 g und 80 g Betätigungskraft in Bezug auf
|
||||
Leistung und allgemeine Zufriedenheit miteinander verglichen. Die statistische
|
||||
Auswertung ergab, dass vor allem die Fehlerquote durch höhere Betätigungskräfte
|
||||
positiv beeinflusst wird und dass Tastaturen mit weder zu hohem noch zu geringem
|
||||
Widerstand generell am besten in Bezug auf die Schreibgeschwindigkeit
|
||||
abschneiden. Darüber hinaus waren die Ergebnisse für die angepasste Tastatur und
|
||||
die 50-g-Tastatur in allen Tests nahezu identisch, so dass wir keine
|
||||
signifikanten Verbesserungen in Bezug auf Leistung oder Zufriedenheit im
|
||||
Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Designs, welche Tastenschalter mit moderatem
|
||||
Widerstand verwenden, ableiten konnten. Wir kamen jedoch zu dem Schluss, dass
|
||||
das angepasste Design aufgrund der gleich guten Ergebnisse immer noch eine
|
||||
brauchbare Alternative ist und mit weiteren Verbesserungen, z. B. einer
|
||||
vollständigen Personalisierung des Federwiderstands für jede Taste,
|
||||
möglicherweise das Erlebnis bei der Verwendung und die Leistung für
|
||||
anspruchsvolle Benutzer:innen verbessern könnte.
|
||||
|
@ -1,4 +1,51 @@
|
||||
%----------Zusammenfassung Englisch/Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||||
\addsec{Abstract}
|
||||
|
||||
Here goes the abstract (English language)...
|
||||
Keyboards are omnipresent in modern society. Hospitals, retail stores, offices
|
||||
or at home, the keyboard is still, the main input device for almost anyone that
|
||||
interacts with a computer. However, at some point, many people experience
|
||||
discomfort or even pain while using a keyboard because of the many small and
|
||||
repetitive movements the fingers have to do to operate it. Therefore, in this
|
||||
thesis we try to evaluate an alternative, non-uniform keyboard design, where
|
||||
each individual \textit{mechanical} keyswitch is equipped with a spring, that
|
||||
features a resistance, appropriate for the specific finger usually operating
|
||||
it. The idea behind this adjusted design is to particularly reduce the load on
|
||||
weaker fingers and still pertain or even enhance typing
|
||||
performance. Additionally, we try to answer the question, whether or not a
|
||||
keyboard with, per finger, adjusted actuation force has a positive impact on
|
||||
efficiency and overall satisfaction. Thus, we evaluated the current availability
|
||||
of resistances for mechanical keyswitches and conducted a preliminary telephone
|
||||
interview (n = 17) to assess preferences, use-cases and previous experiences
|
||||
with keyboards. Further, we ran another preliminary experiment, where we
|
||||
measured the maximum applicable force for each finger in different positions
|
||||
related to keyboarding as a basis for our adjusted keyboard design. Lastly,
|
||||
during a three week laboratory user study with twenty-four participants, the
|
||||
adjusted keyboard design and three traditional keyboards with 35 g, 50 g and 80
|
||||
g actuation force where compared to each other in terms of performance and user
|
||||
satisfaction. The statistical analysis revealed, that especially error rates are
|
||||
positively influenced by higher actuation forces and that keyboards with neither
|
||||
to heavy nor to light resistance generally perform the best in terms of typing
|
||||
speed. Further, the adjusted keyboard and the 50 g keyboard performed almost
|
||||
identically in all tests and therefore we could not derive any significant
|
||||
improvements in performance or satisfaction over traditional designs that
|
||||
utilize keyswitches with moderate resistance. However, we concluded, that with
|
||||
the equally good results, the adjusted design is still a viable alternative and
|
||||
with further improvements, e.g., complete personalization of spring resistance
|
||||
for each key, could possibly enhance the user experience and performance for
|
||||
sophisticated typists.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
% Even though experts recommend to regularly take a break from
|
||||
% keyboard work to prevent such symptoms, these recommendations can rarely be
|
||||
% implemented in working environments, where productivity and tight schedules are
|
||||
% very common. If the pain or discomfort persists, people have to either reduce or
|
||||
% a completely stop working with a keyboard, which in some cases might even force
|
||||
% them to change their profession.
|
@ -1,16 +1,78 @@
|
||||
\section{Conclusion}
|
||||
\label{sec:label}
|
||||
\label{sec:conclusion}
|
||||
Since keyboards are still the main data input device while using a computer and
|
||||
are also found to be related to discomfort or even \glsfirst{WRUED}
|
||||
\cite{pascarelli_wrued}, we tried to evaluate a possible modification to the
|
||||
existing keyboard design, that does not require the consumers to extensively
|
||||
adapt their typing behaviour, nor the producers to massively deviate from
|
||||
existing manufacturing processes. Therefore, we created a keyboard that used
|
||||
keyswitches with actuation forces, related to the specific finger the keyswitch
|
||||
is operated with.
|
||||
existing manufacturing processes. To reduce the load on weaker fingers, we
|
||||
created a keyboard that used keyswitches with actuation forces, related to the
|
||||
specific finger the keyswitch is operated with and hoped to thereby decrease the
|
||||
risk for \gls{WRUED}. The evaluation of the impact of different actuation forces
|
||||
on typing speed, error rate and satisfaction revealed, that higher actuation
|
||||
forces reduce error rates compared to lower actuation forces and that the typing
|
||||
speed is also influenced, \textbf{at least indirectly}, by differences in
|
||||
actuation force. Especially the keyboard with very low actuation force,
|
||||
\textit{Nyx (35 g)}, which also had the highest average error rate was
|
||||
significantly slower than all other keyboards. Therefore, we investigated, if
|
||||
there is a connection between high error rates and stagnating typing speed and
|
||||
found, that in general, the error rate was a factor for lower input
|
||||
rates. Neither the satisfaction nor the muscle activity was significantly
|
||||
influenced solely by the actuation.
|
||||
|
||||
\subsection{Future work}
|
||||
\label{sec:label}
|
||||
In conclusion, our study showed, that the keyboard with non-uniform actuation
|
||||
forces―\textit{Hera (35 - 60 g)}―was not able to improve the overall typing
|
||||
experience significantly enough to supersede existing designs, but was still a
|
||||
viable alternative to all traditional keyboards we tested. It could be possible,
|
||||
that due to the unconventional force distribution, that similar to keyboards
|
||||
with very light actuation force, the muscle activity while using \textit{Hera}
|
||||
could decrease when users are given more time to adapt to this keyboard
|
||||
\cite{gerard_keyswitch}. Additionally, we found that keyboards with either very
|
||||
high (80 g) or very low (35 g) actuation forces had the most influence on typing
|
||||
related metrics, when compared to the more commonly sold keyboards with around
|
||||
50 g to 60 g actuation force. In the next sections we identify possible
|
||||
limitations and propose some ideas on how to reevaluate custom keyboard designs
|
||||
in future studies.
|
||||
|
||||
\subsection{Limitations}
|
||||
\label{sec:label}
|
||||
\label{sec:limitations}
|
||||
The first limitation of our study design was the rather short time period of in
|
||||
total 10 minutes, for every participant to adjust to each keyboard. With
|
||||
prolonged typing session, familiarization, especially for keyboards with lighter
|
||||
actuation force, would have been more realistic to a real life scenario where a
|
||||
person bought a new keyboard. Furthermore, the laboratory test environment where
|
||||
the researcher was in the same room, the limited time for the individual typing
|
||||
tests and the rather short breaks in between typing tests, could have influenced
|
||||
some subjects by inducing unnecessary stress. Another limitation related to the
|
||||
preliminary finger strength study, was the very small number of participants (n
|
||||
= 6). Although we measured the finger strengths in different positions for 50\%
|
||||
female and male participants, the age distribution was not diverse (M = 24) and
|
||||
with a higher number of subjects, the results would have been much more
|
||||
reliable. Similarly, the number and diversity in occupation of participants
|
||||
could have been higher for our main study (n = 24) to yield even more meaningful
|
||||
results. The low number of participants in general was partly due to the ongoing
|
||||
COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, we could have used more linear mixed models during
|
||||
our statistical analysis, to be able to make statements about the influence of
|
||||
other factors e.g., age, gender, average daily keyboard usage, etc., on speed,
|
||||
error rate and satisfaction.
|
||||
|
||||
\subsection{Future work}
|
||||
\label{sec:fw}
|
||||
We propose, that in further research related to keyboards with non-uniform
|
||||
actuation force (adjusted keyboards), participants should test several different
|
||||
adjusted keyboards and the results should be compared to one identical looking
|
||||
keyboard that utilizes a uniform layout of keyswitches with an actuation force
|
||||
of 50 g to 65 g. Further, different adjusted layouts, with e.g. higher or lower
|
||||
base actuation force than 50 g could be used to calculate the individual spring
|
||||
resistances used for each key or a similar layout to the one used in
|
||||
Realforce\footnote{\url{https://www.realforce.co.jp/en/products/}} keyboards,
|
||||
could be compared to each other. Furthermore, long term studies with adjusted
|
||||
keyboards, where participants use the adjusted keyboard for 3 to 4 months and
|
||||
then use a uniform keyboard they prefer for another 3 to 4 months as their daily
|
||||
driver, could yield more accurate results, due to the chance to fully adapt to
|
||||
the individual keyboards. During those months \gls{EMG} and typing related
|
||||
metrics should be measured on a regular basis. Lastly, it would be interesting
|
||||
to investigate if an adjusted keyboard can reduce pain or at least enhance
|
||||
comfort for typists with pre-existing diseases influenced by typing activities
|
||||
(disorders of the upper extremity), since one of our participants with a similar
|
||||
disease reported a great reduction in pain while using \textit{Hera}.
|
||||
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