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51 lines
3.0 KiB
51 lines
3.0 KiB
%----------Zusammenfassung Englisch/Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------
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\addsec{Abstract}
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Keyboards are omnipresent in modern society. Hospitals, retail stores, offices
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or at home, the keyboard is still, the main input device for almost anyone that
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interacts with a computer. However, at some point, many people experience
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discomfort or even pain while using a keyboard because of the many small and
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repetitive movements the fingers have to do to operate it. Therefore, in this
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thesis we try to evaluate an alternative, non-uniform keyboard design where each
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individual \textit{mechanical} keyswitch is equipped with a spring that features
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a resistance appropriate for the specific finger usually operating it. The idea
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behind this adjusted design is to particularly reduce the load on weaker fingers
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and still pertain or even enhance typing performance. Additionally, we try to
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answer the question, whether or not a keyboard with, per finger, adjusted
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actuation force has a positive impact on efficiency and overall
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satisfaction. Thus, we evaluated the current availability of resistances for
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mechanical keyswitches and conducted a preliminary telephone interview (n = 17)
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to assess preferences, use-cases and previous experiences with
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keyboards. Further, we ran another preliminary experiment, where we measured the
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maximum applicable force for each finger in different positions related to
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keyboarding as a basis for our adjusted keyboard design. Lastly, during a three
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week laboratory user study with twenty-four participants, the adjusted keyboard
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design and three traditional keyboards with 35\,g, 50\,g and 80 g actuation
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force were compared to each other in terms of performance and user
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satisfaction. The statistical analysis revealed, that especially error rates are
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positively influenced by higher actuation forces and that keyboards with neither
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too heavy nor to light resistance generally perform the best in terms of typing
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speed. Further, the adjusted keyboard and the 50\,g keyboard performed almost
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identically in all tests and therefore we could not derive any significant
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improvements in performance or satisfaction over traditional designs that
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utilize keyswitches with moderate resistance. However, we concluded, that with
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the equally good results, the adjusted design is still a viable alternative and
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with further improvements, e.g., complete personalization of spring resistance
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for each key, could possibly enhance the user experience and performance for
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sophisticated typists.
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% Even though experts recommend to regularly take a break from
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% keyboard work to prevent such symptoms, these recommendations can rarely be
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% implemented in working environments, where productivity and tight schedules are
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% very common. If the pain or discomfort persists, people have to either reduce or
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% a completely stop working with a keyboard, which in some cases might even force
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% them to change their profession. |