PrintMarmoset: Redesigning the Print Button for Sustainability

Related comments: Jacob's blog


Summary:
In this paper, HP Labs researchers Jun Xiao and Jian Fan predominantly discuss the concept of sustainable interaction design (SID) and the challenges presented by systems and users when attempting to introduce "green" behaviors.  They tested and refined their observations by developing PrintMarmoset, a refinement of other "smart" printing technologies like "printer-friendly" versions of web pages and HP Smart Web Printing.  The aim of PrintMarmoset was to address the problems presented by printing web content -- undesirable formatting, cut-off text, advertisements, and blank pages -- and reduce the amount of waste paper associated with those problems.  All of this, of course, had to be implemented in a way that did not require developers to modify existing web sites nor users to change existing print flow, required near-zero user input effort, offered user flexibility and pre-defined templates, maintained a history of print activities for future reference, and preferable raise awareness of itself among users.  Xiao and Fan achieved this by writing PrintMarmoset as a Firefox browser extension; when the user clicks the PrintMarmoset button, the main content of the page is selected by the plugin and is highlighted to the user.  PrintMarmoset then allows the user to add to or remove from the content selection with one very simple mouse "stroke" gesture.  Once the user is satisfied with the selection, he or she clicks the PrintMarmoset button again and a document containing the selected content is generated.

PrintMarmoset approximates desired content via analysis of a scaled-down screen image.  Visual separators are identified and used to divide the page into blocks.  Once these blocks are determined, content importance is evaluated by parsing text information from the HTML portion of the page.  PrintMarmoset also utilizes a tool called PrintMark that stores the user's selection for that page and uses it as the default printing template for that website in any future printing attempts.  These PrintMarks can then also be shared with other PrintMarmoset users to encourage a more "viral" and communicative method of promoting sustainability through saving printout paper.  PrintMarmoset was tested and compared against other tools like HP Smart Web Printing.  These tests favored PrintMarmoset's easy stroke selection and most users stated that the tool offered a natural WYSIWYG printing experience.

Discussion:

The difficulty with presenting sustainable technologies to users is the fact that most sustainable technologies are only effective on a long-term basis and there are few if any short-term benefits; users want results now with as little effort as possible.  In this regard, PrintMarmoset is a very effective tool -- it requires little of its users besides the click of a button and a single mouse stroke, and it provides a paper-saving print method with clear short-term and long-term benefits.  I personally don't print a whole lot of web content (hardly any, in fact) but for those who do, in offices or businesses or wherever, I can see this being a very useful, easy-to-integrate tool for getting the desired content on the page.  The are only two readily apparent problems I see with PrintMarmoset:  it is limited to the Firefox web browser (which is widespread but hardly ubiquitous) and therefore discounts a large audience of other browser users; and it is a browser extension, which by definition requires a user to find and install it.  As discussed above, users will only exert the least possible amount of effort and they may not be convinced that an "alternate print button" is worth their time to install, or may not know how to install it at all.

Mouse 2.0: Multi-touch Meets the Mouse

Related comments:
On Nate's blog


Summary:
In this paper from a team at Microsoft Research (Nicholas Viller, et al), five ways of incorporating multi-touch (MT) with traditional computer mice were implemented and tested, with some pretty interesting results.  Multi-touch technology has become more prevalent as an interface tool in recent years, but it is primarily used in mobile devices or larger form factors like kiosks and tabletops and hasn't made its way to the desktop environment -- which is still the dominant environment for most users.
The first MT mouse discussed in the paper utilized Frustrated Internal Total Reflection (FTIR) as its sensing technique.  FTIR works by edge-illuminating a sheet of acrylic with infrared (IR) light; when fingers are pressed on the surface they scatter IR light which is then detected by an IR camera.  The team at Microsoft Research created a form factor that was similar to traditional mice but still enabled FTIR to be used successfully.
The next attempt, the Orb Mouse, used IR technology similar to the FTIR mouse, except that the IR light is generated inside the device and reflected back into the camera by user's fingers that contact the hemispherical surface of the mouse.  However, the IR picture captured by the camera is heavily distorted and must go through several processing steps before it can be used for input.
The third design switched technologies, this time using a flexible matrix of capacitive-sensing electrodes.  The Cap Mouse (short for capacitive) works by detecting disturbances in the sensors' mutual capacitance caused by finger contact and mapping the position of the disturbance as input.  This design is relatively accurate while consuming low amounts of power.
In a break from the previous three designs, the Side Mouse actually dispenses with touch-sensitive mouse surfaces altogether and functions by reading breaks in a projected IR beam caused by fingers placed in front of the mouse, upon which the user's palm rests.  This design gives the user the freedom touch the table surface and perform a wide range of gestures.
The final design presented in the paper was the Arty Mouse (short for articulated).  Having perhaps the most unconventional design of the five mice, the Arty Mouse features two prong-like extensions for the user's thumb and index finger, each of which contains a separate optical mouse sensor to track its movement across the surface.  Each extension and the base part also have conductive metal rings around them to sense when any piece is touching the other.

From L-R: FTIR mouse, Cap mouse, Arty mouse, Orb mouse, Side mouse

The latter part of the paper was concerned with the integration of multi-touch input with the software of a desktop computer, primarily through augmenting the traditional cursor with a "cloud" of dots representing multi-touch contacts.  Simple adaptations of existing software produced successful results and hinted at the possibility of 3D interaction in the near future.  Each mouse was also tested with a group of 6 users in a pilot study.  Of the five designs, Arty proved the most comfortable and popular, while the Orb seemed to allow users to make more natural gestures to control the computer.  The Cap was the easiest for users to learn, while the Side and FTIR presented some problems with ergonomics.  The researchers found that ergonomics are crucial when designing a mouse form factor, as comfort affects a user's experience greatly.  Compromises between ergonomics and multi-touch capability must be struck to find the most balanced mouse.


Discussion:
I chuckled a little when I started reading this paper -- having been published in early October, the paper omits the obvious achievements made by Apple in this front with the release of their Magic Mouse in November of last year; when compared to the Magic Mouse, most of these designs look either ridiculous or horribly uncomfortable.  Some of them, like the Arty Mouse and the Orb Mouse, present unique changes to the traditional mouse design that could foreseeably improve the user experience.  Others, however, are either too similar (Cap Mouse) or too uncomfortable (Side Mouse) to ever have any kind of impact on the multi-touch interface market.  The trouble with MT mice is that they must be different enough to actually be able to utilize MT powerfully, but similar enough for users to adjust easily.  Apple did this very well with the Magic Mouse, which despite minor ergonomic issues is an effective combination of MT gestures and traditional mousing.

Sorry, Microsoft.  Apple gets the win on this one.