Next Steps

Features:
Areas of Exploration:

Annotated Placeholders - Draggable Anchors

These anchors would allow you to temporarily mark important content so that you could quickly jump to that content at any time. These anchors can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the screen. Thus, you may mark specific parts of the text, or diagrams. Once the circular anchor is dropped, you may attach a note to it. These anchors work just like those on a standard HTML page. Thus, in order to jump to the anchored place, click on its corresponding hyperlink. You may label the hyperlinks to help you remember what the marked content is. The label area will be collapsable to save screen space. These placeholders will also be accessible via speech commands. The user would say either the user-given name of the hyperlink, or else [ bubble].

Possible Implications and Tradeoffs

The bar of hyperlinks takes up additional screenspace that cannot be collapsed when hiding the step panel. Therefore, when the user hides the step panel, the Diagram Area will not be as large as it would be without the hyperlink bar.

Scribble Notes

This function would allow users to activate a Scribble mode, in which they can use the stylus pen to write and annotate diagrams and text in a natural way. The user will also be able to make notes via dictation in Speech Mode. However, when the user gives dictation to the system, the note cannot be associated with a particular place in the text or diagram. A note is mode in a separate “sticky,” and can be dragged and “stuck” to a particular place with the stylus.

Full Signal Tracing Capability

We envision extending the Signal Tracing capability to use a richer set of colors and annotations to more fully support users' workflow. Users would be able to indicate whether a test at the component and wire passed or failed by color. Tracing would also extend into more detailed diagrams so users can seamlessly continue their troubleshooting task even when switching between diagrams.

Role of Simulation

During our user studies, many participants expressed the desire for simulations in the prototype. Users wanted to see the correct output of a system when particular inputs are applied. It would be interesting to explore how to incorporate simulation into the tool.

More User Control of Speech Output

Sufficient control of an interface makes it significantly more easier to use. Users expressed a desire to control the speech output during our user tests. Users were particularly interested in having voice control of the voice tempo and volume. Some users also expressed dislike for the synthesized voice that we used, because it was unnatural. Allowing the user to select from a variety of voices might be interesting to incorporate. However, a preference for differing voices should be explored further.

Allow More Flexible Control with Speech

While BlueLite already allows users to 'click' on hyperlinks just by saying its name, navigate text with "next," "previous," and by clicking on the text, we have found that users would like even more flexibility in navigating the text with speech. Many users found it more natural to read the heading of a section, and expected the system to jump to that section. We would highly recommend that navigation by keyword or heading title be included in the next version.