| The term direct interaction has been applied to mouse-based desktop interaction systems despite the indirect nature of moving an input device at one location to modify an electronic cursor at a different location. The concept of directly mediated interaction is developed to define a modality of interaction that truly incorporates the concept of directly working with electronic data. The goals of supporting pointing and manipulation interactions from outside the computer interaction space and using them for electronic data manipulation are presented. A unique environment called HI-SPACE Enhanced was created. The ideals of directly mediated interaction are used to drive the functionality of HI-SPACE Enhanced; the functionality extends well beyond the aspects of directly mediated interaction studied here. Fundamental algorithms and routines for HI-SPACE Enhanced are presented and support functionality such as finger tracking, pose recognition, object tracking, and group interaction. The innovative approaches to the creation of HI-SPACE Enhanced are evaluated to direct future research activities. The potential benefits of directly mediated interaction as an input technology are explored and compared to the functionality of a mouse, the de facto standard input technology in use today. Directly mediated interactions are shown not to depend on an electronic cursor to reference positions of interest in an electronic space. Rather, the physical pointing device, such as a hand, serves that role. This frees the user and interface developers from traditional bottlenecks in interface design such as system lag. The current state of directly mediated interaction environments is not as robust as mouse-based systems. Still, they are just as effective at target selection tasks, one of the most fundamental tasks used in computer interactions. |
