Recognition Accuracy and User Acceptance

pen-based input, handwriting recognition The accuracy of handwriting recognition is often seen as a key factor in determining the acceptability of hand-held computers that employ a pen for user interaction. We report the results of a study in which the relationship between user satisfaction and recogniser performance was examined in the context of different types of target application. Subjects with no prior experience of pen computing evaluated the appropriateness of the pen interface for performing three different tasks that required translation of handwritten text. The results indicate that the influence of recogniser performance on user satisfaction depends on the task context. These findings are interpreted in terms of the task related costs and benefits associated with handwriting recognition. Further analysis of recognition data showed that accuracy did not improve as subjects became more practiced. However, substantial gains in accuracy could be achieved by selectively adapting the recogniser to deal with a small, user specific subset ofcharacters.