Bendflip: examining input techniques for electronic book readers with flexible form factors

  • Authors:
  • Doug Wightman;Tim Ginn;Roel Vertegaal

  • Affiliations:
  • Human Media Lab, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada;Human Media Lab, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada;Human Media Lab, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada

  • Venue:
  • INTERACT'11 Proceedings of the 13th IFIP TC 13 international conference on Human-computer interaction - Volume Part III
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

We present recommendations for the design of flexible electronic book readers, based on an empirical evaluation of form factors and input techniques in a page navigation task. We compared capacitive touch, pressure, and bend sensors between rigid and flexible form factors using a prototype electronic book reader. Results suggest that the time required to perform bend techniques is comparable to button techniques for page navigation on flexible form factors. We also found that a bend technique had fewer errors on flexible form factors. We discuss the physical affordances of flexible e-book form factors, and why they might be preferable to rigid designs. We conclude by presenting recommendations for the design of future flexible e-book readers.