Understanding handwriting recognition from the user's perspective

Abstract

As an input technique, handwriting recognition offers benefits in ease of use but poses special problems for the user when a recognition error occurs. When a recognition error occurs, the user is often surprised since the misrecognized character often looks acceptable to him/her. In contrast, when a typing error occurs with a keyboard interface, the user immediately understands what has happened. The purpose of this study was: 1. to gain insight into what people think when a recognition error occurs, and 2. to discover whether a simple monochrome display of a user's handwriting prototypes would provide information which could be used to improve recognition accuracy. Such a display might serve as a point of reference for understanding and avoiding recognition errors. The results of the study suggested that a display of handwriting prototypes can be used by people to improve recognition accuracy. The study also found that in a large percentage of instances, people do not have any insight into the cause of a recognition error. Some possible causes for this predicament and some possible remedies are discussed in the paper.