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In order to depict a taxonomy of multimodal human-computer interaction we
will have to clarify a number of concepts and issues. The first assumption
is that there are minimally two separate agents involved, one
human and one machine. They are physically separated, but are able to
exchange information through a number of information channels. As
schematically shown in figure 1.1 , we will make the following
definitions.
Figure 1.1
: A model for the identification of basic
processes in human-computer interaction. Note that in fact two loops
exists: the intrinsic feedback as in eye-hand coordination, and the
extrinsic loop, imposed by the computer.
There are two basic processes involved on the side of the human user:
Perception and Control. Note that we take the perspective of
the human process throughout this document. With respect to the
Perceptive process, we can make a distinction between:
- Human Input Channels (HIC) and
- Computer Output Media (COM)
Within the Control process, we can make a distinction between:
- Human Output Channels (HOC) and
- Computer Input Modalities (CIM)
Then, within both of the agents, a cognitive or computational component can
be identified, which processes the incoming input information and prepares
the output. Also, at this intermediate cognitive level, intentional
parameters will influence the processing, either implicitly, such as by
design, in the case of non-intelligent agents, or explicitly, as in humans
or in more sophisticated agents containing an explicit representation of
goals and ``beliefs''. With respect to the machine, it should be noted
that here the design is known, whereas for the human cognitive apparatus,
the architecture must be inferred and cannot be observed directly.
Instead of the word modality at the human input side, and the word media at
the human output side, we have chosen for the word channel, which
also allows for a more clear distinction between the abbreviations (HOC
CIM 
COM 
HIC 
HOC
...) which can also be pronounced as:
- HOC: human output to computer
- CIM: computer input from man
- COM: computer output to man
- HIC: human input from computer
The two halves of the loop will be further investigated in
sections 2 , Perception, and 3 ,
Control and Manipulation, respectively. The interaction process
between the operator (man) and the computer (machine) will be considered in
section 4 , Interaction, whereas the internal
processing is described in 5 , Cognition.
Next: Levels of observation
Up: Definitions of Basic
Previous: Definitions of Basic
Esprit Project 8579/MIAMI (Schomaker et al., '95)
Thu May 18 16:00:17 MET DST 1995