Usable gestures for mobile interfaces

Abstract

Gesture-based mobile interfaces require users to change the way they use technology in public settings. Since mobile phones are part of our public appearance, designers must integrate gestures that users perceive as acceptable for pub-lic use. This topic has received little attention in the litera-ture so far. The studies described in this paper begin to look at the social acceptability of a set of gestures with re-spect to location and audience in order to investigate possi-ble ways of measuring social acceptability. The results of the initial survey showed that location and audience had a significant impact on a user's willingness to perform ges-tures. These results were further examined through a user study where participants were asked to perform gestures in different settings (including a busy street) over repeated trials. The results of this work provide gesture design rec-ommendations as well as social acceptability evaluation guidelines.