Taxonomies of Input

By Bill Buxton
January 2009

INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, input devices have been discussed in terms of their mechanical and electrical properties (Foley & Van Dam, 1982; Sherr, 1988). Discussions centre on “joysticks,” “trackballs,” and “mice,” for example. Several studies have attempted to evaluate the technologies from the perspective of human performance. Many of these are summarized in Greenstein and Arnaut (1988) and Milner (1988). A common problem with such studies, however, is that they are often overly device-specific. While they may say something about a particular device in a particular task, many do not contribute significantly to the development of a general model of human performance. (There are exceptions, of course, such as Card, English and Burr, 1978.) With the objective of isolating more fundamental issues, some researchers have attempted to categorize input technologies and/or techniques along dimensions more meaningful than simply “joystick” or “trackball.” The underlying assumption in such efforts is that better abstractions can lead us from phenomenological descriptions to more general models, and hence better analogies.

Taxonomies of Input