undo for mobile phones does your mobile phone need an undo key? do you?

Undo for Mobile PhonesDoes Your Mobile Phone Need an Undo Key? Do You?

Marco Loregian, University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy)www.marcoloregian.net

Undo

• Well known function of PC applications

• Allows to revert (the effects of) commands

• Applied to user actions

• Different strategies

Undo modelsA coarse classification

What does “undo” mean when

operating with mobile phones?

...and I really mean phones,

not cool gadgets

The problem

• We need to know it in order to design usable (successful) devices

• How should we find it out?

• Undo is a user intention

• We surveyed users

Concerns in mind

• Reversibility (yes/no)

• Criticality (high/low)

The surveyOnline survey, 20 questions, 5 parts

1. Personal info (demographics)

2. Introduction (basic operations)

3. Scenario (multiple steps)

4. Reversed perspective

5. Conclusion (overall opinion)

The results

• Demographics

• Interesting facts from the survey

Full stats and comments in the paper

Demographics

0

20

40

60

80

15-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-551116

10

36

80

11

Age Distribution

45%55%

Gender

MaleFemale

146 respondents, 133 answered all questions

0

37,5

75,0

112,5

150,0

none one two three more4

25

116

1

Number of phones used regularly

0

15

30

45

60

None Basic Average Advanced Absolute

54

39

52

1

Computer Skills (wrt applications)

With respect to the diffusion of mobile phones, the sample is consistent with Italian population (istat.it)

Different computer skills may indicate

familiarity with different undo models

Highlights and selected survey

items

Confirmation

0

25

50

75

100

Yes No Yes, if...

18

33

97

Prompt for confirmation

66% want to know what they are undoing22% ask for a transparent implementation12% want to be warned in case of irreversibility

Granularity

Different preferences, variable granularity with respect to different situations… context awareness?

The same key has different behaviors in different moments, sometimes matching the End key

0

27,5

55,0

82,5

110,0

4

27

102

13

Question 8

0

17,5

35,0

52,5

70,0

1

18

61

17

47

Question 10

Timeline

• Very simple/intuitive interaction

• Linear and sequential undooperations undone one-by-one in reverse chronological order

Privacy and Responsibility

• Nothing hidden to me

• The responsible pays the price

0

27,5

55,0

82,5

110,0

Yes No

103

31

Can a SMS be deleted from your phone if you’ve not read it?

The verdict

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Yes No Yes, if...

34

65

38

Would you like mobile phones to have an undo key?53% Yes

Conclusion

• Undo for mobile phones:

linear, sequential, with variable granularity and confirmation before execution

• Generalization of the results

More work

• Undo for email, a.k.a. retraction(poster yesterday)

• Undo for Ubiquitous Computingpublished at UIC’08, IDC’2008

Moral of the talk

If we had more ctrl+Z our lives might be better

undo!undo!undo!

Thank you,any question?

Undo for Mobile PhonesDoes Your Mobile Phone Need an Undo Key? Do You?

Marco Loregian, University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy)www.marcoloregian.net