Digital Ink and Pen-based Computing: Will We Ever Get It Right?

It wasn't that long ago that pen-based computing was the next great thing. Books were written, magazines launched, conferences held, venture capital spent, and press conferences put on. Heck, Dr. Dobb's even held a handwriting recognition contest. But instead of sizzle, the market fizzled, even though some really cool stuff came from it; Go's PenPoint operating system comes to mind. Still,pen-based computing didn't entirely go away (everyone who still uses a PalmPilot please raise your hand). Alas, pen-based computing and digital ink are promising technologies that never lived up to their promises.

But that doesn't mean that everyone has given up on the concept of pen-based computing and digital ink. For instance, Ken Hinckley, a senior researcher in the Adaptive Systems and Interaction group at Microsoft Research, and his team have rolled out a new inking tool called InkSeine that unifies ink, search, and gather functions. The ink component lets you capture freeform thoughts and ideas in handwriting on a page, integrated search gives you quick access to supporting materials and documents with a few simple pen gestures, and gather lets you integrate search results back into your notes. A prototype of the InkSeine application is available for download, and this video shows InkSeine in action.

One of the challenges for Hinckley and his team was to create a pen-based experience that's more than a retrofit of a computer and mouse. Let's face it: There are lots of actions that are ill-suited for a pen, but ideal for a mouse--clicking through drop-down menus, navigating folders, and the like. Alternatively, there are other actions that are easier with pens that make use of gestures and strokes. Hmmm, maybe we'll get pen-based computing right this time around.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:09 AM  Permalink