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SUMMARY:Hands free writing (and more) - Dasher and Nomon - Professor of Na
 tural Philosophy\,  Department of Physics\, Cavendish Laboratory\, Univers
 ity of Cambridge
DTSTART:20090617T174500Z
DTEND:20090617T190000Z
UID:TALK18780@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Michele Ide-Smith
DESCRIPTION:The problem with polymaths is that they are often extremely bu
 sy doing important stuff. We are extremely fortunate that "David MacKay":h
 ttp://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/\, a Professor of Natural Philoso
 phy (Physics) at Cambridge University\, has agreed to give us this unusual
  talk outlining credible and creative tools for entering text without usin
 g a keyboard.\n\nDavid often seems to be on telly and in the media at the 
 moment talking about the topic of his excellent free book Sustainable Ener
 gy - "without the hot air":http://www.withouthotair.com/ . Here's an excel
 lent video related to the book called "How Many Lightbulbs?":http://www.yo
 utube.com/watch?v=oRQB2YXUxvY .\n\nThis is a chance to hear him talk about
  some other cool stuff he has done in the field of Human-Computer Interact
 ion and Accessibility. You can expect an unusual and thought provoking tal
 k.\n\nDate: Wednesday 17th June 2009 Time: 18.30 for 18.45 to 20.00\n\nVen
 ue: Microsoft Research\, Cambridge ( "Map & address":http://research.micro
 soft.com/en-us/labs/cambridge/visit.aspx  - note that Cambridge is just 45
  minutes from Kings Cross but you will need to get a taxi to get to Micros
 oft Research\, or pack a Brompton).\n\nRegistration: The event is FREE and
  you do not need to be a UK UPA member to attend. Please use the "Eventbri
 te service to register":http://cug-june-2009.eventbrite.com/ .\n\n\nABSTRA
 CT\n\nI'll describe a couple of communication systems based on information
  theory\, both of which allow fast communication with minimal muscle movem
 ents.\n\nFirst\, Dasher - over ten years old now - uses a navigational met
 aphor to embody an idea stolen from data compression\, arithmetic coding. 
 Hands-free writing is possible in any language\, using head-tracking\, gaz
 e tracking\, or one or two switches.\n\nSecond\, Nomon\, created this year
  by Tamara Broderick\, provides a general way of using a single switch to 
 communicate\, which is faster and requires fewer gestures than standard Gr
 id methods.\n\n(you can get an introduction to "Dasher and Nomon on the In
 ference Group's new Videos web page":http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/is
 /videos/ )
LOCATION:Microsoft Research Ltd\, 7 J J Thomson Avenue (Off Madingley Road
 )\, Cambridge
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