Mobile Users Make Same Mistakes as Disabled PC Users
University of Manchester (07/01/08)

Able-bodied people who use mobile phones make the same errors at a similar frequency as physically impaired users of desktop computers, according to new research from the University of Manchester. Researchers in Manchester’s School of Computer Science reviewed an earlier study on physically disabled users from scientists at the University of Edinburgh, and put mobile users through the same experiments.

They found that mobile users also press the wrong key and press the same key repeatedly by mistake, often click the wrong area of the screen and click the screen multiple times in error, and make mistakes when trying to drag and drop information.

The researchers suggest that small assistive computer programs could also be used by mobile users. “In recent years solutions have been built to help disabled users and it is hoped these solutions … can now be applied for the benefit of mobile phone users,” says researcher Tianyi Chen. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funded the two-year Reciprocal Interoperability between Accessible and Mobile Webs (RIAM) project.