One, will people be willing to learn to write in a new way — an “in place” style — in order to put text on a board. With the Palm Pilot, people seemed willing to do so, perhaps surprisingly. But then again, that was a small personal device, a fetish object to be mastered. You could practice in private — mistakes weren’t visible to others. With a wall things are quite different, as it’s a public affordance. Business users really hate to look silly at work.

Two, are we to the point yet where the tech supports a writing experience that isn’t crappy. I’ve built the Wii-based IR pen protoype that Johnny suggested — nowhere near enough resolution. I’ve built other systems as well; I’ve used Smart boards, and even those things you can suction-cup onto a whiteboard. All these are basically science fair projects compared to a real piece of chalk or a dry-erase pen. People make *very* fine-grained motor movements when writing naturally and un-selfconsciously. They also lift up and put down the instrument onto the surface really quickly and precisely, so timing is crucial. You can’t ask them to squeeze a button every time you want them to make a mark. Some very small movements (like at the top of a t — or was it an f?) turn into meaningful, visible changes in the writing output. Our tech needs to really capture these movements.

An in-place writing system like you’re suggesting could really contribute something valuable if it could get people to write BIGGER — make bigger movements, easier for the system can digest — while preventing the hassle where users have to physically move along the board because their BIG writing is getting so expansive. So I like the compression aspect.

Brandon

The handwriting recognition reminded me of Graffiti from my old Palm days (daze?). I was able to use it without even watching the video.

This would be great to sit down sometime with a bunch of people and brainstorm using it! For one, I can see this as a great tool for modeling Web site hierarchy, blog categories, etc.!

mp/m