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The Human

The human has several input and output channels for processing information including vision, hearing, touch, and movement. Visual information is received through the eyes and processed in the brain, with the retina containing photoreceptor cells that detect light and color. Hearing allows for perception of sound qualities through the ear. Touch provides feedback through receptors in the skin. Memory involves sensory, short-term and long-term storage, with short-term memory being limited in capacity and long-term memory containing factual knowledge organized in a semantic network structure.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
104 views123 pages

The Human

The human has several input and output channels for processing information including vision, hearing, touch, and movement. Visual information is received through the eyes and processed in the brain, with the retina containing photoreceptor cells that detect light and color. Hearing allows for perception of sound qualities through the ear. Touch provides feedback through receptors in the skin. Memory involves sensory, short-term and long-term storage, with short-term memory being limited in capacity and long-term memory containing factual knowledge organized in a semantic network structure.

Uploaded by

Ld Reset
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Human

Overview: Human

• Humans are limited in their capacity to process


information. Information is received and responses
given via a number of input and output channels:
– visual channel
– auditory channel
– haptic channel
– movement
• Information stored in memory
– sensory, short-term, long-term
Input-output channels

• In interaction with a computer, the human input


is the data output by the computer vice versa.
• Input in humans occurs mainly through the
senses and output through the motor controls
of the effectors.
• Vision, hearing and touch are the most
important senses in HCI.
• The fingers, voice, eyes, head and body
position are the primary effectors.
Vision: The Eye

Visual perception can be divided in 2


stages:

• physical reception of stimulus from the


outside world

• processing and interpretation of that


stimulus
Vision

• The eye is a mechanism for receiving


light and transforming it into electrical
energy.
Vision

Light is reflected from


objects in the visual field and
their image is focused on the
back of the eye, where it is
transformed into an electrical
signal and passed to the
brain.
The eye has a number of
important components.
The cornea and lens at the front of the eye focus the light
into a sharp image on the back of the eye, the retina.

The retina is light sensitive


and contains two types of
photoreceptor cells:
rods and cones
Rod and Cones
There are many more rods than cone cells in the retina - especially outside the
macula. The human eye contains about 130 million rods and about 7 million
cones. Rods are:
-highly sensitive to light and therefore allow us to see under a low level of
illumination (brightness)
-Responsible for our night vision
-Cannot transmit sharp images or perceive fine detail. Cone cells give us our
detailed vision
-Not sensitive to and cannot perceive color. Cone cells allow us to see in color
The Eye –Second Stage:
Interpreting the signal
Aspects of visual perception
• Size and depth
• Brightness
• Color
Size & Depth (Visual Angle)

• If two objects are at the same distance from the eye,


the larger one will have a larger visual angle.
• Similarly, if two objects of the same size are at different
distances from the eye, the furthest one will have the
smaller visual angle.
Perceiving Size & Depth

• Visual acuity is the ability of a person to perceive small


details.
• If the visual angle is to small, the detail will not be
perceived.
• However, according to the law of size constancy, our
perception of size relies on more factors than the visual
angle, for example, the perception of depth.
• Depth can be perceived through various cues
– e.g. indications in the visual context about an object’s distance
and familiarity with the size of the object.
Perceiving Brightness
• Perception of brightness is a subjective
reaction to levels of light emitted by an
object: luminance
• Contrast is related to luminance, since
it is the function of the luminance of the
object and the background.
• Visual acuity increases with increased
luminance.
Perceiving Color

• Color is usually regarded as being made up of three


components: hue, intensity and saturation.
• Hue is determined by the spectral wavelength of the
light.
– Blues have short wavelengths, greens medium and
reds long.
– Approximately 150 different hues can be
discriminated by the average person.
• Intensity is the brightness of the color, and
saturation is the amount of whiteness in the color.
– By varying these two, we can perceive in the region
of 7 million different colors.
Color Blindness

• color vision deficiency, is the decreased


ability to see color or differences in
color.
• we should remember that around 8% of
males and 1% of females suffer from
color blindness, most commonly being
unable to discriminate between red and
green.
Interpreting the signal (cont)

• Visual processing compensates for the


movement of the image on the retina which
occurs as we move around and as the object
which we see moves.
– the image that we perceive is stable
– color and brightness of objects are
perceived as constant
• Optical illusions sometimes occur due to
over expectation
• These illusions demonstrate that our
perception of size is not completely reliable.
Optical Illusions

the Ponzo illusion the Muller Lyer illusion


Can you put the fish in the
fishbowl?
Stare at the yellow stripe in the middle of the fish in the
picture below for about 10–20 sec. Then move your gaze to
the fish bowl.
Are the squares inside the
blue and yellow squares all
the same color?
Are the horizontal lines
straight or crooked?
Are the circles static or
moving?
Kanizsa Triangle

Kanizsa Triangle: A white tri-


angle (pointing down) can be
seen in this figure even though
no triangle is actually drawn.
This effect is known as a subjec-
tive or illusory contour. The con-
tour of the triangle is created by
the shapes around it.
Do you see gray dots at the
intersections of the
white lines?
Are the two orange circles of
the same size?
Can you see a baby?
Hearing
• Provides information about environment:
distances, directions, objects etc.
• The ear comprises of three sections:
– outer ear – protects inner and amplifies sound
– middle ear – transmits sound waves as
vibrations to inner ear
– inner ear – chemical transmitters are released
and cause impulses in auditory nerve
Hearing
• Sound (vibrations) have no. of characteristics:
– pitch–sound frequency (the higher the frequency,
the higher the sound)
– loudness –amplitude of the sound
– timbre - type or quality
• Humans can hear frequencies from 20Hz to
15kHz
– less accurate distinguishing high frequencies than
low.
• Auditory system filters sounds
– can attend to sounds over background noise.
– for example, the cocktail party phenomenon.
Touch
• Provides important feedback about environment.
• May be key sense for someone who is visually impaired.
• Stimuli are received via receptors in the skin
Three types of sensory receptor
– thermoreceptors – heat and cold
– nociceptors – pain
– mechanoreceptors – pressure
(some instant, some continuous)

• Some areas more sensitive than others e.g. fingers.


• A second aspect of haptic perception
– Kinesthesis - awareness of body position and limbs
– affects comfort and performance.
Movement

• When making movements, a stimulus is received


through the sensory receptors and transmitted to the
brain.
• After processing, the brain tells the appropriate muscle
to respond.
• The movement time is dependent on the physical
characteristics of the subjects (e.g. age, fitness)
Movement
• Time taken to respond to stimulus:
reaction time + movement time
• Reaction time varies according to the sensory
channel through the stimulus is received
• A person can react to an auditory signal in
approximately 150 ms, to a visual signal in
200 ms and to pain in 700 ms.
• However, a combined signal will result in the
quickest response.
Movement (cont)
• Fitts' Law describes the time taken to hit a
screen target:
Mt = a + b log2(D/S + 1)
where: a and b are empirically determined constants
Mt is movement time
D is Distance
S is Size of target
• This affects the type of target we design.
Since users will find it more difficult to
manipulate small objects, targets should
generally be as large as possible and the
distance to be moved as small as possible
Memory
There are three types of memory function:

Sensory memories

Short-term memory or working memory

Long-term memory

Selection of stimuli governed by level of arousal.


Sensory memory

• Buffers for stimuli received through


senses
– iconic memory: visual stimuli
– echoic memory: aural stimuli
– haptic memory: tactile stimuli
• These memories are constantly
overwritten by new information coming
in on these channels.
Short-term memory (STM)
• Scratch-pad for temporary recall

– Can be accessed rapidly ~ 70ms

– Decays rapidly ~ 200ms


• Meaning that information can only be held there
temporarily, in the order of 200ms
Short-term memory (STM)

• George Miller in 1956 suggest that the no. of


objects an average human can hold in working
memory is between 5 and 9
– limited capacity - 7± 2 chunks
– Ex. 0917-111-11
• Chunks can be single items or groups of items,
like 2 digits of a telephone number grouped
together.
• Patterns can be useful as aids to memory.
The successful formation of a chunk is known as closure.
Long-term memory (LTM)

• Repository for all our knowledge


– slow access time ~ 1/10 second
– forgetting occurs more slowly
– huge or unlimited capacity
• Two types of LTM
– episodic – represents our memory of events and
experiences in a serial form
– semantic – structured memory of facts, concepts, skills
that we have acquired
The information in semantic LTM is derived from
episodic LTM, such that we can learn new facts or
concepts from our experiences
Semantic Memory

• Semantic memory is structured in


some way to allow access to
information, representation of
relationships between pieces of
information, and inference.
• One model for the way in which
semantic memory is structured is as a
network
Long-term memory (cont.)

• Model: semantic network


– Items are associated to each other in
classes, and may inherit attributes from
parent classes.
LTM - semantic network
Long-term memory (cont.)

• However, they do not allow us to model the


representation of more complex objects or
events, which are perhaps composed of a
number of items or activities.
• Structured representations such as
frames and scripts organize
information into data structures.
Models of LTM - Frames

• Information organized in data structures


• Slots in structure allow attribute values to be added.
• Type–subtype relationships
• Frame slots may contain default, fixed or variable
information
DOG COLLIE

Fixed Fixed
legs: 4 breed of: DOG
type: sheepdog
Default
diet: carniverous Default
sound: bark size: 65 cm
Variable Variable
size: colour
colour
Models of LTM - Scripts
• Frames extend semantic nets to include structured,
hierarchical information. They represent knowledge
items in a way which makes explicit the relative
importance of each piece of information.

Script for a visit to the vet

Entry conditions: dog ill Roles: vet examines


vet open diagnoses
owner has money treats
owner brings dog in
Result: dog better
pays
owner poorer
takes dog out
vet richer
Scenes: arriving at reception
Props: examination table
waiting in room
medicine
examination
instruments
paying
Tracks: dog needs medicine
dog needs operation
Models of LTM - Production rules

Representation of procedural knowledge


– our knowledge of how to do something
Condition/action rules
if condition is matched
then use rule to determine action.

IF dog is wagging tail


THEN pat dog

IF dog is growling
THEN run away
3 main activities related to
LTM
1. storage of information
2. forgetting
3. information retrieval
LTM - Storage of information

• Rehearsal
– information moves from STM to LTM
• If the total learning time is increased, information
is remembered better (total time hypothesis).
• However, the learning time should be well spread
(distribution of practice effect).
• But repetition alone is not enough: information
should be meaningful and familiar, so it can be
related to existing structures and more easily
incorporated into memory.
LTM – 2 Main Theories of
Forgetting
1. Decay
– information is lost gradually but very slowly
2. Interference
• if we acquire new information, it causes the loss of old
information:retroactive interference
• E.g change telephone numbers, learning your new
number makes it more difficult to remember your old
number
• older information interferes with the newly acquired
information: proactive inhibition
– E.g English speaking person may have difficulty in learning Spanish
so may not forget at all memory is selective …

… affected by emotion – can subconsciously `choose' to forget


LTM - Retrieval

2 types of information retrieval:


1.recall
– information reproduced from memory can be
assisted by cues, e.g. categories, imagery

2.recognition
– information gives knowledge that it has been seen
before
– less complex than recall - information is cue
The Computer
Introduction

• In order to understand how humans


interact with computers, we need to
have an understanding of both parties
in the interaction
• We will concentrate principally on the
traditional computer but we will also
look at devices that take us beyond the
closed world of keyboard, mouse and
screen
Interacting with computers
to understand human–computer interaction
… need to understand computers!

what goes in and out


devices, paper,
sensors, etc.

what can it do?


memory, processing,
networks
The Computer
a computer system is made up of various elements

each of these elements affects the interaction


– input devices – text entry and pointing
– output devices – screen (small&large), digital paper
– virtual reality – special interaction and display devices
– physical interaction – e.g. sound, haptic, bio-sensing
– paper – as output (print) and input (scan)
– memory – RAM & permanent media, capacity & access
– processing – speed of processing, networks
A ‘typical’ computer system
• screen, or monitor, on which there are windows
? • keyboard
window 1
• mouse/trackpad
window 2
• variations
– desktop
– laptop

12-37pm

the devices dictate the styles of interaction that the system


supports
If we use different devices, then the interface will support a
different style of interaction
Interactivity?

• In the early days of computing… information was


entered into the computer in a large mass – batch data
entry -batch processing
• There was minimal interaction with the machine: the
user would simply dump a pile of punched cards onto a
reader, press the start button, and then return a few
hours later.
Interactivity?
Interactivity?

Now most computing is interactive


– rapid feedback
– the user in control (most of the time)
– doing rather than thinking …

Is faster always better?


Richer interaction

sensors
and devices
everywhere
text entry devices

keyboards (QWERTY et al.)


chord keyboards, phone pads
handwriting, speech
Keyboards
• Most common text input device
• Allows rapid entry of text by experienced
users

• Keypress closes connection, causing a


character code to be sent
• Usually connected by cable, but can be
wireless
layout – QWERTY
• Standardised layout
but …
– non-alphanumeric keys are placed differently
– accented symbols needed for different scripts
– minor differences between UK and USA keyboards

• QWERTY arrangement not optimal for typing


– layout to prevent typewriters jamming!
• Alternative designs allow faster typing but large social
base of QWERTY typists produces reluctance to change.
QWERTY (ctd)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Q W E R T Y U I O P
A S D F G H J K L
Z X C V B N M , .
SPACE
alternative keyboard layouts
Alphabetic
- keys arranged in alphabetic order
- does not improve typing performance.

Dvorak
– common letters under dominant
fingers
– biased towards right hand
– common combinations of letters
alternate between hands
– 10-15% improvement in speed
and reduction in fatigue
– But - large social base of QWERTY
typists produce market pressures
not to change
special keyboards

• designs to reduce fatigue for repetitive


strain injury (RSI) for one handed use
e.g. the Maltron left-handed keyboard
Chord keyboards
only a few keys - four or 5
letters typed as combination of keypresses
compact size
– ideal for portable applications
short learning time
– keypresses reflect letter shape
fast
– once you have trained

BUT - social resistance, plus fatigue after


extended use
NEW – niche market for some wearables
phone pad and T9 entry
• use numeric keys with
multiple presses
2 –abc 6
mno -
3 -def 7
pqrs-
4 -ghi 8
tuv -
5 -jkl 9
wxyz-
hello = 4433555[ pause]555666
surprisingly fast!
• T9 predictive entry
– type as if single key for each letter
– use dictionary to ‘guess’ the right word
– hello = 43556 …
– but 26 -> menu ‘am’ or ‘an’
Handwriting recognition
• Text can be input into the computer, using a
pen and a digesting tablet
• Technical problems:
– capturing all useful information - stroke path,
pressure, etc. in a natural manner
– interpreting individual letters
– coping with different styles of handwriting
Speech recognition

• Improving rapidly

• Most successful when:


– single user – initial training and learns peculiarities
– limited vocabulary systems

• Problems with
– external noise interfering
– imprecision of pronunciation
– large vocabularies
– different speakers
Numeric keypads

• for entering numbers quickly:


– calculator, PC keyboard
• for telephones
1 2 3 7 8 9
not the same!! 4 5 6 4 5 6
7 8 9 1 2 3
ATM like phone
0 # 0 . =
*
telephone calculator
positioning, pointing and drawing

mouse, touchpad
trackballs, joysticks etc.
touch screens, tablets
eyegaze, cursors
the Mouse
• Handheld pointing device
– very common
– easy to use

• Two characteristics
– planar movement
– buttons
(usually from 1 to 3 buttons on top, used for
making a selection, indicating an option, or to
initiate drawing etc.)
How does it work?
Two methods for detecting motion

• Mechanical
– Ball on underside of mouse turns as mouse is moved
– Rotates orthogonal potentiometers
– Can be used on almost any flat surface

• Optical
– light emitting diode on underside of mouse
– may use special grid-like pad or just on desk
– less susceptible to dust and dirt
– detects fluctuating alterations in reflected light intensity
to calculate relative motion in (x, z) plane
Even by foot …

• some experiments with the footmouse


– controlling mouse movement with feet …
– not very common :-)

• but foot controls are common elsewhere:


– car pedals
– sewing machine speed control
– organ and piano pedals
Touchpad

• Touchpads are touch-sensitive tablets,


operated by sliding the .nger over it
and are mostly used in notebook
computers. Performance can be
increased using accelerators.
Trackball and thumbwheels
Trackball
– ball is rotated inside static housing
• like an upside down mouse!

Thumbwheels …
• (in 2 dimensions) offer less usability because
they can only manipulate the horizontal and
vertical movement of the cursor
Joystick and keyboard nipple
Joystick
– indirect
pressure of stick = velocity of
movement
– buttons for selection
on top or on front like a trigger
– often used for computer games
aircraft controls and 3D navigation

Keyboard nipple
– for laptop computers
– miniature joystick in the middle of
the keyboard
Touch-sensitive screen
• Detect the presence of finger or stylus on the screen.

• Advantages:
– fast, and requires no specialised pointer
– good for menu selection
– suitable for use in hostile environment: clean and safe from
damage.
Disadvantages:
• finger can mark screen
• imprecise (finger is a fairly blunt
instrument!)
• difficult to select small regions or
perform accurate drawing
• lifting arm can be tiring
Stylus Pen

Stylus Pen
– small pen-like pointer to draw directly on screen
– may use touch sensitive surface or magnetic detection
Digitizing tablet

• Mouse like-device with cross


hairs

• used on special surface


- rather like stylus

• very accurate
- used for digitizing maps
Eyegaze Technology

• Eye gaze or eye tracking is a way of


accessing your computer or communication
aid using a mouse that you control with
your eyes.
Cursor keys

• Four keys (up, down, left, right) on keyboard.


• Very, very cheap, but slow.
• Useful for not much more than basic motion for text-
editing tasks.
• No standardised layout, but inverted “T”, most common
Discrete positioning controls

• in phones, TV controls etc.


– cursor pads or mini-joysticks
– discrete left-right, up-down
– mainly for menu selection
display devices

bitmap screens (CRT & LCD)


large & situated displays
digital paper
bitmap displays

• screen is vast number of coloured dots


Bitmap displays, resolution and
color
• A bitmap-base means that the display is made of a
fixed number of dots or pixels in a rectangular grid.
• The color or intensity at each pixel is held by the
computer’s video card.
• The more bits per pixel, the more colors/intensities are
possible.
• Also is the resolution of the screen: the total number of
pixels (in a 4:3-ratio/16:9) and the density of the
pixels.
• Anti-alising: softening the edges of line segments,
blurring the discontinuity and making the juggles less
obvious.
Cathode ray tube

• Stream of electrons emitted from electron gun, focused


and directed by magnetic fields, hit phosphor-coated
screen which glows
• used in TVs and computer monitors

electron beam

electron gun

focussing and
deflection

phosphor-
coated screen
Health hints …

• do not sit too close to the screen


• do not use very small fonts
• do not look at the screen for long periods
without a break
• do not place the screen directly in front of a
bright window
• work in well-lighted surroundings

 Take extra care if pregnant.


but also posture, ergonomics, stress
Liquid crystal displays
• Smaller, lighter, and … no radiation problems.
• Found on PDAs, portables and notebooks,
… and increasingly on desktop and even for home TV
• also used in dedicted displays:
digital watches, mobile phones, HiFi controls
large displays
used for meetings, lectures, etc.

LCD projector back-projected - frosted glass + projector behind

video walls – lots of small screens together plasma – usually wide screen
situated displays

• displays in ‘public’ places


– large or small
– very public or for small group
• display only
– for information relevant to location
• or interactive
– use stylus, touch sensitive screem
• in all cases … the location matters
– meaning of information or interaction is related to
the location
Situated displays
Digital paper
-Also known as interactive paper
-patterned paper used in
conjunction with a digital pen to
create handwritten digital
documents
-The printed dot pattern uniquely
identifies the position
coordinates on the paper.
-The digital pen uses this pattern
to store the handwriting and
upload it to a computer.
virtual reality and 3D interaction

positioning in 3D space
moving and grasping
seeing 3D (helmets and caves)
positioning in 3D space

• cockpit and virtual controls


– steering wheels, knobs and dials … just like real!
• the 3D mouse
– six-degrees of movement: x, y, z + roll, pitch, yaw
• data glove
– fibre optics used to detect finger position
• VR helmets
– detect head motion and possibly eye gaze
• whole body tracking
– accelerometers strapped to limbs or reflective dots
and video processing
pitch, yaw and roll

yaw

roll
pitch
3D displays

• desktop VR
– ordinary screen, mouse or keyboard
control
– perspective and motion give 3D effect
• seeing in 3D
– use stereoscopic vision
– VR helmets
– screen plus shuttered specs, etc.

also see extra slides on 3D vision


VR headsets
• small TV screen for each eye
• slightly different angles
• 3D effect
VR motion sickness
• time delay
– move head … lag … display
moves
– conflict: head movement vs.
eyes
• depth perception
– headset gives different
stereo distance
– but all focused in same
plane
– conflict: eye angle vs. focus
• conflicting cues =>
sickness
– helps motivate
improvements in technology
simulators and VR caves

• scenes projected on walls


• realistic environment
• hydraulic rams!
• real controls
• other people
VR Cave
physical controls, sensors etc.

special displays and gauges


sound, touch, feel, smell
physical controls
environmental and bio-sensing
dedicated displays

• analogue representations:
– dials, gauges, lights, etc.

• digital displays:
– small LCD screens, LED lights, etc.

• head-up displays
– found in aircraft cockpits
– show most important controls
… depending on context
Analogue Representations

gauges

Dials and knobs


Digital Displays
Sounds

• beeps, bongs, clonks, whistles and


whirrs

• used for error indications

• confirmation of actions e.g. keyclick


Touch, feel, smell

• touch and feeling important


– in games … vibration, force feedback
– in simulation … feel of surgical instruments
– called haptic devices

• texture, smell, taste


– current technology very limited
physical controls

• specialist controls needed …


– industrial controls, consumer products,
etc.
easy-clean
smooth buttons

multi-function
control
large buttons
clear dials

tiny buttons
Environment and bio-sensing

• sensors all around us


– car courtesy light – small switch on door
– ultrasound detectors – security, washbasins
– RFID security tags in shops
– temperature, weight, location

• … and even our own bodies …


– iris scanners, body temperature, heart
rate, galvanic skin response, blink rate
paper: printing and scanning

print technology
fonts, page description, WYSIWYG
scanning, OCR
Printing

• The most common printers nowadays


are dot-based. In order of increasing
resolution, familiar types are dot-matrix
printers, ink-jet printers and laser
printers.
Fonts
• Font – the particular style of text
Courier font
Helvetica font
Palatino font
Times Roman font
§´∝≡↵ℜ ⊗↵∼ (special symbol)

• Size of a font measured in points (1 pt about 1/72”)


(vaguely) related to its height
This is ten point Helvetica
This is twelve point
This is fourteen point
This is eighteen point
and this is twenty-four point
Fonts (ctd)

Pitch
– fixed-pitch – every character has the same width
e.g. Courier
– variable-pitched – some characters wider
e.g. Times Roman – compare the ‘i’ and the “m”
Serif or Sans-serif
– sans-serif – square-ended strokes
e.g. Helvetica
– serif – with splayed ends (such as)
e.g. Times Roman or Palatino
Readability of text

• lowercase
– easy to read shape of words
• UPPERCASE
– better for individual letters and non-words
e.g. flight numbers: BA793 vs. ba793

• serif fonts
– helps your eye on long lines of printed text
– but sans serif often better on screen
Screen and page

• There are many differences (e.g. size,


color depth, resolution etc.) between a
paper print and a computer monitor,
which causes problems when designing
WYSIWYG-software.
• Especially the correct alignment of text
(in different fonts) is difficult.
Scanners & Optical character
recognition
• Scanners
– Take paper and convert it into a bitmap
– Typical resolutions from 600–2400 dpi

• OCR converts bitmap back into text


– Problems - different fonts, page format
memory

short term and long term


speed, capacity, compression
formats, access
Short-term Memory - RAM

• Random access memory (RAM)


• RAM is volatile: contents are lost when
the power is turned off
Long-term Memory - disks

• There are 2 main techniques used in


disks: magnetic disks (floppy, hard
disk, tape) and optical disks. (CD-
ROM/DVD).
• In comparison to RAM, the computers
LTM is rather slow.
speed and capacity

• what do the numbers mean?

• some sizes (all uncompressed) …


– this book, text only ~ 320,000 words, 2Mb
– the Bible ~ 4.5 Mbytes
– scanned page ~ 128 Mbytes
• (11x8 inches, 1200 dpi, 8bit greyscale)
– digital photo ~ 10 Mbytes
• (2–4 mega pixels, 24 bit colour)
– video ~ 10 Mbytes per second
• (512x512, 12 bit colour, 25 frames per sec)
Compression

• reduce amount of storage required


• lossless
– recover exact text or image – e.g. GIF, ZIP
– look for commonalities:
• text: AAAAAAAAAABBBBBCCCCCCCC 10A5B8C
• video: compare successive frames and store change
• lossy
– recover something like original – e.g. JPEG, MP3
– exploit perception
• JPEG: lose rapid changes and some colour
• MP3: reduce accuracy of drowned out notes
Storage formats - text

• ASCII - 7-bit binary code for to each letter and


character
• UTF-8 - 8-bit encoding of 16 bit character set
• RTF (rich text format)
- text plus formatting and layout information
• SGML (standardized generalised markup language)
- documents regarded as structured objects
• XML (extended markup language)
- simpler version of SGML for web applications
Storage formats - media

• Images:
– many storage formats :
(PostScript, GIFF, JPEG, TIFF, PICT, etc.)
– plus different compression techniques
(to reduce their storage requirements)

• Audio/Video
– again lots of formats :
(QuickTime, MPEG, WAV, etc.)
– compression even more important
– also ‘streaming’ formats for network delivery
methods of access

• Standard database access is by special


key fields with an associated index.
• The user has to know the key before
the system can find the information.
• Indices on databases are limited due to
the storage costs, privacy and security.

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