Report generation using multi-modal data entry for office systems

The purpose of the paper is to introduce work from the ongoing Tentalus project, which aims to explore multi-modal user interfaces (or MMUI's) in the context of report generation by a professional. The paper emphasises the user interface issues regarding such MMUI's, as well as the problems involved with the integration of multiple modes of data entry into one system such that the user can choose which mode to use to enter data. A range of user interface components available to the system designer are assessed to characterise their relative merits, with a view to preparing their optimised combination. Data entry devices discussed are: speech recognition, bar code reader technology, pen-based character recognition, the QWERTY keyboard, and mouse-activated pull-down lists.