Comments on: A Call for Haptic Porn (No, It’s Not Dirty)

By: erin clare

erin clare — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:13:43 +0000

Yes–thank you for finding that definition, Chad. It helped remove some of my own cloud around “haptic” devices in general. I would extend the definition to include the cognitive expectation…the mental sensory from the user of what should likely happen when an item (digital or physical) is touched. Runs close to the lines of Human Factors sure, but the lines between the two practices of HF and Cog Sci get blurred for me.

By: noriyo

noriyo — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:09:15 +0000

Chad,
Thank you so much for the clarification!

By: chad vavra

chad vavra — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:48:02 +0000

From Geb Thomas at the University of Iowa

“Haptic devices interact with the muscles and
position of the hand and finger joints. This
may include pressure sensation, but it
typically involved in the global posture and
integration of the sensation across different
portions of the hand.
• Tactile devices interact with the fingertips and
the shape and position sensors under the
fingertips (and more generally, the skin).”

By: chad vavrabe

chad vavrabe — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:50:08 +0000

Remember the original Operation game? The buzzer on that was so loud it was a haptic device whether it meant to be or not. The whole table shook!

Thank god cell phones haven’t gone that direction. I know some old timers on the train who would commit a violent crime if they had to endure something like that for more than a minute.

By: noriyo

noriyo — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:15:07 +0000

Since I am not a native English speaker, the word “haptic” makes me wonder about its subtle meaning… I’d like to know how its nuance (or usage) differs from that of the word “tactile”.