Several usability companies under the banner of International Usability Partners have conducted a major user research study about touchscreen gestures in different cultures. The research was presented at the recent Human Factors and Ergonomics Society conference among other places. Dan Mauney of HumanCentric is blogging about the study at HumanCentric's blog. So far the posts have presented the background and test protocols. Future posts will report on the results. From the first post:
Very few studies appear in the literature on the identification and
understandability of gestures on touchscreens. It is truly an emerging
convention. Even fewer, and perhaps even none, have studied the
identification and understandability of gestures across cultures. Yet,
many of the products that enable gestures will be intended for a global
audience. Designers have a definite need to know how understandable
gestures are, and how universal they are, while the field is still
young.
The International Usability Partners (IUP) has run a global study
aimed at identifying the most common user-generated gestures for
control of a touchscreen within a given country and across cultures.
The (IUP) is an established network of 12 independent usability
companies based in 12 different countries (including Belgium, China,
Chile, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK, and
USA) who have joined to provide user experience services worldwide.
This research involved collecting user-defined gestures for 28 common
commands (like scroll, open, rotate, zoom in, cut, copy, paste) across
9 different countries and analyzing the resultant data for consistency
of responses and cultural influence. 40 participants in each country
were presented with a “before” screen image and an “after” screen image
and requested to make a gesture that will result in that “after” screen
image. The gesture made was recorded and catalogued.
Link to all the posts: Gesture Research.
It's very interesting work and I'm looking forward to reading all the results.
IUP also has a new group blog on this theme: TouchThinking.