Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Doi
Abstract
We report on typing behaviour and performance of 168,000
volunteers in an online study. The large dataset allows detailed
statistical analyses of keystroking patterns, linking them
to typing performance. Besides reporting distributions and
confirming some earlier findings, we report two new findings.
First, letter pairs typed by different hands or fingers are more
predictive of typing speed than, for example, letter repetitions.
Second, rollover-typing, wherein the next key is pressed before
the previous one is released, is surprisingly prevalent. Notwithstanding
considerable variation in typing patterns, unsupervised
clustering using normalised inter-key intervals reveals
that most users can be divided into eight groups of typists that
differ in performance, accuracy, hand and finger usage, and
rollover. The code and dataset are released for scientific use