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Heiko Drewes
The Fitts' Law Filter Bubble
CHI EA '23: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hamburg, Germany, April 2023 (bib)

Fitts derived a formula that allows one to calculate the time it takes to hit a target of a given size. MacKenzie called this formula imperfect and suggested an alternative formula. This paper asks some simple questions about MacKenzie's theory. If the human-computer interaction (HCI) community does not have satisfying answers, it means that MacKenzies formula is unfounded. In consequence, the HCI community should stop using and citing MacKenzies formula and use Fitts' original formula instead and only when necessary. Additionally, the HCI community should review the Fitts' Law research of the last 35 years concerning criteria that indicate an echo chamber and a flter bubble and debate whether they want to publish papers based on information theory in the future.