Understanding and supporting transitions with large display applications

Tang, A. (2010). Understanding and supporting transitions with large display applications. In University of British Columbia.

Abstract

Interactive large displays offer exciting new opportunities for collaboration and work. Yet, their size will fundamentally change how users expect to use and engage with computer applications: a likely reality is that such displays will be used by multiple users for multiple simultaneous tasks. These expectations demand a new approach for application design beyond the conventional desktop application model, where applications are single-user, and intended to support a subset of user tasks. In this research, we develop such a framework based on the premise that large display applications should support transitions---users' desires to shift between multiple tasks and activities. We build this framework from models of how traditional large surfaces such as whiteboards are used to facilitate multiple tasks---often simultaneously. Based on studies of users' whiteboard use, we construct a classification scheme of users' activities with whiteboards, and the role of whiteboards in supporting the transitions between these activities. From a study of meeting room activity, we then develop a classification for collocated activity around traditional surfaces. We further develop models of how users' needs change during their use of large display applications, exploring two contexts: a digital tabletop application for focused collaboration, and a public large display. These studies reveal how users engage and disengage with one another during collaborative work, and the dynamic needs of bystanders. Next, we design and evaluate a prototype that supports transitions between tasks in a scheduling activity using viewing changes. The results demonstrate that users transition between related tasks during such activities, and that viewing changes can support these transitions. Finally, we describe a design space for supporting transitions in large display applications. Taken together, the findings of this research illustrate the fundamental need to develop a new framework for designing large display applications. This work provides a step in this direction by providing rationale and empirical evidence for supporting transitions in this framework. In so doing, it suggests that we realign designers' efforts from the predominant desktop-centric model of application development, and instead to a model that engenders smooth transitions between multiple, related activities.

Materials

PDF File (http://hcitang.org/papers/2010-phd-tang.pdf)
URL (http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/19394)

BibTeX

@phdthesis{tang2010phd,
  year = {2010},
  url = {http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/19394},
  type = {thesis},
  title = {Understanding and supporting transitions with large display applications},
  school = {University of British Columbia},
  pdfurl = {http://hcitang.org/papers/2010-phd-tang.pdf},
  month = {January},
  date-modified = {2014-01-17 05:25:15 +0000},
  author = {Tang, Anthony},
  address = {2332 Main Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4},
  abstract = {Interactive large displays offer exciting new opportunities for collaboration
and work. Yet, their size will fundamentally change how users expect to use
and engage with computer applications: a likely reality is that such displays
will be used by multiple users for multiple simultaneous tasks. These expectations
demand a new approach for application design beyond the conventional desktop
application model, where applications are single-user, and intended to support
a subset of user tasks. In this research, we develop such a framework based
on the premise that large display applications should support transitions---users'
desires to shift between multiple tasks and activities. We build this framework
from models of how traditional large surfaces such as whiteboards are used
to facilitate multiple tasks---often simultaneously. Based on studies of users'
whiteboard use, we construct a classification scheme of users' activities with
whiteboards, and the role of whiteboards in supporting the transitions between
these activities. From a study of meeting room activity, we then develop a
classification for collocated activity around traditional surfaces. We further
develop models of how users' needs change during their use of large display
applications, exploring two contexts: a digital tabletop application for focused
collaboration, and a public large display. These studies reveal how users engage
and disengage with one another during collaborative work, and the dynamic needs
of bystanders. Next, we design and evaluate a prototype that supports transitions
between tasks in a scheduling activity using viewing changes. The results demonstrate
that users transition between related tasks during such activities, and that
viewing changes can support these transitions. Finally, we describe a design
space for supporting transitions in large display applications. Taken together,
the findings of this research illustrate the fundamental need to develop a
new framework for designing large display applications. This work provides
a step in this direction by providing rationale and empirical evidence for
supporting transitions in this framework. In so doing, it suggests that we
realign designers' efforts from the predominant desktop-centric model of application
development, and instead to a model that engenders smooth transitions between
multiple, related activities.},
}