The Shared Design Space
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A novel interface for enhancing face-to-face collaboration using multiple displays and input surfaces. The system supports natural gestures and paper-pen input and overcomes the limitations of using traditional technology in co-located meetings and brainstorming activities. |
Enhanced Life
In combination with future tabletop setups, this technique could enhance life in five main areas:
- Science, industry, and education environments (modifying real engineering content, sketching product packaging, etc.)
- Architecture
- Movie industry (brainstorming storyboards, movie sets, etc.)
- Museum edutainment
- Graphic-user-interface design
- A vertical rear-projection surface
- Horizontal tabletop projection
- Integration of multiple devices (laptop and tablet PCs) and a wireless networking setup
- Anoto digital pen and paper
- Computer-vision-based gesture tracking
- Combination and integration of different interaction metaphors (for example, advanced hyper-dragging and intuitive interaction with both the table and whiteboard)
- A common shared workspace
- Support for simultaneous input devices
- Public and private workspaces
- Support for gaze and non-verbal cues
- Non-traditional computer interface metaphors
- Support for the use of real objects
The primary goal is to use new technology to seamlessly support enhanced face-to-face collaboration and develop a new (non 2D-based) interface for designers, storyboard experts, and creative people. To achieve this, the project focuses on several subgoals:
- Uunderstanding how technology can affect co-located collaboration
- Developing technology for capturing and responding to gesture input
- Developing a software architecture for seamlessly moving digital content between computers and display surfaces
- Developing several interaction metaphors for end-users
The system features:
- Easy sharing of data sets. To move notes (sketches, scribbles, etc.) from the laptop to the shared design space of the interactive table, the system uses an advanced hyper-dragging metaphor.
- Direct manipulation on the table. During a session, all participants around the table can quickly re-arrange the content on the table. Images and scribbles can be moved, rotated, and scaled respectively.
- Combination of real and virtual paper with the digital pen, which allows seamless combination of the virtual content with the real world.
- Intuitive interaction with the digital whiteboard. Data sets from the digital whiteboard can easily be moved to the interactive table for further manipulation and vice versa.
This interface allows users to easily explore design options in a creative context through an intuitive interface of real and virtual artist and designer tools. Using computers in a face-to-face meeting can disrupt the creative process because communication cues can not be shared as easily as in natural face-to-face conversation. The Shared Design Space allows people to communicate as they normally would around a table and enhances this communication with intuitive collaborative tools. This work points to a future where computers will be able to naturally support face-to-face meetings and creative design sessions.
Contact
Michael Haller
Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences (Digital Media)
haller@fh-hagenberg.at
Contributors
Daniel Leithinger
Jakob Leitner
Thomas Seifried
Peter Brandl
Juergen Zauner
Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences
Mark Billinghurst
HITLabNZ, University of Canterbury
