When Tablets meet Tabletops

Abstract

Cross-device collaboration with tablets is an increasingly popular topic in HCI. Previous work has shown that tabletonly collaboration can be improved by an additional shared workspace on an interactive tabletop. However, large tabletops are costly and need space, raising the question to what extent the physical size of shared horizontal surfaces really pays off. In order to analyse the suitability of smaller-thantabletop devices (e.g. tablets) as a low-cost alternative, we studied the effect of the size of a shared horizontal interactive workspace on users' attention, awareness, and efficiency during cross-device collaboration. In our study, 15 groups of two users executed a sensemaking task with two personal tablets (9.7 ) and a horizontal shared display of varying sizes (10.6 , 27 , and 55 ). Our findings show that different sizes lead to differences in participants' interaction with the tabletop and in the groups' communication styles. To our own surprise we found that larger tabletops do not necessarily improve collaboration or sensemaking results, because they can divert users' attention away from their collaborators and towards the shared display.

Cross-Device Taxonomy

“…For example, early observations of multi-display use in office environments [112] triggered other research of how cognitive load can be reduced through usage of multiple displays [153] and multiple devices [75,252,290]. Similarly, other observational studies have been used to investigate current multi-device utilisation [41,42], barriers for true multi-device usage [263], or the effects of display sizes in collaborative work [148,377].…”

Is Two Enough?

“…Some approaches also combine tablets for personal use with tabletops [34,53,57]. Recent work, however, has found that users are also able to efficiently collaborate without large shared displays and only with tablet-sized devices [57].…”

Investigating the Role of an Overview Device in Multi-Device Collaboration

“…[2,6,21,22,45]) can mediate collaborative sensemaking activities. In particular, such setups can provide a shared display [6,33,45] and collaboration space [2,40], support spatial and visual organization of content [49], provide awareness [9,43], and support a shared understanding [22,45]. However, recent studies suggested that an increased size of a shared space is not indicative of improved collaborations, as participants' attention may be diverted towards the screen instead of other collaborators [49], and that users are hesitant to use multiple tablets in parallel, hinting at a "legacy bias" to use tablets as computers rather than documents [32].…”