Harnessing the benefits of bimanual and multi-finger input for supporting grouping tasks on interactive tabletops

Abstract

In this paper we describe an experimental study investigating the use of bimanual and multi-finger input for grouping items spatially on a tabletop interface. In a singleuser setup, we compared two typical interaction techniques supporting this task. We studied the grouping and regrouping performance in general and the use of bimanual and multi-finger input in particular. Our results show that the traditional container concept may not be an adequate fit for interactive tabletops. Rather, we demonstrate that informal and organic spatial metaphors are able to harness more benefits of multi-finger and bimanual interaction. We conclude with recommendations for the design of grouping techniques on interactive surfaces.

IdeaVis

“…While a tree-like visualization was employed, there are certainly other ways of visualizing design activity that can be used by facilitators for analyzing and controlling similar creative group activities. In particular, we investigate the use spatial grouping techniques [4] for supporting such activities of reflection. We may conclude that hybrid workspace designs can be used to preserve and extend traditional workflows.…”

“…We use color coding around the border of the sketches to indicate whether a sketch is an original, an annotation or a copy (see Figure 8, 3). Sketches that are currently being manipulated by the participants of the session are highlighted with a circular glow that fades over time (see Figure 8,4). This awareness mechanism allows a facilitator to detect the current focus of the group's activity.…”

Investigating the effects of splitting detailed views in Overview+Detail interfaces

“…While previous work on symmetric bimanual interaction (where each hand is assigned an identical role) has already highlighted its benefit in some settings [3,19], we are only aware of one work [20] exploring symmetric bimanual multitouch interaction (each finger performs a pointing gesture on a different target). In this previous work, up to 47% of the trials for some tasks were performed using multiple fingers in a bimanual setting.…”