CPSC 581 - Designing 'Out of the Box' with Phidgets<

Designing Single Display Groupware

Worth: 20%

You have been hired to create a demonstration of a single-display groupware (SDG) system that allows 2 to 4 people to interact over a single display using multiple mice and (optionally) multiple keyboards. Your demonstration illustrates at least one user control or object that gracefully reacts to multiple people using it simultaneously, which in turn is embedded in an application that exploits this user control or object.

You have complete freedom of your design, as long as you can show that the SDG user control/object and its containing application is useful for its intended audience, and that its design is somewhat impressive. Several options of what you can do include:

create an SDG-equivalent to an existing user control/object and embed it in a productivity-type application
create a family of SDG-equivalents to an existing user control/object to show design diversity
create an SDG user control/object that would be a component of a game
start from scratch by thinking about how people work together and how it can be supported, and create a novel SDG user control/object that encapsulates your idea
create a bimanual SDG user control/object

Objectives

Lateral thinking: seeking to solve problems by unorthodox or apparently illogical methods. It is about moving sideways when working on a problem. It encourages people to apply different perceptions, different concepts and different points of entry to problem-solving.

*Exercise Objectives*	*Pedagogical Objectives*
Using your knowledge of single display groupware, you will design an SDG user control embedded in an application	Apply your theoretical knowledge of Single Display Groupware and lateral thinking to generate design ideas.
You will generate sketched designs in your sketchbook of possible user control and their surrounding applications.	Acquire first-time experiences brainstorming ideas and variations via sketches in a sketchbook
You will implement and package your design on the class web site so others can try it.	Learn how to implement, package, install and document C# applications, user controls and class objects
You will create a portfolio summary of this design for the web and as a poster	Acquire first-time experiences creating a portfolio summary
You will discuss and comment on other people's design	Engage in design critiques

What you will be given

SDG Tookit software, examples and documentation are available from http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/cookbook/ -
Click SDG Toolkit in the sidebar.

An extra USB mouse will be given to each person. Spare keyboards will be offered on an as needed basis, as well as extra mice (but these are in limited supply).

Various required and optional readings on SDG are listed below and on the Readings page

Bier, E. and Freeman, S. MMM: A User Interface Architecture for Shared Editors on a Single Screen. Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 79-86. 1991. Note: A good video of MMM is also available.
Tse, E. and Greenberg, S. (2004) Rapidly Prototyping Single Display Groupware through the SDGToolkit. Proc Fifth Australasian User Interface Conference, Volume 28 in the CRPIT Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series, (Dunedin, NZ January), Australian Computer Society Inc., p101-110
(video) Tse, E. and Greenberg. S. (2004) SDG Toolkit. Video Proceedings of the ACM CSCW Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. (November 6-10, Chicago, Illinois). ACM Press. Video and abstract, duration 3:55.
(optional) Stewart, J., Bederson. B. and Druin, A. Single Display Groupware: A Model for Co-Present Collaboration. Proceedings of ACM CHI 99 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1999 v.1 286-293.
(optional) Druin, A., Stewart, J., Proft, D., Bederson, B. and Hollan, J.
KidPad: A Design Collaboration Between Children, Technologists, and Educators. Proceedings of ACM CHI 97 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1997 v.1, 463-470.

These web sites may provide inspirations about project ideas:

Innovis (U Calgary): See Orientation in tabletops, Rotation 'N Translation, Territoriality, Interface Currents
MERL projects: See the DiamondTouch entries within the two 'Off the Desktop Interaction' categories. K
idPad, and SDG Tool for children. Includes a free download.
EdgeLab projects on SDG: See their Projects page.

Evaluation

Your exercise will be very loosely based on the following breakdown. However, great successes − or failures − in one exercise criteria will likely affect your total grade. Note that a successful implementation is required: if you cannot demonstrate your system, you will automatically receive a zero.

Sketches: ~1/5 of your grade

Design creativity: ~1/5 of your grade

Implementation, documentation and packaging:: ~2/5 of your grade

Portfolio summary: ~1/5 of your grade

Suggested process

In your sketchbook, jot down words describing real world or computer-based objects and tools that you and others would or could use and share while interacting together. For example:

real world: a piece of string, a rubber band, paper, jigsaw puzzle pieces
computer world: buttons, list boxes, sliders, rectangle drawing tool, palettes...

For each of these words, visualize in your head what would happen as multiple people use it. If it is a computer object, think beyond its existing constraints. For example:

rubber band - people can grab it at different points, rotate it, stretch it. A third person pulling on it would then bend it
slider - perhaps the slider remembers each person's value. This could be done by having multiple thumbs, one per person, that stays in the last set position. Thumbs could be identified by name or color, and activated as a particular person moves over the slider.

Sketch out some graphical explorations of these objects/tools that somehow capture the essence of how they would be shared. Label these sketches, and annotate them if necessary. Generate as many sketches as you wish i.e., you may wish to sketch several designs of one type of object, or explore several objects and their combinations. Be creative, funny and/or off-beat: humor is allowed!

Also re-read your notes on single display groupware and/or visit the web sites above for ideas (don't forget Google!). You can re-implement existing SDG ideas/systems, but you should modify their designs.

Share ideas and borrow implementation techniques with class mates. Your ideas can complement and build upon those of others.

Choose your best design. Implement it in C# as an SDG user control (widget) or class object. Also implement a C# program that demonstrates this control/object. Remember that this implementation is also a sketch that will evolve over time.

Create a portfolio web site summary.

Document the API for the control
Package the control, its source, the executables so that they can be easily viewed and installed anywhere.
Create a visual summary of it

Create a paper-based portfolio summary of your design as a poster.

last updated Winter 2006 by Saul Greenberg