REDUCING INTERFERENCE IN SINGLE DISPLAY GROUPWARE THROUGH TRANSPARENCY
Date
2001-02-07
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Abstract
Single Display Groupware (SDG) supports face-to-face collaborators
working over a single shared display, where all people have their own input
device. Although SDG is simple in concept, there are surprisingly many
problems in how interactions within SDG are managed. One problem is the
potential for interference, where one person can raise an interface component
(such as a menu or dialog box) in a way that hinders what another person is
doing i.e., by obscuring another person's working area that happens to be
underneath the raised component. We propose transparent interface components
as one possible solution to interference: while one person can raise and
interact with the component, others can see through it and can continue to work
underneath it. To test this concept, we first implemented a simple SDG game
using both opaque and transparent SDG menus. Through a controlled experiment,
we then analyzed how interference affects peoples' performance across an opaque
and transparent menu condition: a solo condition (where a person played
alone) acts as our control. Our results show that the transparent menu did
lessen the effect of interference, and that SDG players overwhelmingly
preferred it to opaque menus.
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Computer Science