Equal Opportunities: Do Shareable Interfaces Promote More Group Participation Than Single User Displays?

ABSTRACT

Computers designed for single use are often appropriated suboptimally when used by small colocated groups working together. Our research investigates whether shareable interfaces—that are designed for more than one user to interact with–can facilitate more equitable participation in colocated group settings compared with single user displays. We present a conceptual framework that characterizes Shared Information Spaces (SISs) in terms of how they constrain and invite participation using different entry points. An experiment was conducted that compared three different SISs: a physical-digital set-up (least constrained), a multitouch tabletop (medium), and a laptop display (most constrained). Statistical analyses showed there to be little difference in participation levels between the three conditions other than a predictable lack of equity of control over the interface in the laptop condition. However, detailed qualitative analyses revealed more equitable participation took place in the physical-digital condition in terms of verbal utterances over time. Those who spoke the least contributed most to the physical design task. The findings are discussed in relation to the conceptual framework and, more generally, in terms of how to select, design, and combine different display technologies to support collaborative activities.

Notes

¹Arguably, a within-subjects design might have been better for comparing the conditions but for practical reasons it was not possible to get all of the groups of 3 participants to return all together on two further occasions. Each session required a total of 1 hr. Conversely, a between-subjects design allowed for a larger pool of participants.

²This was the number of groups we could assemble within the study time frame.

Background. This article is based on a user study conducted while the first three authors were working on the Co-Space project in the School of Informatics at Indiana University.

Acknowledgments. We thank MERL for their donation of the DiamondSpin and DiamondTouch, and Chia Shen and Kathy Ryall for their help and support. Thanks to Ted Phelps for his help with Elvin and all the participants who took part in the study. Thanks to Eli Blevis for his contribution to the project and Blaise Cronin for his insightful comments.

Support. The project was partially funded by a Pervasive Technology Labs Fellowship, Indiana University, awarded to Yvonne Rogers.

HCI Editorial Record . First manuscript received June 8, 2007. Revision received January 22, 2008. Accepted by Ravin Balakrishnan. Final manuscript received August 7, 2008. — Editor