There and Back Again: Cross-Display Object Movement in Multi-Display Environments

ABSTRACT

Multi-display environments (MDEs) are now becoming common, and are becoming more complex, with more displays and more types of display in the environment. One crucial requirement specific to MDEs is that users must be able to move objects from one display to another; this cross-display movement is a frequent and fundamental part of interaction in any application that spans two or more display surfaces. Although many cross-display movement techniques exist, the differences between MDEs—the number, location, and mixed orientation of displays, and the characteristics of the task they are being designed for—require that interaction techniques be chosen carefully to match the constraints of the particular environment.

As a way to facilitate interaction design in MDEs, we present a taxonomy that classifies cross-display object movement techniques according to three dimensions: the referential domain that determines how displays are selected, the relationship of the input space to the display configuration, and the control paradigm for executing the movement. These dimensions are based on a descriptive model of the task of cross-display object movement.

The taxonomy also provides an analysis of current research that designers and researchers can use to understand the differences between categories of interaction techniques.

Notes

¹Our use of the term feedthrough is more general than the standard meaning attributed in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (e.g., Dix, 1994); by feedthrough we mean the information available to others from the process of manipulating an object. This definition includes visible changes in position or other characteristics of the object (as in the standard use of the term) but also the information that is revealed through the operations of the actor and her embodiment.

²Not to be confused with the pen-based technique devised by Hinckley et al. (2004).

Acknowledgments. Our thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their insights.

Support. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

HCI Editorial Record. First manuscript received June 26, 2007. Revision received January 19, 2008. Accepted by Patrick Baudisch. Final manuscript received February 5, 2009. — Editor