Browsing by Author "Besacier, G."

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    Cross-device transfer in a collaborative multi-surface environment without user identification
    (IEEE, 2014) Scott, S.D.; Besacier, G.; McClelland, P.J.
    Combining large interactive surface computers (e.g., digital walls and tables) with smaller, multi-touch surface devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) provides groups of users with both private and shared workspaces during collaborative (or competitive) activities. Such multi-surface environments introduce the need for effective interaction techniques that enable the transfer of digital content from one device to another, commonly known as cross-device transfer. Utilizing popular existing cross-transfer methods, such as Pick-and-Drop, in a multi-user multi-surface environment, however, require systems that can distinguish between users in order for the environment to accurately know who is transferring what content to what device. Yet, most commercially available digital tabletop systems are not capable of distinguishing between different users. Therefore, existing cross-device transfer methods must be adapted to work in such a user-information limited context. This paper presents a user study comparing the effectiveness of two adapted transfer methods in the context of a strategic digital tabletop card game task. The two transfer methods included a virtual portals-style method, called Bridges, and an adapted Pick-and-Drop method (A-PND). The studied transfer methods both supported the high-levels of card-transfer between private (tablet) and tabletop surfaces required by the game task. Also, participants' reported preferences were equally divided between the two techniques. An in-depth qualitative analysis of the study data revealed that each transfer method provided unique advantages and disadvantages for the game task, which aligned better or worse with different players' personal task goals.
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    Surface Ghosts: Promoting Awareness of Transferred Objects during Pick-and-Drop Transfer in Multi-Surface Environments
    (ACM, 2014) Scott, S.D.; Besacier, G.; Tournet, J.; Goyal, N.; Haller, M.
    Rekimoto's Pick-and-Drop (P&D) transfer technique is commonly used to support multi-surface object transfer (e.g., between a shared tabletop and tablet) due to its easily understood metaphor of emulating object movement in the physical world. Current multi-surface implementations of P&D provide little to no feedback during transfer, causing confusion for the person performing the action as well as others in the environment. To address this issue, we investigated the use of virtual embodiments to improve awareness of transferred objects, in the context of a real-world group task that relied heavily on cross-device transfer. An iterative design process led to the design of Surface Ghosts virtual embodiments, which take the form of semi-transparent 'ghosts' of the transferred objects displayed under the "owner's" hand on the tabletop during transfer. A user study that compared two Surface Ghosts designs-varied by how explicitly the "owner" was indicated-showed that both designs improved awareness of transferred objects when compared to a no-feedback control condition, especially for tabletop-to-tablet transfers.