A survey of pervasive displays for information presentation

Weiser’s seminal vision of ubiquitous computing had calm information presentation at its heart and identified an important challenge in providing pervasive yet unobtrusive information display while avoiding problems of information overload. Since this vision was first articulated, a range of approaches have emerged for presenting information on pervasive displays and digital screens of varying sizes are now an everyday feature of our environments. Such displays provide significant opportunities for presenting information in-situ to support users in a range of activities, and the growing expectation is that there is constant peripheral access to digital information. In this article we review three different pervasive display technologies used for information presentation: traditional 2D display media, urban media facades, and novel display hardware. Our survey identifies five emerging trends that cross all three technologies: an increasing focus on situatedness, a movement towards non-expert users, growing demand for accessible interaction, a potential for new applications of data, and a difficulty in balancing ‘calm’ computing against presentation of data at an appropriate granularity and complexity

Content management for dynamic, digital displays in academic libraries

Deakin University Library installed eight large multimedia screens in late 2013. Five touch-interactive screens, known as The Verge, became the central component of the installation and were positioned inside the main entrance of our Geelong Waterfront Campus Library. Based on our experience creating and maintaining displays for The Verge, this paper will discuss content types and patterns of success. We will also explore key considerations including user engagement, interaction and animation, physical space, hardware and software, resourcing, defining and measuring success. By reflecting on our experiences and considering research trends we draw conclusions to inform future development plans for digital displays in academic libraries

Predicting mid-air gestural interaction with public displays based on audience behaviour

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.Knowledge about the expected interaction duration and expected distance from which users will interact with public displays can be useful in many ways. For example, knowing upfront that a certain setup will lead to shorter interactions can nudge space owners to alter the setup. If a system can predict that incoming users will interact at a long distance for a short amount of time, it can accordingly show shorter versions of content (e.g., videos/advertisements) and employ at-a-distance interaction modalities (e.g., mid-air gestures). In this work, we propose a method to build models for predicting users’ interaction duration and distance in public display environments, focusing on mid-air gestural interactive displays. First, we report our findings from a field study showing that multiple variables, such as audience size and behaviour, significantly influence interaction duration and distance. We then train predictor models using contextual data, based on the same variables. By applying our method to a mid-air gestural interactive public display deployment, we build a model that predicts interaction duration with an average error of about 8 s, and interaction distance with an average error of about 35 cm. We discuss how researchers and practitioners can use our work to build their own predictor models, and how they can use them to optimise their deployment.Peer reviewe

A survey of pervasive displays for information presentation

Weiser’s seminal vision of ubiquitous computing had calm information presentation at its heart and identified an important challenge in providing pervasive yet unobtrusive information display while avoiding problems of information overload. Since this vision was first articulated, a range of approaches have emerged for presenting information on pervasive displays and digital screens of varying sizes are now an everyday feature of our environments. Such displays provide significant opportunities for presenting information in-situ to support users in a range of activities, and the growing expectation is that there is constant peripheral access to digital information. In this article we review three different pervasive display technologies used for information presentation: traditional 2D display media, urban media facades, and novel display hardware. Our survey identifies five emerging trends that cross all three technologies: an increasing focus on situatedness, a movement towards non-expert users, growing demand for accessible interaction, a potential for new applications of data, and a difficulty in balancing ‘calm’ computing against presentation of data at an appropriate granularity and complexity