1 research outputs found
Supporting collaborative work using interactive tabletop
PhD ThesisCollaborative working is a key of success for organisations. People work together around
tables at work, home, school, and coffee shops. With the explosion of the internet and computer
systems, there are a variety of tools to support collaboration in groups, such as groupware,
and tools that support online meetings. However, in the case of co-located meetings
and face-to-face situations, facial expressions, body language, and the verbal communications
have significant influence on the group decision making process. Often people have
a natural preference for traditional pen-and-paper-based decision support solutions in such
situations. Thus, it is a challenge to implement tools that rely advanced technological interfaces,
such as interactive multi-touch tabletops, to support collaborative work.
This thesis proposes a novel tabletop application to support group work and investigates
the effectiveness and usability of the proposed system. The requirements for the developed
system are based on a review of previous literature and also on requirements elicited from
potential users. The innovative aspect of our system is that it allows the use of personal devices
that allow some level of privacy for the participants in the group work. We expect that
the personal devices may contribute to the effectiveness of the use of tabletops to support
collaborative work.
We chose for the purpose of evaluation experiment the collaborative development of
mind maps by groups, which has been investigated earlier as a representative form of collaborative
work. Two controlled laboratory experiments were designed to examine the usability
features and associated emotional attitudes for the tabletop mind map application in
comparison with the conventional pen-and-paper approach in the context of collaborative
work. The evaluation clearly indicates that the combination of the tabletop and personal
devices support and encourage multiple people working collaboratively. The comparison of
the associated emotional attitudes indicates that the interactive tabletop facilitates the active
involvement of participants in the group decision making significantly more than the use
of the pen-and-paper conditions. The work reported here contributes significantly to our
understanding of the usability and effectiveness of interactive tabletop applications in the
context of supporting of collaborative work.The Royal Thai governmen