Last week at work I was introduced to a new program, Microsoft InfoPath. A fellow student co-worker was tasked with getting me up to speed so I would be able to edit a template. Our office uses InfoPath only on one WinXP tablet-laptop, so this was the obvious medium to teach me through. My co-worker removed the input pen (foreshadowing?), rotated and folded the display, and opened up the program. We now had in front of us a 13” screen, approximately the size of one standard sheet of paper, oriented vertically and we had to share that display.
The most significant issue that came up during this work session is simply that tablet computers do not support interpersonal interaction well. The screen is oriented upwards (flat on a table) forcing both users to face the screen, looking down at a high table. It felt like this orientation was physically limiting our conversation, as if there was literally no space for our communication to propagate through. As a side note, grounding issues also caused a significant detraction in our communication. Because I was completely new to the program, when I needed to point out something specific, I had to attempt to describe it without using any terms specific to the program.
This communication issue was further compounded by the presence of only a single input device. Because of this, we had nearly no simultaneous interaction with the tablet. With my own input pen, I would be able to point at, or even select specific objects or areas of the screen. Because the tablet can recognize the relative proximity and position of the pen even when it is not in contact with the screen, I believe a second cloned display would have been sufficient to solve both communication issues I just described. This set up would physically open up conversation, as well as allow me to use my hands to point at a larger, more accessible screen, and I would still be aware of what my coworker was pointing at (indicated on the screen by a small wavering dot).
The Scott, Grant, and Mandryk article also discusses support for physical objects. This was also a significant issue that came up during our work. Because I was not only attempting to learn InfoPath, but also develop a plan for editing the project, notes were very important. I find post-its very helpful in keeping ideas organized, so I use them frequently in my workspace. Because of the size of this shared display, I was forced to put post-its on the table, with arrows pointing towards areas of the document on the screen. This set-up was less than perfect. Ideally I would again have my own section (or copy) of the display that I could customize separately from the group/presentation version. If a presentation document isn't going to be changed, copying the display with the ability to add notes is very useful, for instance I often see m any 3650 students with the slides open on their computers, and they are adding notes to the bottom.
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I like the fact that you kept awareness in mind with your cloned display redesign. The small wavering dot to indicate the coworker’s pointer preserves one of the main advantages of sharing a display. One thing to think about is that scaling this solution up to more users (for other kinds of tasks) might be a challenge. It could get easy to confuse several small dots roaming on the screen and forget which user corresponds to which dot. It may also be somewhat distracting unless there is a way to turn it off (reducing awareness and forcing the user to remember to re-enable it when someone else wants to show him something).
ReplyDeleteNice post. It seems counter-productive to have to use post-it notes along with this tablet. It almost seems like if you had to whip out post-it notes, then you might as well have printed out the document or used an projector use post-it notes or a white board. I think another issue with the Info Path and tablet is that it didn't seem to fit the technological frames of the users, which seemed to be something like the Microsoft Surface.
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