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For the FWS Projectday 2009, we transported our multi-touch wall to Driebergen. There, participants of the Co-create workshop had a chance to hear about and have a look at recent developments in hardware and software (they could even look inside of the big black box!) After that, one half of the group could play around with our sticky notes application while the other set out to discuss how this technology could be of use in their own working practice.
Earlier, we had developed and evaluated scenarios aimed at using multi-touch technology for working and creating together. The results of the workshops also point at other directions for future developments that we hope to explore further.
Some interesting points of discussion:
- The fact that multi-touch surfaces allow input from multiple persons at the same time implicates that everyone who is at the surface has control over what is viewed, changed or added. Some people see this as an advantage, others think that one person should always be in control.
- Multi-touch surfaces are useful if different kinds of information (for example, tekst, numbers and photos) have to be reviewed with a team. In those cases, the large screen provides an overview and each of the team members has control over the data that is shown.
- Multi-touch surfaces could also be used for co-creation and inspiration by letting people work at such surfaces at different moments in time. People could have their own space and shared spaces where they can add to the work of others or find ideas to use in their own work.
- It is fun to use the multi-touch surfaces because it involves a natural kind of interaction. This alone could be a reason to use them.
- A multi-touch wall could also be used for communication with people at other locations. Reviewing a document and seeing a video of a person on the same large screen could be an efficient way to work together at a distance.
Wouter from Jam visualized outcomes of the discussion. More of the results (also from the other workshops) can be found here.
Today was a day of evaluating the use of some of the applications we created: Buzzcuit and the two applications for the MS Surface table: the concept game and create & combine. These applications are currently all being tested at the Rabobank Utrecht. I sat down with my laptop a bit away from the gadgets, but made sure I could still see what people were doing – especially if they touched the screens.