My AppCorner : personal interaction areas on public multi-touch displays in a smart campus environment

Abstract

Public spaces are being filled with interactive displays as information points. Companies take advantage of the technology to build a bridge between them and users. Interactive displays provide an efficient way to interact with the user but also have a lot of constraints. In the recent years the use of screens that support multiple users have been on the rise. Multi-user interaction systems present several challenges because most of the existing systems do not have the necessary flexibility to offer an adequate experience.

In this thesis, we introduce a new way of interacting with public multi-touch displays named My AppCorner, with the goal of finding the efficiency and practicality of the system also with the goal of giving the user the sense of ownership. The system gives the users the option to create their own space inside the screen, move it around and decide what application suits them best. The system takes advantage of two main interaction techniques: “Drag and drop” and “hold”. User-centered design is used to design and implement the interface in order to meet the needs of a smart university public space. A system testing was conducted with the main target users being university students, staff and visitors. The main applications used were related to a university setting including; campus map, bus timetable and university newsfeed. Results showed that participants liked the idea of creating everything dynamically, having their own window and interaction with other users. Overall, the system is an appropriate solution for multi-user interaction on a smart campus setting.