Interactive environment-aware display bubbles have been introduced in a novel display metaphor [3] which allows screens to be instantiated with a freeform shape anywhere on demand. The bubbles are adapted either using a matching set of interaction schemes in a collaborative setting or as a reaction to occluders detected in the environment. In this paper, this novel display metaphor is evaluated in a user study. Based on various test scenarios in a tabletop setting, several usability issues are analyzed such as the suitability of freeform displays, focus and context areas, environment-aware adaptivity, laser pointer navigation, pie menus and several aspects of collaboration in general. The results show that the freeform displays and the related metaphor have a wide acceptance and allow the work to be performed in an effective way at an efficiency comparable to the one found in the well-established traditional systems. Author Keywords User study, usability, tabletop, adaptive displays, ...
Daniel Cotting, Markus H. Gross