Children designing together on a multi-touch tabletop: an analysis of spatial orientation and user interactions

  • Authors:

  • Jochen Rick;Amanda Harris;Paul Marshall;Rowanne Fleck;Nicola Yuill;Yvonne Rogers

  • Affiliations:

  • Open University, Milton Keynes, UK;University of Sussex, Brighton, UK;Open University, Milton Keynes, UK;University of Sussex, Brighton, UK;University of Sussex, Brighton, UK;Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Applications running on multi-touch tabletops are beginning to be developed to enable children to collaborate on a variety of activities, from photo sharing to playing games. However, little is know as to how children work together on such interactive surfaces. We present a study that investigated groups of children's use of a multitouch tabletop for a shared-space design task, requiring reasoning and compromise. The OurSpace application was designed to allow children to arrange the desks in their classroom and allocate students to seats around those desks. A number of findings are reported, including a comparison of single versus multiple touch, equity of participation, and an analysis of how a child's tabletop position affects where he or she touches. A main finding was that children used all of the tabletop surface, but took more responsibility for the parts of the design closer to their relative position.