Effects of drag-and-response interaction mechanism of multi-touch operated tabletop technology on users' awareness and collaborative performance

  • Authors:

  • Wu-Yuin Hwang;Rustam Shadiev;Yueh-Min Huang;Yi-Ting Cai;Yu-Shu Yang;Jia-Han Su

  • Affiliations:

  • Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Road, Jhongli City 32001, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC;Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan, ROC;Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City 70101, Taiwan, ROC;Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Road, Jhongli City 32001, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC;Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Road, Jhongli City 32001, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC;Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Road, Jhongli City 32001, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC

  • Venue:
  • Computers & Education
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

In this study we proposed drag-and-response interaction mechanism of multi-touch operated tabletop technology which features a queue area, a rubber band and a transfer animation function. We conducted one experiment by applying our proposed drag-and-response and existing drag-and-drop and drag-and-pop mechanisms, one at a time, to support collaborative tasks on a large-size tabletop display. This study aimed to compare collaborative performance of participants on tasks with different interaction mechanisms and to explore effects of drag-and-response mechanism on awareness and collaboration of participants. Perceptions of participants toward using drag-and-response mechanism were also investigated. Results of this study revealed that drag-and-drop and drag-and-pop are not convenient mechanisms for collaborative work on a tabletop display. According to the results, drag-and-drop mechanism resulted in more exchange errors, while there were several conflicts and uncoordinated behaviors during collaborative work with drag-and-pop mechanism. Further investigation through questionnaire and interview surveys revealed that drag-and-response is beneficial for facilitating awareness and cohesive collaboration due to its functions, such as a queue area, rubber band and transfer animation. Moreover, the results showed that the rubber band facilitated participants to work with remote targets on a multi-touch tabletop display easily and the queue area enabled participants to control flow of coins into a personal panel and out of it.