Este trabalho apresenta um estudo na área de mesas interativas e uso de gestos como forma de entrada. Primeiramente é analisado um conjunto representativo de métodos de elicitação existentes que geram um vocabulário de gestos para aplicações de superfícies multitoque, como mesas interativas. Algumas das características analisadas são: custos, clareza de informações e se avalia o vocabulário final criado. São obtidos, assim, os pontos positivos e negativos dos métodos. Em seguida, as informações obtidas na análise feita, juntamente com outras informações e definições na área, permitiram a criação de um metamétodo. Esse metamétodo pode ser utilizado como base para criação de métodos, pois define desde a escolha de quais usuários utilizar nos testes até o desenvolvimento da aplicação utilizando o vocabulário de gestos criado. / This work details a study in the area of interactive tables and the use of gestures as input. First, a representative set of elicitation methods that create a vocabulary of gestures for multitouch surface application, such as interactive tables, are analyzed. Some of the characteristics analyzed are: costs, clarity of informations and whether the final vocabulary of gestures is evaluated afterwards. This way the pros and cons of the methods are established. The insights obtained in the analysis, along with other information and definitions on the area, allowed the creation of a metamethod. This metamethod can be used as a basis for creating other methods, since it defines all the steps required, from the selection of users for the test to the development of the application that will use the vocabulary of gestures created.

As video games and other gaming has become a popular media form, with 60% of Americans playing games daily (Entertainment Software Association [ESA], 2018), gaming communities have increased in size and participation. While scholarly research has consistently found that women are marginalized in these communities, little research has looked at how men see these communities. Research on homosociality shows that men use communities and relationships with other men to access masculinity (Bird, 1996; Dellinger, 2004; Houston, 2012). Building on game studies and masculinity studies, this research looks at the way men in tabletop roleplaying game communities understand their involvement and the ways their involvement connects with masculinity. Tabletop gaming communities give men access to a form of masculinity they may be denied, primarily by providing access to other ways of building social capital and relationships with other men.

Tabletop computers (also known as surface computers, smart tables, and interactive surface computers) have been growing in popularity for the last decade and are poised to make in‐roads into the consumer market, opening up a new market for the games industry. However, before tabletop computers become widely accepted, there are open problems that must be addressed with respect to audio interaction including: "What loudspeaker constellations are appropriate for tabletop computers?" "How does our perception of spatial sound change with these different loudspeaker configurations?" and "What panning methods should be used to maximally use the spatial localization abilities of the user(s)?" Using a custom‐built tabletop computer setup, the work presented in this thesis investigated these three questions/problems via a series of experiments. The results of these experiments indicated that accurately localizing a virtual sound source on a horizontal surface is a difficult and error‐prone task, for all of the methods that were used. / UOIT

The Design of Table-Centric Interactive Spaces, by Daniel J. Wigdor A thesis submitted in partial conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto © Copyright by Daniel J. Wigdor, 2008 Direct-touch tabletops offer compelling uses as direct, multi-touch, multi-user displays for face to face collaborative work. As task complexity and group size increase, the addition to the tabletop of multiple, vertical displays allows for more information content, while reducing the need to multiplex the tabletop display area. We dub such systems table-centric interactive spaces. Although compelling, these spaces offer unique challenges. In particular, the displays in such spaces are seen by the users at angles not typically found in combination in other environments. First, the viewing imagery shown on a horizontal display by seated participants means that that imagery is distorted, receding away from the users’ eyes. Second, the sharing of information by users sitting around a horizontal display necessitates that on-screen content be oriented at non-optimal angles for some subset of those users. Third, positioning vertical displays around the table means that some subset of the seated users will be looking at those displays at odd angles. In this thesis, we investigate the challenges associated with these viewing angles. We begin with a examination of related work, including tabletop technology and interaction techniques. Next, we report the results of controlled experiments measuring performance of reading, graphical perception, and ancillary display control under the angles we identified. Next, we present a set of design issues encountered in our work with table-centric spaces. We then review a series of interaction techniques built to address those issues. These techniques are evaluated through the construction and validation of an application scenario. Through these examinations, we hope to provide designers with insights as to how to enable users to take full advantage of ancillary displays, while maintaining the advantages and affordances of collocated table-centric work.

The Design of Table-Centric Interactive Spaces, by Daniel J. Wigdor A thesis submitted in partial conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto © Copyright by Daniel J. Wigdor, 2008 Direct-touch tabletops offer compelling uses as direct, multi-touch, multi-user displays for face to face collaborative work. As task complexity and group size increase, the addition to the tabletop of multiple, vertical displays allows for more information content, while reducing the need to multiplex the tabletop display area. We dub such systems table-centric interactive spaces. Although compelling, these spaces offer unique challenges. In particular, the displays in such spaces are seen by the users at angles not typically found in combination in other environments. First, the viewing imagery shown on a horizontal display by seated participants means that that imagery is distorted, receding away from the users’ eyes. Second, the sharing of information by users sitting around a horizontal display necessitates that on-screen content be oriented at non-optimal angles for some subset of those users. Third, positioning vertical displays around the table means that some subset of the seated users will be looking at those displays at odd angles. In this thesis, we investigate the challenges associated with these viewing angles. We begin with a examination of related work, including tabletop technology and interaction techniques. Next, we report the results of controlled experiments measuring performance of reading, graphical perception, and ancillary display control under the angles we identified. Next, we present a set of design issues encountered in our work with table-centric spaces. We then review a series of interaction techniques built to address those issues. These techniques are evaluated through the construction and validation of an application scenario. Through these examinations, we hope to provide designers with insights as to how to enable users to take full advantage of ancillary displays, while maintaining the advantages and affordances of collocated table-centric work.

Tables have been used for working and studying for years, and people continue using tables to work with digital artifacts. Collaborative tabletop activities such as planning, designing, and scheduling are common on traditional tables, but digital tables still face a variety of design issues to facilitate doing the same tasks. For example, due to the high cost of digital tables, it is unclear how large a digital table must be to support collaborative problem solving. This thesis examines the impact of physical features, in particular the table size, on collaborative tasks. This research leverages findings of previous studies of traditional and digital tables, and focuses on exploring the interaction of table size and users’ seating arrangement in collaborative problem solving. An experimental study is used to observe the behaviors of two-member groups while doing problem-solving tasks. Two tasks, storytelling and travel planning, were selected for this study, and the experiments were performed on two traditional tables, one small and one large. Although working on digital and traditional tables differs, investigating the impact of physical features in traditional tables can help us better understand how these features interact with workspace awareness and external cognition factors during taskwork. In the empirical study, external cognitive behaviors of participants were deeply analyzed to understand how physical settings of the table and seating arrangement affect the way people manipulate artifacts in the table workspace. Collaborators passed through different stages of problem solving using varied strategies, and the data analysis revealed that they manipulated material on the tabletop for understanding, organizing and solution making through visual separation, cognitive tracing and piling. Table size, task type and user seating arrangement showed strong effects on the external cognition of collaborators. In particular, the accessibility of sufficient space on the table influenced how much users could distribute their materials to improve workspace awareness and cognitive tracing. On the other hand, lack of space or inaccessible space forced people to use the space above the table—by holding materials in their hands—or to pile materials to compensate for space limitations. The insights gained from this research inform design decisions regarding size and seating arrangement for tabletop workspaces. For cases in which there is insufficient space, design alternatives are recommended to improve accessibility to artifacts to compensate for space limitations. These solutions aim to enhance the external cognition of users when space is insufficient to work with artifacts in problem-solving tasks.

Game sketching is used to identify enjoyable designs for digital games without the expense of fully implementing them. This thesis presents Raptor, a novel tool for sketching games. Raptor shows how tabletop interaction can effectively support the ideation phase of interaction design by permitting small collocated groups to participate in the design and testing process together. Raptor relies heavily on efficient gesture-based interaction, mixed-reality interaction involving physical props and digital artifacts, Wizard-of-Oz demonstration gameplay sketching, and fluid change of roles between designer and tester. An evaluation of Raptor using seven groups of three people showed that a sketching tool based on a tabletop computer indeed supports ideation and collaboration among collocated groups better than a more traditional PC-based tool. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-12 14:06:34.363

Horizontal displays, such as tabletop systems, are emerging as the de facto platform for engaging participants in collaborative tasks. Despite significant efforts in improving the interactivity of information on such systems, very little research has been invested in understanding how groups of people view data visualizations in such environments. Numerous studies introduced different techniques to support viewing visualization for groups of people, such as duplicating or reorienting the visual displays. However, when visualizations compete for pixels on the display, prior solutions do not work effectively. In this thesis, I explore whether orientation on horizontal displays impacts the legibility of simple visualizations such as graphs. I have found that users are best at reading a graph when it is right side up, and takes them 20% less time than when it is read upside down. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate whether the readability and understandability of simple graphs can be improved. I have introduced the Orientation Agnostic Graph (OA-Graph) which is legible regardless of orientation. The OA-Graph uses a radial layout which has several interesting properties such as implicit orientation, points equidistant to center, and flexible rearrangement. OA-Graphs perform better than graphs that are presented upside down. I have converted several popular types of graphs into their OA counterpart for improved legibility on tabletop systems. Guidelines are presented that describe how other visualizations can be converted to being orientation agnostic.

Most multi-user horizontal interactive surfaces, or tabletop computers, cannot determine which user has performed a given action. These tabletops are less capable than identity-aware (IA) tabletops, which can. However, current research on IA is scarce and speculative. Notably, no one has rigorously compared the power of IA and non-IA devices, so evidence that IA enables groups to work better together is lacking. My thesis establishes an identity-aware perspective for interactive surface design. First, I have constructed an experiment to determine that IA can improve the effectiveness of small collaborative groups. A second experiment compares several emulation techniques designed to bring the benefits of IA to non-IA devices. I explore IA in detail through examples, present some open problems involving IA, and discuss promising solutions. Taken as a whole, this document serves as a comprehensive introduction to the study of identity awareness and a springboard for future research on the topic.

Horizontal displays, such as tabletop systems, are emerging as the de facto platform for engaging participants in collaborative tasks. Despite significant efforts in improving the interactivity of information on such systems, very little research has been invested in understanding how groups of people view data visualizations in such environments. Numerous studies introduced different techniques to support viewing visualization for groups of people, such as duplicating or reorienting the visual displays. However, when visualizations compete for pixels on the display, prior solutions do not work effectively. In this thesis, I explore whether orientation on horizontal displays impacts the legibility of simple visualizations such as graphs. I have found that users are best at reading a graph when it is right side up, and takes them 20% less time than when it is read upside down. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate whether the readability and understandability of simple graphs can be improved. I have introduced the Orientation Agnostic Graph (OA-Graph) which is legible regardless of orientation. The OA-Graph uses a radial layout which has several interesting properties such as implicit orientation, points equidistant to center, and flexible rearrangement. OA-Graphs perform better than graphs that are presented upside down. I have converted several popular types of graphs into their OA counterpart for improved legibility on tabletop systems. Guidelines are presented that describe how other visualizations can be converted to being orientation agnostic.