Ease of use with digital tabletops in public settings is contingent on how well the system invites and guides interaction. The same can be said for the interface design and individual graphical user interface elements of these systems. One such interface element is menus. Prior to a menu being used however, it must first be discovered within the interface. Existing research pertaining to digital tabletop menu design does not address this issue of discovering or opening a menu. This thesis investigates how the interface and interaction of digital tabletops can be designed to encourage menu discoverability in the context of public settings. A set of menu invocation designs varying on the invocation element and use of animation are proposed. These designs are then evaluated through an observational study at a museum to observe users interactions in a realistic public setting. Findings from this study propose the use of discernible and recognizable interface elements – buttons – supported by the use of animation to attract and guide users as a discoverable menu invocation design. Additionally, findings posit that when engaging with a public digital tabletop display, users transition through exploration and discovery states before becoming competent with the system. Finally, insights from this study point to a set of design recommendations for improving menu discoverability.

In almost all collaborative tabletop tasks, groups require coordinated access to the shared objects on the table’s surface. The physical social norms of close-proximity interactions built up over years of interacting around other physical bodies cause people to avoid interfering with other people (e.g., avoiding grabbing the same object simultaneously). However, some digital tabletop situations require the use of indirect input (e.g., when using mice, and when supporting remote users). With indirect input, people are no longer physically embodied during their reaching gestures, so most systems provide digital embodiments – visual representations of each person – to provide feedback to both the person who is reaching and to the other group members. Tabletop arm embodiments have been shown to better support group interactions than simple visual designs, providing awareness of actions to the group. However, researchers and digital tabletop designers know little of how the design of digital arm embodiments affects the fundamental group tabletop interaction of reaching for objects. Therefore, in this thesis, we evaluate how people coordinate their interactions over digital tabletops when using different types of embodiments. Specifically, in a series of studies, we investigate how the visual design (what they look like) and interaction design (how they work) of digital arm embodiments affects a group’s coordinative behaviours in an open- ended parallel tabletop task. We evaluated visual factors of size, transparency, and realism (through pictures and videos of physical arms), as well as interaction factors of input and augmentations (feedback of interactions), in both a co-located and distributed environment. We found that the visual design had little effect on a group’s ability to coordinate access to shared tabletop items, that embodiment augmentations are useful to support group coordinative actions, and that there are large differences when the person is not physically co-present. Our results demonstrate an initial exploration into the design of digital arm embodiments, providing design guidelines for future researchers and designers to use when designing the next generation of shared digital spaces.

Ease of use with digital tabletops in public settings is contingent on how well the system invites and guides interaction. The same can be said for the interface design and individual graphical user interface elements of these systems. One such interface element is menus. Prior to a menu being used however, it must first be discovered within the interface. Existing research pertaining to digital tabletop menu design does not address this issue of discovering or opening a menu. This thesis investigates how the interface and interaction of digital tabletops can be designed to encourage menu discoverability in the context of public settings. A set of menu invocation designs varying on the invocation element and use of animation are proposed. These designs are then evaluated through an observational study at a museum to observe users interactions in a realistic public setting. Findings from this study propose the use of discernible and recognizable interface elements – buttons – supported by the use of animation to attract and guide users as a discoverable menu invocation design. Additionally, findings posit that when engaging with a public digital tabletop display, users transition through exploration and discovery states before becoming competent with the system. Finally, insights from this study point to a set of design recommendations for improving menu discoverability.

Collaboration technologies are difficult to design due to the complex myr-iad of social, cognitive, and communicative aspects of group interactions. New interaction technologies like multitouch sharable interfaces, such asdigital tabletops, have lead to a renewed interest in designing collaborativetechnologies. This thesis focuses on turn-taking protocols as a coordinat-ing mechanism during collaborative work with digital tabletops. The goalwas to develop new conceptual designs and interactive mechanisms to sup-port face-to-face collaborations of small groups. Inspired by ethnographicalstudies of collaborative work and theories in distributed cognition and re-lated theories of language and action a model of collaborative turn-takingwas developed. Moreover, the thesis presents five design concepts and in-teraction components for the digital tabletop that exemplifies the differentproperties of the model.

Digital tabletop computers are an ideal platform for games with the social advantages of traditional tabletop games, such as board games and card games, combined with the more streamlined and automated gameplay of video games. Implementing a board game digitally allows for aspects of the game, such as routine in-game activities, rule enforcement and game progression, to be automated. However, the effect of this automation on the players’ social experience and enjoyment is poorly understood. To explore this question, a mixed-method study was carried out in which 24 groups of participants played either the abstract strategy board game Checkers or the cooperative board game Pandemic using three different interfaces: the original physical game; a digital tabletop interface which provided minimal automation in an attempt to replicate play of the original game; and a digital tabletop interface which automated many in-game activities, enforced the rules and managed the progression of the game. The study revealed that while automation does have the potential to reduce the overhead to play the game, it can lead to player frustration in several ways. Automating routine in-game activities and game progression can lead to severe awareness deficits. Automation of rule enforcement and management of the game state can streamline gameplay, but can lead to scenarios where players would prefer more control over the game. The negative space around the active game area is important to consider for storage of digital artifacts and physical objects above the table. Finally the digitization and automation of the games did not reduce social interaction, making digital tabletops a promising platform for social games. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-01-08 10:32:08.405

A definiçãoo e o reconhecimento de gestos multi-toque s~ao dois dos maiores desafios encontrados por desenvolvedores de aplicações para tabletops. Após a escolha dos gestos, geralmente após um longo e custoso estudo de usuário, os desenvolvedores precisam selecionar ou criar um algorítimo para reconhecê-los e integrá-lo à aplicação e ao hardware. Muitas bibliotecas e arcabouços para o reconhecimento de gestos multi-toque foram propostos nos últimos anos. Cada um deles buscou endereçar um dos diversos desafios encontrados pelos desenvolvedores quando desenvolvendo protótipos e implementando novas aplicações para tabletops, como a integração entre a camada de aplicação e a interface de hardware. Em uma das etapas de nossa pesquisa, foram identificados quatorze requisitos para tais arcabouços, variando desde o suporte ao multi-toque ao suporte a gestos colaborativo não conseguiram endereçar todos os requisitos identificados. Neste trabalho, nós apresentamos o MiTable Engine: um arcabouço flexível e configurável, criado com o objetivo de atender a todos os quatorze requisitos. Esta proposta pode ser utilizada tanto para suportar aplicações em mesas interativas para diversos usuários quanto aplicações para tablets e smartphones. O MiTable Engine foi construído a partir de uma arquitetura de quatro camadas com uma nova proposta de reconhecimento de gestos baseada em pipeline. Nossa proposta é capaz de processar diversas entradas de toque simultaneamente com grande desempenho e se torna muito flexível para personalizações. O MiTable também inclui alguns dos algorítmos do estado-da-arte para reconhecimento de gestos além de um conjunto de ferramentas para criação e inclusão de novos gestos nas aplicações. Neste trabalho, nós discutimos a engine proposta em detalhes, incluindo sua arquitetura, algorítmos e como cada requisito é endereçado. Para exercitar a engine e verificar seu funcionamento, nós apresentamos duas provas de conceito e desenvolvemos diversos testes unitários automatizados. / Gestures denition and recognition are two of the major challenges for tabletop developers. After choosing the gestures, usually after a costly user study, developers must select or create an algorithm to recognize them and integrate it to the main application layer and to the hardware interface layer. Several multi-touch gestures recognition systems and frameworks were proposed in the past years. Each of them tried to address one of several challenges developers have when prototyping and implementing new tabletop applications and to provide a seamless integration between the hardware interface and the main application. During our research, we identified fourteen requirements for multi-touch frameworks, ranging from supporting multi-touch to collaborative gestures. Although current state of art multi-touch gestures frameworks addresses several of them, there is no unique solution which addresses all the developers needs. In this work, we present the MiTable Engine: a flexible and configurable multi-touch gestures engine aimed to address all these requirements. The proposed engine is suitable for both large multi-user surfaces and for small single-user tabletops, such as tablets and smartphones. The MiTable Engine is built on top of a four layers architecture and introduces a novel multi-touch gestures recognition pipeline which can process several multi-touch inputs simultaneously with high performance and flexibility for customizations. The Engine also includes some of the state-of-art multi-touch gestures recognizers and a set of tools for creating and adding custom gestures to the application. In this work, we discuss the proposed engine in deep details, including its architecture, its algorithms and how it addresses each requirement. In order to exercise the engine and verify its functionality, we present two proof of concept applications and developed several automated unit tests.

A definiçãoo e o reconhecimento de gestos multi-toque s~ao dois dos maiores desafios encontrados por desenvolvedores de aplicações para tabletops. Após a escolha dos gestos, geralmente após um longo e custoso estudo de usuário, os desenvolvedores precisam selecionar ou criar um algorítimo para reconhecê-los e integrá-lo à aplicação e ao hardware. Muitas bibliotecas e arcabouços para o reconhecimento de gestos multi-toque foram propostos nos últimos anos. Cada um deles buscou endereçar um dos diversos desafios encontrados pelos desenvolvedores quando desenvolvendo protótipos e implementando novas aplicações para tabletops, como a integração entre a camada de aplicação e a interface de hardware. Em uma das etapas de nossa pesquisa, foram identificados quatorze requisitos para tais arcabouços, variando desde o suporte ao multi-toque ao suporte a gestos colaborativo não conseguiram endereçar todos os requisitos identificados. Neste trabalho, nós apresentamos o MiTable Engine: um arcabouço flexível e configurável, criado com o objetivo de atender a todos os quatorze requisitos. Esta proposta pode ser utilizada tanto para suportar aplicações em mesas interativas para diversos usuários quanto aplicações para tablets e smartphones. O MiTable Engine foi construído a partir de uma arquitetura de quatro camadas com uma nova proposta de reconhecimento de gestos baseada em pipeline. Nossa proposta é capaz de processar diversas entradas de toque simultaneamente com grande desempenho e se torna muito flexível para personalizações. O MiTable também inclui alguns dos algorítmos do estado-da-arte para reconhecimento de gestos além de um conjunto de ferramentas para criação e inclusão de novos gestos nas aplicações. Neste trabalho, nós discutimos a engine proposta em detalhes, incluindo sua arquitetura, algorítmos e como cada requisito é endereçado. Para exercitar a engine e verificar seu funcionamento, nós apresentamos duas provas de conceito e desenvolvemos diversos testes unitários automatizados. / Gestures denition and recognition are two of the major challenges for tabletop developers. After choosing the gestures, usually after a costly user study, developers must select or create an algorithm to recognize them and integrate it to the main application layer and to the hardware interface layer. Several multi-touch gestures recognition systems and frameworks were proposed in the past years. Each of them tried to address one of several challenges developers have when prototyping and implementing new tabletop applications and to provide a seamless integration between the hardware interface and the main application. During our research, we identified fourteen requirements for multi-touch frameworks, ranging from supporting multi-touch to collaborative gestures. Although current state of art multi-touch gestures frameworks addresses several of them, there is no unique solution which addresses all the developers needs. In this work, we present the MiTable Engine: a flexible and configurable multi-touch gestures engine aimed to address all these requirements. The proposed engine is suitable for both large multi-user surfaces and for small single-user tabletops, such as tablets and smartphones. The MiTable Engine is built on top of a four layers architecture and introduces a novel multi-touch gestures recognition pipeline which can process several multi-touch inputs simultaneously with high performance and flexibility for customizations. The Engine also includes some of the state-of-art multi-touch gestures recognizers and a set of tools for creating and adding custom gestures to the application. In this work, we discuss the proposed engine in deep details, including its architecture, its algorithms and how it addresses each requirement. In order to exercise the engine and verify its functionality, we present two proof of concept applications and developed several automated unit tests.

Les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’Enseignement (TICE) peuvent transformer profondément les pratiques pédagogiques. Cependant, pour que ce bénéfice potentiel se réalise, il faut que les solutions produites en conception puissent à la fois s’intégrer à ces pratiques et être sources d’innovation potentielles, en termes de plus-values pour les activités d’enseignement et d’apprentissage. L’objectif de cette thèse est de mettre en avant des facteurs de conception qui permettent d’articuler ces enjeux dans le cadre d’un projet de conception sur technologie émergente pour l’enseignement. Ainsi, la recherche s’intéresse à une démarche participative mise en œuvre dans la conception conjointe d’un système technique (l’application sur table interactive) et des pratiques enseignantes (par l’intermédiaire de scénarios pédagogiques). Nos hypothèses concernent les effets de différents facteurs sur l’élaboration d’un compromis entre des enjeux d’intégration et d’innovation : implication de futurs utilisateurs « pionniers » ; opportunités de confrontation de leurs hypothèses de conception ; cadrage du champ des possibles. Les analyses portent sur l’ensemble de la démarche de conception, afin de caractériser ces effets d’un point de vue longitudinal en les situant par rapport aux différentes méthodes mobilisées et à l’avancement des solutions de conception. En particulier, les justifications des choix de conception relatifs à certaines composantes de l’artefact en cours d’élaboration sont étudiées pour caractériser, d’une part, les facteurs de la conception qui ont contextualisé ces choix et, d’autre part, leurs liens avec les enjeux d’innovation ou d’intégration, voire les deux. Les résultats montrent que : (i) la mobilisation et la redéfinition des scénarios pédagogiques, l’implication d’enseignants en tant que co-concepteurs, la confrontation des solutions de conception sur prototype et en simulation et enfin le recueil des besoins favorisent la définition de caractéristiques techniques et l’intégration du système technique ; (ii) la définition des caractéristiques techniques de l’application, l’implication d’enseignants pionniers, l’identification de leurs besoins et la simulation des solutions favorisent l’adaptation des pratiques enseignantes aux caractéristiques de la technologie en vue d’optimiser son intégration ; (iii) les différentes formes de confrontation à la nouvelle technologie ainsi que les apprentissages mutuels en conception participative vis-à-vis du potentiel technique et interactif des tables interactives contribuent à l’exploitation de ce potentiel par les concepteurs ; (iv) les caractéristiques innovantes des tables interactives, l’anticipation de leurs usages potentiels en salle de classe, la mise en œuvre des solutions de conception en situation réelle, la participation d’enseignants futurs utilisateurs leur permettant de s’approprier la nouvelle technologie et l’identification de leurs difficultés actuelles favorisent l’innovation dans les scénarios pédagogiques et l’amélioration des activités d’enseignement et d’apprentissage. / Information and Communication Technologies have the potential for deeply transforming teachers’ practices. However, this requires design solutions to be adapted to these practices and, at the same time, to foster innovations, in terms of improvements for teaching and learning activities. This thesis aims at highlighting design factors that allow the articulation between these goals, in the context of a design project with emerging technologies for education. The research focuses onthe design process: joint definition of a technical system (an application on an interactive tabletop) and of teaching practices (via pedagogical scenarios); involvement of future users; design hypothesis assessment modalities; framing the scope of design possibilities. Our hypotheses concern the potential effects of these factors on the reaching of a compromise between integration and innovation related goals.Analyses cover the entire design process, in order to longitudinally examine the various design techniques used and the design process advancement. In particular, design choices related to some of the features of the artifact are analyzed to investigate the links between design factors and integration/innovation related goals.Results show that: (i) using and redefining pedagogical scenarios, involving users as co-designers, confronting the design solutions with prototypes and simulations and identifying users’ needs facilitate the technical definition of the application and its integration in future teaching activities; (ii) defining the technical properties of an artifact, involving teachers as experimenters, identifying their needs and simulating on the design solution foster the adaptation of teachers’ practices to the specificities of the technologies and optimize its integration ; (iii) allowing participants to interact with the emerging technology in different ways and the mutual learning processes between designers, regarding tabletops technical and interactional potential,help them capitalize on this potential ; (iv) identifying the innovative features of tabletops, anticipating their potential uses, testing prototypes in real class situations and involving teachers, to let them learn how to use an emerging technology and to express the existing limits of in their teaching practices, foster innovation in their pedagogical scenarios and, thus, can improve teaching and learning activities.

[EN] The development of technology has undoubtedly impacted positively in the educational process, mainly by offering new forms of access, organization and understanding of information, and new ways of communication between students and teachers to facilitate the implementation of educational paradigms based on constructivism and collaborative learning. However, at the same time technology can result in a barrier in the teaching / learning process, since it can create interferences in it. In response to this problem, this thesis aims to provide new solutions based on the use of Natural User Interfaces, which allows exploiting the potential of technology in the educational process, maximum avoiding any interference in it. In the search for a solution, it was decided to explore solutions based on the use of interactive digital surfaces, also known as "tabletop" systems. This type of devices provides a natural interface through which users can interact with the system via gestures with his hands. This type of system is suitable for collaborative learning tasks, by allowing simultaneous work of several students around the device, providing a "face to face" communication way between them. Although this type of devices have previously been used in educational environments, their integration in the classroom has not been transparent enough, which still generates interferences in the educational process. In this sense, one of the main objectives of the thesis has been to integrate this type of technology in the classroom ubiquitously. For this task, systems that allow to implement mixed reality space, a subset of the broader concept of ubiquitous computing, which allows integration of technology in the classroom, but making it go unnoticed. Additionally, it has been developed and evaluated an architecture that allows the extension of the collaborative workspaces, that are established between students locally around an interactive digital surface, in a distributed model that allows the interconnection of different devices, which can be found in remote locations. Unlike other solutions, this technology allows designing complex schemes of classroom orchestration in a natural and simply way, hiding the complexity of the system both to students and teachers. Regarding to this, in order to simplify the processes of handling and exchange of information between the different working groups, the system was provided with interaction capacity meanwhile the use of tangible information handlers. In parallel, we developed a novel method and technology that allows the use of passive elements on tangible handlers over digital interactive surfaces implemented with optical frames technology. Furthermore, in order to achieve the maximum simplification in the information management processes, the system has been provided with multiple pathways for the addition of new contents, contributing to the generation of Blended Spaces. In this way, following a BYOD ("Bring Your Own Device") strategy, the system allows the use of any smartphone or similar device, to add new information to the digital space. Finally, a remarkable aspect of the thesis is that previous systems have been rigorously evaluated on numerous real educational contexts, from the point of view of three parameters: efficiency, motivation and usability. / [ES] El desarrollo de la tecnología ha repercutido indudablemente de forma positiva en los procesos educativos, ofreciendo principalmente nuevas formas de acceso, organización y entendimiento de la información, y nuevas vías de comunicación entre alumnos y profesores que facilitan la implementación de paradigmas educativos basados en ideas constructivistas y aprendizaje colaborativo. Sin embargo, la tecnología puede suponer al mismo tiempo una barrera en el proceso de enseñanza/aprendizaje, en cuanto a que puede crear interferencias en el mismo. En respuesta a esta problemática, en esta tesis se pretende aportar soluciones basadas en la utilización de Interfaces Naturales de Usuario, que permitan un aprovechamiento de las posibilidades de la tecnología en el proceso educativo, evitando al máximo cualquier tipo de interferencia en el mismo. En la búsqueda de una solución, se ha optado por la exploración de sistemas basados en superficies digitales interactivas, también conocidas como "tabletops". Este tipo de dispositivos ofrece una interfaz natural mediante la cual los usuarios pueden interaccionar con el sistema realizando gestos con sus propias manos, de manera similar a como se trabajaría sobre una mesa o superficie de trabajo real. Adicionalmente, este tipo de sistemas resulta idóneo en tareas de aprendizaje colaborativo, gracias a que permiten el trabajo simultáneo de varios estudiantes facilitando una comunicación en la forma "cara a cara", de igual modo a como se establecería sobre una mesa de trabajo convencional. Aunque este tipo de dispositivos ha sido previamente utilizado en entornos educativos, su integración en las aulas no ha sido transparente, lo cual sigue generando interferencias. En este sentido, uno de los principales objetivos de la tesis ha sido integrar este tipo de tecnología en las propias aulas de forma ubicua. Para ello se han diseñado y desarrollado sistemas que permiten implementar Espacios de Realidad Mezclada, un subconjunto del concepto más amplio de computación ubicua, los cuales permiten integrar la tecnología en las aulas consiguiendo al mismo tiempo que pase desapercibida. Adicionalmente, se ha desarrollado una arquitectura que permite la extensión de estos espacios de trabajo colaborativo en un modelo distribuido, que permite la interconexión simultanea de distintos dispositivos, los cuales se pueden encontrar en ubicaciones remotas. A diferencia de otras soluciones, el modelo propuesto permite diseñar complejas orquestaciones de aula de forma sencilla y natural, ocultando la complejidad del sistema tanto a alumnos como a profesores. A este respecto, con el objetivo de simplificar los procesos de manejo e intercambio de información entre los distintos grupos de trabajo, se ha dotado al sistema de la capacidad de interacción mediante la utilización de manipuladores tangibles de información. De forma paralela, se ha desarrollado un novedoso método y tecnología que permite definir y utilizar elementos tangibles pasivos sobre superficies digitales interactivas implementadas mediante marcos ópticos. Por otra parte, con el objetivo de lograr la máxima simplificación en los procesos de manejo de la información, el sistema ofrece múltiples vías de introducción de nuevos contenidos, ofreciendo formas y métodos que permiten la digitalización de la información de una forma sencilla y natural, estableciendo una relación sencilla y transparente entre el mundo real y el virtual, contribuyendo de este modo a la generación de los Espacios de Realidad Mezclada. En la misma línea, siguiendo una estrategia BYOD ("Bring Your Own Device"), el sistema permite la utilización de cualquier dispositivo smartphone, o similar, para la adición de nueva información. Finalmente, un aspecto destacable de la tesis ha consistido en la evaluación de forma rigurosa de los anteriores sistemas sobre numerosos contextos educativos reales, desde el punto de vista de tres parám / [CAT] El desenrotllament de la tecnologia ha repercutit indubtablement de forma positiva en els processos educatius, oferint principalment noves formes d'accés, organització i enteniment de la informació, i noves vies de comunicació entre alumnes i professors que faciliten la implementació de paradigmes educatius basats en idees constructivistes i aprenentatge col¿laboratiu. No obstant això, la tecnologia pot suposar al mateix temps una barrera en el procés d'enseñanza/aprendizaje, en el fet que pot crear interferències en el mateix. En resposta a esta problemàtica, en esta tesi es pretén aportar solucions basades en la utilització d'Interfícies Naturals d'Usuari, que permeten un aprofitament de les possibilitats de la tecnologia en el procés educatiu, evitant al màxim qualsevol tipus d'interferència en el mateix. En la busca d'una solució, s'ha optat per l'exploració de sistemes basats en superfícies digitals interactives, també conegudes com "tabletops". Este tipus de dispositius oferix una interfície natural per mitjà de la qual els usuaris poden interaccionar amb el sistema realitzant gestos amb les seues pròpies mans, de manera semblant a com es treballaria sobre una taula o superfície de treball real. Addicionalment, este tipus de sistemes resulta idoni en tasques d'aprenentatge col¿laboratiu, gràcies a què permeten el treball simultani de diversos estudiants facilitant una comunicació en la forma "cara a cara", de la mateixa manera a com s'establiria sobre una taula de treball convencional. Encara que este tipus de dispositius ha sigut prèviament utilitzat en entorns educatius, la seua integració en les aules no ha sigut transparent, la qual cosa continua generant interferències. En este sentit, un dels principals objectius de la tesi ha sigut integrar este tipus de tecnologia en les pròpies aules de forma ubiqua. Per a això s'han dissenyat i desenrotllat sistemes que permeten implementar Espais de Realitat Mesclada, un subconjunt del concepte més ampli de computació ubiqua, els quals permeten integrar la tecnologia en les aules aconseguint alhora que passe desapercebuda. Addicionalment, s'ha desenrotllat una arquitectura que permet l'extensió d'estos espais de treball col¿laboratiu en un model distribuït, que permet la interconnexió simultanieja de distints dispositius, els quals es poden trobar en ubicacions remotes. A diferència d'altres solucions, el model proposat permet dissenyar complexes orquestracions d'aula de forma senzilla i natural, ocultant la complexitat del sistema tant a alumnes com a professors. A este respecte, amb l'objectiu de simplificar els processos de maneig i intercanvi d'informació entre els distints grups de treball, s'ha dotat al sistema de la capacitat d'interacció per mitjà de la utilització de manipuladors tangibles d'informació. De forma paral¿lela, s'ha desenrotllat un nou mètode i tecnologia que permet definir i utilitzar elements tangibles passius sobre superfícies digitals interactives implementades per mitjà de marcs òptics. D'altra banda, amb l'objectiu d'aconseguir la màxima simplificació en els processos de maneig de la informació, el sistema oferix múltiples vies d'introducció de nous continguts, oferint formes i mètodes que permeten la digitalització de la informació d'una forma senzilla i natural, establint una relació senzilla i transparent entre el món real i el virtual, contribuint d'esta manera a la generació dels Espais de Realitat Mesclada. En la mateixa línia, seguint una estratègia BYOD ("Bring Your Own Device") , el sistema permet la utilització de qualsevol dispositiu smartphone, o semblant, per a l'addició de nova informació. Finalment, un aspecte destacable de la tesi ha consistit en l'avaluació de forma rigorosa dels anteriors sistemes sobre nombrosos contextos educatius reals, des del punt de vista de tres paràmetres: eficiència, motivació i usabilidad. / Salvador Herranz, GM. (2016). Diseño e implementación de espacios distribuidos de aprendizaje colaborativo mediante la utilización de grandes superficies interactivas y elementos tangibles [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/63269 / TESIS

Les environnements multi-surfaces (MSE) combinent plusieurs surfaces dans une variété d'arrangements physiques pour former un espace d'information continu. Les grandes surfaces, telles que les tables et les écrans muraux, sont souvent utilisées comme espace partagé pour coordonner les efforts, et les périphériques portables, tels que les tablettes et les smartphones sont considérés comme des espaces personnels prenant en charge les tâches individuelles. Les MSE ont montré des avantages pour soutenir les activités co-implémentées, en particulier celles impliquant une exploration de données riches, telles que des activités collaboratives complexes de résolution de problèmes et de prise de décision. Cependant, la diversité des MSE soulève également des questions et des défis, car différents facteurs de configuration et dispositifs de MSE peuvent être adaptés à différents types d'activités, et le développement d'activités de collaboration dans les MSE reste complexe. Cette dissertation étudie comment les MSE peuvent soutenir la collaboration des utilisateurs en général et l'apprentissage collaboratif en particulier. Elle fournit des informations sur la façon dont la configuration et les facteurs de forme des périphériques des MSE façonnent les comportements collaboratifs des utilisateurs et propose des implications pour la conception d'activités collaboratives dans des MSE. Elle offre également un outil de prototypage rapide, qui peut être facilement utilisé par des non-experts, tels que des enseignants, afin de créer des activités de prise de décision collaboratives dans des MSE. / Multi-surface environments (MSEs) combine several of surfaces in a variety of physical arrangements to form a seamless information space. The large surfaces, such as tabletops and wall-displays are often used as a shared space to coordinate efforts, and handheld devices, such as tablets and smartphones are regarded as personal space supporting individual tasks. MSEs have shown benefits for supporting co-located activities, especially the ones involving rich data exploration, such as complex collaborative problem-solving and decision-making activities. However, the diversity of MSE also raises questions and challenges, as different configuration and devices factors of MSE can be suited for different kinds of activities, and developing collaborative activities in MSE remains complex. This dissertation studies how MSE can support users' collaboration in general, and collaborative learning specifically. It provides insights on how the configuration and form factors of devices in MSE shape users' collaborative behaviors, and offers implications on designing collaborative activities in MSE. It also contributes with a rapid prototyping tool, which can be easily used by non-experts, such as teachers, to create collaborative decision-making activities in MSE.