Storytelling is a powerful means of communication that has been employed by humankind from the early stages of development. As technology has advanced, the medium through which people tell stories has evolved from verbal, to writing, performing on stage, and more recently television, movies, and video games. A promising medium for the telling of stories in an in-person, one-on-one or one-to-many setting is a digital table—a large, horizontal multi-touch surface—that can provide quick access to visuals and narrative elements at the touch of one’s hands and fingers. In this work, I present the results of an exploratory study on storytellers’ interaction behaviours while working with digital tables, and its physical counterparts of sand and water. My results highlight some of the differences in these media that can both help and hinder a storyteller’s narrative process. I use these findings to present design implications for the design of applications for storytelling on digital multi-touch surfaces.

Storytelling is a powerful means of communication that has been employed by humankind from the early stages of development. As technology has advanced, the medium through which people tell stories has evolved from verbal, to writing, performing on stage, and more recently television, movies, and video games. A promising medium for the telling of stories in an in-person, one-on-one or one-to-many setting is a digital table—a large, horizontal multi-touch surface—that can provide quick access to visuals and narrative elements at the touch of one’s hands and fingers. In this work, I present the results of an exploratory study on storytellers’ interaction behaviours while working with digital tables, and its physical counterparts of sand and water. My results highlight some of the differences in these media that can both help and hinder a storyteller’s narrative process. I use these findings to present design implications for the design of applications for storytelling on digital multi-touch surfaces.

En France, les infections associées aux soins concernent environ un patient hospitalisé sur vingt. Les pathogènes en cause se transmettent d’unepersonne à l’autre par contact direct entre les personnes mais aussi par les surfaces de contact sur lesquelles certains microorganismes peuventpersister jusqu’à plusieurs mois. Le cuivre étant un puissant antimicrobien naturel, des éléments en alliages de cuivre ont été conçu. Ce travailde thèse vise à étudier la capacité de ces éléments à réduire les contaminations bactériennes lors d’une utilisation prolongée en établissementsde santé. Pour cela, cinq EHPAD et une MARPA (Marne, France) ont été équipées à 50% de poignées de portes et rampes de maintien en alliagesde cuivre. Plus de 1300 prélèvements bactériologiques ont été effectués sur la surface des éléments en établissements entre 1,5 et 3,5 ans aprèsleur installation. Les bactéries récoltées ont été cultivées sur différents milieux gélosés et les unités formant colonie ont pu être dénombrées. Ledénombrement a révélé que les niveaux de contamination sont significativement plus faibles sur les poignées et rampes en cuivre que sur leséléments standards. L’identification des souches bactériennes récoltées a ensuite été effectuée par spectrométrie de masse MALDI-TOF. Cetteanalyse a montré que les genres prédominants sur les surfaces de contact sont Staphylococcus et Micrococcus, et que les genres Staphylococcus,Streptococcus et Roseomonas sont significativement moins fréquents sur les éléments en cuivre. L’espèce pathogène. S. aureus a été observémoins fréquemment sur les éléments en cuivre que sur les éléments standard. Les éléments en alliage de cuivre sont donc efficaces pour éviterdes contaminations bactériennes de surfaces en milieux de santé. De plus, les propriétés antibactériennes des éléments en alliages de cuivresont conservées plusieurs années après leur mise en service, soulignant l’intérêt de leur utilisation en milieu de santé. / In France, healthcare-associated infections concern one on twenty patients during hospitalization. Pathogenic microorganisms spread from oneperson to another by direct contact between people, but also through touch surfaces where the can persist up to several months. Copper is anatural and powerful antimicrobial metal. Thus, copper alloyed elements and surfaces have been designed and manufactured. This thesis workaims to investigate on the ability of copper elements to reduce bacterial contaminations during an extended period of use in healthcare facilities.Five long-term care facilities were 50% outfitted with copper alloyed door handles and handrails. Over 1300 samplings were performed between1.5 and 3.5 years after copper elements installation. Sampled bacteria were cultivated on a range of agar plates and colony forming units werecounted. It revealed that contamination levels were lower on copper door handles and handrails than on controls. Identifications of sampledbacterial strains were then performed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. This analysis showed that Staphylococcus and Micrococcus largelyprevailed on touch surfaces and that Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and Roseomonas are significantly less frequent on copper elements surfaces.Pathogenic species S. aureus was less frequently observed on copper elements than on controls. This study suggests that copper alloyedelements are effective to limit bacterial contaminations of surfaces in healthcare facilities. Moreover, these elements still display significativeantibacterial properties after several years of use. Thus, copper alloyed elements represent a very promising solution to control bacterialcontamination of touch surfaces in healthcare facilities.