Gradual Engagement between Digital Devices as a Function of Proximity: From Awareness to Progressive Reveal to Information Transfer

Marquardt, N., Ballendat, T., Boring, S., Greenberg, S. and Hinckley, K. (2012)
Gradual Engagement between Digital Devices as a Function of Proximity: From Awareness to Progressive Reveal to Information Transfer. In Proceedings of Interactive Tabletops a& Surfaces - ACM ITS. (Boston, USA), ACM Press, 10 pages, November 11-14. Earlier version as Report 2012-1025-08, Apr. 2012 (pdf) and (video).

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Abstract

The increasing number of digital devices in our environment enriches how we interact with digital content. Yet, cross-device information transfer - which should be a common operation - is surprisingly difficult. One has to know which devices can communicate, what information they contain, and how information can be exchanged. To mitigate this problem, we formulate the gradual engagement design pattern that generalizes prior work in proxemic interactions and informs future system designs. The pattern describes how we can design device interfaces to gradually engage the user by disclosing connectivity and information exchange capabili-ties as a function of inter-device proximity. These capabili-ties flow across three stages: (1) awareness of device pres-ence/connectivity, (2) reveal of exchangeable content, and (3) interaction methods for transferring content between devices tuned to particular distances and device capabili-ties. We illustrate how we can apply this pattern to design, and show how existing and novel interaction techniques for cross-device transfers can be integrated to flow across its various stages. We explore how techniques differ between personal and semi-public devices, and how the pattern sup-ports interaction of multiple users

Keywords

gradual engagement; proximity; awareness; proxemic interactions; handhelds; interactive surfaces.

Bibtex entry

@INPROCEEDINGS { 2012-GradualEngagement.ITS,
CLASS = { CONFARTICLE },
AUTHOR = { Marquardt, N. and Ballendat, T. and Boring, S. and Greenberg, S. and Hinckley, K. },
TITLE = { Gradual Engagement between Digital Devices as a Function of Proximity: From Awareness to Progressive Reveal to Information Transfer },
YEAR = { 2012 },
MONTH = { November 11-14 },
BOOKTITLE = { Proceedings of Interactive Tabletops a& Surfaces - ACM ITS },
PUBLISHER = { ACM Press },
ADDRESS = { Boston, USA },
PAGES = { 10 pages },
KEYWORDS = { gradual engagement; proximity; awareness; proxemic interactions; handhelds; interactive surfaces. },
NOTE = { Earlier version as Report 2012-1025-08, Apr. 2012 (pdf) and (video) },
}