CAREER: People, Paper and Computers

尽管在设计更小、功能更强大的平板电脑方面取得了进展，但经常被吹捧的“无纸化办公”仍然难以实现。 相反，纸张的消耗量正在上升，除了少数例外，办公室工作仍然严重依赖这种媒介。 这种明显矛盾的根源是纸张启示之间的巨大差距，（例如，易于导航和注释，以及高信息密度显示），以及数字文档可供性，（例如，易于分发、存档和搜索）。 在这项研究中，PI将研究如何弥合这一差距，重点是结合纸张的启示，一方面和数字文档的另一方面，关于导航，注释，显示大量的信息，和信息处理。 为此，PI将采取三管齐下的方法：纸质轨道。 纸张是一种廉价的静态介质，非常适合导航和注释大量信息，但它缺乏信息处理能力。PI的纸张增强数字文档系统将研究Anoto数字笔系统等新技术如何为纸张带来数字启示。 该主题将重点关注数字世界和纸质世界之间的共存，在需要纸质启示时使用纸质作为数字文档的暂时支持。平板电脑主题。PI的下一代平板电脑项目将使用有形和触觉界面在平板电脑上提供类似纸张的文档导航技术。 它还将解决平板电脑上固有的屏幕真实的资产缺乏的问题，探索如何在飞行中创建小型平板电脑集群，作为不同文档的门户。 交互式表面提供大的显示区域，并且可以利用诸如计算集群之类的大型计算资源。 不幸的是，它们通常缺乏有效的文档导航工具。 PI将使用马里兰州交互式桌子作为实验平台，探索新的跟踪技术如何在水平交互式表面上提供更好的文档导航。对于每一个跟踪，PI的目标是构建一个足够先进的原型，以服务于一个共同的任务：支持一小群人创建和改进文档，例如这个奖项所基于的提案！ 整合来自不同轨道的数据将为分析各种方法之间的差异和相似之处提供一个独特的机会。 PI认为，这种并排比较是对设计参数进行合理、科学探索的关键，这些设计参数与提供有效导航、访问大量信息和访问计算资源有关。 特别是，他希望这项研究能够回答以下问题：纸质与数字互动的相对优势和劣势是什么？ 在现实生活中，纸张的使用模式是什么？它们与人种学研究的结果相比如何？ 在便携式设备和交互式界面上重现纸质导航启示的最佳方法是什么？ 纸的数字等价物的引入如何影响信息采集模式以及社会模式（例如，（小团体）？更广泛的影响：该项目将影响人们如何执行许多常见任务，例如校对文档，在大格式文档（如蓝图）上做笔记，浏览数字文档以及使用交互式表面进行会议。 在这个项目中开发的技术也将影响一般的人机交互领域，通过提供有价值的见解如何设计有效的有形界面和更好的双手交互界面的表面。 研究生将参与这项工作的各个方面，并将鼓励探索跨学科的项目结合硬件和软件设计，交互设计，以及不同设计之间的有条不紊的比较

Despite advances in the design of smaller and more powerful tablet-like computers, the often-touted "paperless office" remains elusive. On the contrary, consumption of paper is on the rise and, with only few exceptions, office work still relies heavily on this medium. At the root of this apparent paradox is the wide gap between paper affordances, (e.g., ease of navigation and annotation, and high information density display), and digital document affordances, (e.g., ease of distribution, archiving, and search). In this research the PI will investigate how to bridge this gap, by focusing on combining the affordances of paper on the one hand and digital document on the other, with respect to navigation, annotation, displaying large quantities of information, and information processing. To do so, the PI will adopt a 3-pronged approach:Paper track. Paper is an inexpensive static medium well adapted for navigating and annotating large quantities of information, but it lacks information processing capability. The PI's Paper Augmented Digital Document system will study how new technology such as the Anoto digital pen system can bring digital affordances to paper. This track will focus on cohabitation between the digital and the paper world, using paper as transient support for digital documents when paper affordances are needed.Tablet computer track. The PI's Next Generation Tablet PC project will provide paper-like document navigation techniques on tablet computers using tangible and haptic interfaces. It will also address the inherent lack of screen real estate on tablet computers, by exploring how small clusters of tablet computers that can be created on the fly may serve as portals to different documents.Interactive surfaces track. Interactive surfaces provide large display areas and can tap into large computational resources such as computational clusters. Unfortunately, they typically lack efficient document navigation tools. Using the Maryland Interactive Table as a testbed for his experiments, the PI will explore how new tracking technology can deliver better document navigation on horizontal interactive surfaces.For each track, the PI's goal is to build a prototype advanced enough to serve one common task: supporting a small group of people in creating and improving a document, such as the proposal on which this award is based! Integrating data from the different tracks will provide a unique opportunity to analyze the differences and similarities among the approaches. The PI believes that such side-by-side comparisons are the key to a sound, scientific exploration of the design parameters relevant for providing efficient navigation, access to large quantities of information, and access to computational resources. In particular, he expects this research to provide answers to questions such as the following: What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of paper-based vs. digital interactions? What are the patterns of paper use in real-life settings, and how do they compare with findings from ethnographic studies? What are the best ways to reproduce paper navigation affordances on portable devices and interactive surfaces? How does the introduction of digital equivalents of paper influence information foraging pattern as well as social patterns (e.g., in small groups)?Broader Impacts: This project will impact how people perform numerous common tasks such as proofreading documents, making notes on large format documents such as blueprints, navigating through digital documents, and conducting meetings using interactive surfaces. The techniques developed in this project will also impact the field of human computer interaction in general, by providing valuable insights into how to design efficient tangible interfaces and better two-handed interfaces for interactive surfaces. Graduate students will be involved in all aspects of this work, and will be encouraged to explore interdisciplinary projects combining hardware and software design, interaction design, and methodical comparison between different design