Individual and Collaborative Benefits of Interactive Large-Screen Display Systems

技术进步显著增加了交互式大屏幕显示(LSD)系统的可行性，例如交互式墙壁和桌面。商业互动墙已有十多年的历史，加拿大制造的SMART BoardTM已在北美许多学校和会议室使用。商用数字桌面最近才面世，最引人注目的是微软分别在2007年和2008年发布了SurfaceTM和SMART TableTM。然而，与苹果iPadTM等较小的多点触控设备不同，LSD的普及速度要慢得多。这种缓慢的采用在一定程度上是由于缺乏经验证据来证明LSD系统相对于现有技术所提供的具体好处。鉴于LSD系统的成本相对较高，各组织需要相信，采用这些系统将改善业务。为了解决这一问题，本研究旨在通过一系列深入的比较研究，揭示LSD技术在各种任务和使用环境中可以提供的具体个人和协作好处。这些研究将把LSD技术与特定应用领域的现有技术进行比较，例如军事和相关领域。 这项研究计划将提供LSD系统认知和协作益处的经验证据，这反过来将促进LSD技术在公共和商业环境中的采用。预计这一推广活动将通过为加拿大硬件和软件公司创造新的市场，直接影响加拿大的工业，如SMART技术公司、克里斯蒂数字公司和Infusion Development公司，这些公司目前正在开发LSD技术。这项研究计划还将有助于为未来改进的LSD的设计提供信息。最后，学生还将接受大屏幕显示技术方面的培训，以及更广泛的人机交互、协作技术设计、软件开发以及定性和定量研究方法方面的培训，这些都是发展信息技术的行业的关键技能，包括国防、医疗保健、教育和企业行业。

Technological advances have significantly increased the feasibility of interactive large-screen display (LSD) systems, such as interactive walls and tabletops. Commercial, interactive walls have been available for over ten years, with the Canadian-built, SMART BoardTM available in many North American schools and boardrooms. Commercial digital tabletops have only recently become available, most notably with the release of Microsoft's SurfaceTM and the SMART TableTM in 2007 and 2008, respectively. However, unlike smaller multi-touch devices, such as Apple's iPadTM, adoption of LSDs has been much slower. This slow adoption is, in part, due to a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating the specific benefits that LSD systems provide over existing technologies. Given the relatively high cost of LSD systems, organizations need to be confident that adopting these systems will improve operations. To address this issue, this research aims to uncover the specific individual and collaborative benefits LSD technologies can provide in various task and usage contexts through a series of in-depth comparison studies. These studies will contrast LSD technologies against existing technologies in specific application domains, such as military and related domains. This research program will provide empirical evidence of the cognitive and collaborative benefits of LSD systems, which, in turn, will promote the adoption of LSD technology in public and commercial contexts. This promotion is expected to directly impact Canadian industry by creating new markets for Canadian hardware and software companies, such as SMART Technologies, Christie Digital, and Infusion Development, who currently develop LSD technologies. This research program will also help inform the design of future, improved LSDs. Finally, students will also be trained in large-screen display technologies, as well as more generally in human-computer interaction, collaborative technology design, software development, and qualitative and quantitative research methods, which are critical skills for industries developing information technologies, including the defence, healthcare, education, and corporate industries.