Mobitop: Interactions employed by users when using a collocated ad-hoc collaboration application

Abstract

This paper presents a Collocated Ad-hoc Collaboration (CAC) application -- the MobiTop system which is a multi-mobile system that allows users to come together with their mobile devices in an ad-hoc manner, and integrates together as one seamless display surface with multi-touch capabilities. It has transformed the society into a more hands-on environment with the innovation of this system. Our findings show that users tend to settle and compromise when working collaboratively, for instance setting with an inverted orientation of the screen rather than dynamically positioning themselves around the MobiTop system. Consequently, users tend to draw an 'upside-down' object orientated towards other users rather than towards themselves. Several reasons contributed towards this form of interaction are such as the complexity of the objects, the bezel on the tablet and group-like behavior. With this understanding, we believe that MobiTop system can provide the next step in the evolution of collaboration beyond the expensive tabletops systems for the society.