Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 7.10
The Process Knob
for collaborative tangible
tagging of group processes
Depending on the group processes to support, the cube can be easily modified to
support other semantic types.
Process Knob
In contrast to the process cube, the second prototype exemplifies a tangible object
that stimulates users to follow phases in a specific sequence. It is a rotary knob that
can be rotated by 360 degrees. Around the knob, fields for the phases are arranged.
Depending on the rotation, the needle points to one specific field and indicates one
phase. The Process Knob is depicted in Figure 7.10.
Similarly to the cube, this tangible provides for intuitive manipulation of a clearly
visible, shared representation. The circular arrangement affords rotating the knob
a little further to make the needle point to the adjacent field each time the users
proceed to the subsequent phase. Documents can be linked to specific phases as
well, since the fields act as association areas for hyperlink gestures.
7.5 Evaluation and Discussion
In this chapter, we have presented four different interaction techniques for tagging
documents and processes. These techniques complement each other, serving differ-
ent purposes and having different properties. The choice of an appropriate technique
depends both on the task and on the user's personal preferences. Table 7.2 gives a
comparative overview of these techniques.
Digital Paper Bookmarks
As shown in the overview table, Digital Paper Book-
marks can be used for tagging paper documents with user-defined tags and with
