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features were also highly valued. However, clutter and the use of virtual keyboards remained problem-
atic for users. Advances in tabletop hardware, such as higher resolution displays and tactile feedback
for text entry, may be necessary in combination with WeSearch's UI innovations in order to make
these devices offer a top-quality search experience.
4.3
WHERE: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Whether users are co-located or remote impacts the types of features that a collaborative search
system might need to provide. Features that enable distributed control become important in co-
located settings, while features supporting mutual awareness take on heightened importance in
remote scenarios. Understanding what combinations of features are best suited to mixed-presence
collaborations is still an open research question.
The introduction of devices with new capabilities, such as interactive displays with higher
precision touch input, richer integration with tangibles, and higher-resolution output, or mobile
phones offering easier connectivity to and control of external devices, offer exciting new possibilities
for designing search systems that support a variety of flexible work configurations, in both fixed and
on-the-go settings. An open challenge introduced by this increasing ecology of devices is exploring
how to design systems that enable collaboration when different group members are using different
devices with different capabilities. For example, Martha could have searched with her family in a
mixed-presence setting where George and Martha gathered around a tabletop display in their living
room, while Beth connected to the search using her personal computer, and Martha's mother called
in from the airport via a mobile phone. Wiltse and Nichols ( 2009 ) PlayByPlay system, pictured in
Figure 4.24, which enables remote collaboration on Web browsing when one user has a mobile
phone and the other has a PC, is one example of a step down this largely unexplored research path.
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