Surface Computing Interfaces to Support Collaborative Decision-Making in Complex Task Environments

Abstract

Large-format surface computing technology, such as interactive walls and tables are becoming an integral part of complex, dynamic team environments, such as military command and control and emergency response settings. For instance, the battle management centers for future US naval ships will include several wall-mounted large-screen displays for providing mission and ship related information. Also, interactive tabletop systems, such as the TouchTable, have recently become available for defence and securities applications. It is generally agreed that such large displays, often called situation displays, should provide information which enables the operations team to maintain awareness of the overall battlefield or crisis situation and to engage in planning activities. However, few guidelines exist to help system designers determine precisely what information sources should be shown on these large displays, or what interface techniques should be used to provide this information. This talk will present several ongoing research projects aimed at exploring the potential use of surface computing technologies to support various aspects of teamwork, including team supervision and decision-making, in time-critical command and control operations.

Vita

Stacey Scott is an Assistant Professor of Human Systems Engineering in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, Canada. Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (specializing in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaboration) from the University of Calgary in 2005. She received her B.Sc. in Computing Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in 1997. She completed two years of postdoctoral studies in the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) from 2005-2007, where she developed awareness technologies to facilitate collaborative decision-making in time-critical military command and control operations. Dr. Scott's graduate research focused on understanding collaborative tabletop work practices with traditional media and developing interface design requirements for digital tabletop platforms. She is now combining this previous theoretical and high-level requirements work with the applied research experience gained in her postdoc to pursue the development of digital tabletop systems that support real-world collaboration in complex task domains. In general, her research interests include computer-supported collaboration, large-screen displays, interface and interaction design, and information visualization.

More information are available at http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~s9scott/.

Last Changes 04.10.2010