(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005)
Stasko, John T.; McColgin, Dave; Miller, Todd; Plaue, Christopher Michael; Pousman, Zachary L.
A longitudinal, in situ study of the InfoCanvas, a prototype peripheral awareness system, was conducted. The InfoCanvas provides awareness of information through "information art", acting as a kind of electronic painting in which visual elements change appearance to represent changes in the information being monitored. Eight people used the system for a month in their offices. We observed and documented the scenes they designed, how they used the system, and their opinions of the system. Overall, participants felt the system was useful, informative, and fun. With respect to aesthetics, some participants felt that it was appealing but others desired further improvement. Lessons learned from the study may benefit other forms of peripheral displays and ubiquitous computing systems.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004)
Plaue, Christopher Michael; Miller, Todd; Stasko, John T.
Little is known about what makes a peripheral or ambient display effective at presenting awareness information or simply, if one is better than another. Furthermore, techniques for evaluating these types of displays are just beginning to be developed. We conducted an evaluation of the InfoCanvas, a peripheral display that conveys awareness information graphically as a form of information art. We assessed people's comprehension of information presented by the InfoCanvas compared to two other electronic information displays, a Web portal style and a text-based display, when each display was viewed for a short period of time. We found that participants noted and recalled significantly more information when presented by the InfoCanvas than by either of the other displays despite having to learn the additional graphical representations employed by the InfoCanvas.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002)
Miller, Todd; Stasko, John T.
The Internet and World Wide Web have made a tremendous amount of information available to people today. Taking advantage of and managing this information, however, is becoming increasingly challenging due to its volume and the variety of sources available. We attempt to reduce this overload with the InfoCanvas, an ambient display of a personalized, information-driven, visual collage. Through a web-based interface, people identify information of interest, associate a pictorial representation with it, and place the representation on a virtual canvas. The end result is an information collage, displayed on a secondary monitor or net appliance, that allows people to keep tabs on information in a calm, unobtrusive manner. This paper presents details on how a person can create and manage information with the InfoCanvas, and how we provide such capabilities.