UT’s Lasso

An academic study of The University of Texas’s Lasso, a large-scale, multi-touch display

Research Goals

With the ubiquity of touch-based systems in daily life, perhaps a natural step in technological advancement is the production of large touch displays, and in the early 2010s, research and development was focused on large, high-resolution touch displays, such as tabletop and wall displays. These large interactive displays made their way into public or semi-public spaces, such as meeting rooms and information desks, to encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration. While the technical development for these displays is plentiful, evaluative research on the use, usability, and user experience of them was not. With this research, we investigated the usability and user experience of a large-scale, multi-touch display (Lasso) by exploring how users interact with the display and each other during collaborative tasks.

Specifically, we explored the following questions regarding touch interaction, collaboration, and touch application use on a large-scale, multi-touch display (Lasso):

  1. How do users interact with a vertical large-scale, multi-touch display?

  2. How do users interact with single- and multi- touch enabled applications on Lasso in a collaborative setting?

  3. How do users behave when interacting with Lasso in a collaborative setting?

  4. How can touch interaction with Lasso facilitate collaboration over the use of traditional input devices?

Collaborators

Henna Kim, Carlos Duarte, Yeolib Kim

My Role
I completed much of the literature review; helped develop task scenarios; recruited test participants from a convenience sample of university staff and graduate students; coordinated test schedule; conducted tests; observed testing and recorded observations; identified overall usability themes and problems; contributed to the final paper.

Methodology

User Experience Study with eight groups of three participants each, which included:

  • Observation

  • Task Performance

  • User Interviews

  • Demographic Survey

  • Usability Test Questionnaires

  • Post-test Questionnaires

Deliverables

Publication