Territoriality and behaviour on and around large vertical publicly-shared displays

Abstract

We investigate behaviours on, and around, large vertical displays during concurrent usage. Using an observational field study, we identify fundamental patterns of how people use existing public displays: their orientation, positioning, group identification, and behaviour within and between social groups just-before, during, and just-after usage. These results are then used to motivate a controlled experiment where two individuals or two pairs of individuals complete tasks concurrently on a simulated large vertical display. Results from our controlled study demonstrates that vertical surface territories are similar to those found in horizontal tabletops in function, but their definitions and social conventions are different. In addition, the nature of use-while-standing systems results in more complex and dynamic physical territories around the display. We show that the anthropological notion of personal space must be slightly refined for application to vertical displays.