Electronic Paper Computers: Interacting with Flexible Displays for Physical Manipulation of Digital Information

Abstract

Flexible displays are being widely adopted because of their thinness, lightweight and low power-consumption. Current research on flexible displays has focused on various ways of interacting with a single flexible display similar to that of using a mobile phone. The introduction of thin-film flexible displays has enabled us to represent data as a deck of thin and flexible cards or sheets of standard-sized paper. This is largely an unexplored area of research. This manifestation of digital data opens up newer forms of interaction techniques such as stacking, thumbing through, while supporting traditional tabletop interaction techniques such as collocation, shuffling and reordering documents on a desk. In this thesis, we present multi-display paper computer prototypes that combine the physical properties of paper with the affordances of digital media. We use the physical affordances of flexible displays, i.e., their thinness, low mass, and flexibility, as design elements to create paper computer prototypes that support spatial, tactile, and asymmetric bimanual manipulation of digital information. With Snaplet, we explore how flexibility provides an interaction context for a wearable device that fits the body. With DisplayStacks, we take advantage of the thinness of displays to explore stacking as an interaction metaphor. With PaperTab, we combine these affordances with the low mass of displays to present a physical computing interface that enables 3D spatial organization of information, as well as parallel access to multiple data streams. We report on a qualitative study to show how PaperTab’s interaction techniques can be easy to learn, without inducing significant physical demands or mental demands. We report results from three Fitts’ law experiments to understand how device mass and rigidity affect interaction efficiency in spatial interactions. We formally define Paper Computers based on our experience developing the prototypes, and our qualitative and quantitative study data.