Orientation and Gesture on Horizontal Displays

Orientation has been recognized as a significant issue for software for horizontal displays. When people stand around a horizontal display, they view the contents from different angles. A common approach to this problem has been to orient objects towards the user who has currently selected them. In contrast, our observational study indicates that there may be many positive uses of variant orientation. Adjusting the orientation of objects can be used to estab- lish personal space, create a public space, and is used as a significant part of gestures that direct comments, ask for help, and indicate interest. Many of these orientation adjustments or gestures are partial in that an angle is chosen some- where between ideal for both people, and temporary in that objects are fre- quently rotated back. This indicates that it may be important to support partial and temporary rotations in order to provide people with the opportunity to use this type of gesturing when collaborating on a tabletop display.