Evaluating the Extension of Wall Displays with AR for Collaborative Work

Wall displays are well suited for collaborative work and are often placed in rooms with ample space in front of them that remains largely unused. Augmented Reality (AR) headsets can seamlessly extend the collaboration space around the Wall. Nevertheless, it is unclear if extending Walls with AR is effective and how it may affect collaboration. We first present a prototype combining a Wall and AR headsets to extend the Wall workspace. We then use this prototype to study how users utilize the virtual space created in AR. In an experiment with 24 participants, we compare how pairs solve collaborative tasks with the Wall alone and with Wall+AR. Our qualitative and quantitative results highlight that with Wall+AR, participants use the physical space in front and around the Wall extensively, and while this creates interaction overhead, it does not impact performance and improves the user experience.