A multiple device approach for supporting whiteboard-based interactions

In this paper, we propose a multiple-device approach for supporting informal meetings using a digital whiteboard. Traditional digital whiteboard systems often suffer from a limited capability to enter text and the handling of existing data. The large display surface of the whiteboard also makes traditional GUI design ineffective. Our proposed approach provides a hand-held computer for each participant which serves as a tool palette and data entry palette for the whiteboard. Just as an oil painter effectively uses a palette in his/her hand, this hand-held device offers an easy way to create a new text/stroke object, to select existing data from a network, to select pen attributes, and to control the whiteboard application. This paper also reports our experience with the digital whiteboard systems using a proposed multi-device architecture.