CollaBoard: A Novel Interactive Electronic Whiteboard for Remote Collaboration with People on Content

Abstract

In this paper, we present a device called ‘CollaBoard’. It was developed in the context of ongoing CSCW research efforts in developing groupware that mediates remote collaboration processes. CollaBoard combines video- and data-conferencing by overlaying a life-sized video showing the entire upper body of remote people in front of the displayed shared content. By doing so, CollaBoard shows pose, gaze, and gestures of remote partners, preserves the meaning of users’ deictic gestures when pointing at displayed shared artifacts, and keeps shared artifacts editable at both conference sites. For this, a new whiteboard software is also introduced, which allows a real-time synchronization of the generated artifacts. Finally, the functionality of two interconnected CollaBoard prototypes was verified in a usability assessment.