... In this article we present four experiments comparing the performance of users working on a large projected wall display to that of users working on a standard desktop monitor. In these experiments, we held the visual angle constant by adjusting the viewing distance to each of the displays. Results from the first two experiments suggest that physically large displays, even when viewed at identical visual angles as smaller ones, help users perform better on mental rotation tasks. We show through the experiments how these results may be attributed, at least in part, to large displays immersing users within the problem space and biasing them into using more efficient cognitive strategies. In the latter two experiments, we extend these results, showing the presence of these effects with more complex tasks, such as 3D navigation and mental map formation and memory. Results further show that the effects of physical display size are independent of other factors that may induce immersion, such as interactivity and mental aids within the virtual environments. We conclude with a general discussion of the findings and possibilities for future work.

Abstract. The use of multiple monitors for personal desktop computing is becoming more prevalent as the price of display technology decreases. The use of two monitors for a single desktop has been shown to have performance improvement in several studies. However, few studies have been performed with more than three monitors. As a result, we report an observational analysis of the use of a large tiled display containing nine monitors (in a 3x3 matrix). The total resolution of the large display is 3840x3072, for a total of 11,796,480 pixels. Over the course of six months we observed the behavior and actions of five users who used the display extensively as a desktop, and of 65 people who used the display during three other controlled experiments. We relate our observations, provide feedback concerning common usage of how people do and do not use the display, provide common scenarios and results of interviews, and give a series of design recommendations and guidelines for future designers of applications for high-resolution, tiled displays.

(c) VisBlocks � tiled high-resolution display module. Physically large-size high-resolution displays have been widely applied in various fields. There is a lack of research, however, that demonstrates empirically how users benefit from the increased size and resolution afforded by emerging technologies. We designed a controlled experiment to evaluate the individual and combined effects of display size and resolution on task performance in an Information-Rich Virtual Environment (IRVE). We also explored how a wayfinding aid would facilitate spatial information acquisition and mental map construction when users worked with various displays. We found that users were most effective at performing IRVE search and comparison tasks on large high-resolution displays. In addition, users working with large displays became less reliant on wayfinding aids to form spatial knowledge. We discuss the impact of these results on the design and presentation of IRVEs, the choice of displays for particular applications, and future work to extend our findings.

Maps are used by almost everyone in society during the course of their lives. However, when maps are used with computers they are almost always used with small, low pixel count displays, such as desktop monitors. We performed two experiments involving map usage with various tiled display configurations (one monitor, four monitors, and nine monitors). The first experiment focused on basic map navigation tasks and the second experiment focused on how to maximize the effectiveness of the details-ondemand interactive technique with large, high pixel count displays. We conclusively found from the experiments that finding objects and route tracing in maps was performed on average twice as fast on the nine monitors as the one monitor. We also found that participants on the nine monitor configuration had 70 % less mouse clicks, 90 % less window management, and a general accuracy and performance improvement over the one monitor. This indicates improved insight for large, high pixel count displays.

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With the ever increasing amount of digital information, users desire more screen real estate to process their daily computing work, and might well benefit from using a wallsize large high-resolution display instead of a desktop one. Unfortunately, we know very little about users ’ behaviors when using such a display for daily computing. We present a week-long study that investigates large display use in a personal desktop computing context by comparing it with single and dual desktop monitor use. Results show users’ unanimous preference for using a large display: it facilitates multi-window and rich information tasks, enhances users’ awareness of peripheral applications, and offers a more “immersive ” experience. Further, the data reveals distinct usage patterns in partitioning screen real estate and managing windows on a large display. Detailed analysis of these results provides insights into designing interaction techniques and window management systems more suited to a large display.

It is becoming increasingly common to see computers with two or even three monitors being used today. People seem to like having more display space available, and intuition tells us that the added space should be beneficial to work. Little research has been done to examine the effects and potential utility of multiple monitors for work on everyday tasks with common applications, however. We compared how people completed a trip planning task that involved different applications and included interjected interruptions when they worked on a computer with one monitor as compared to a computer with two monitors. Results showed that participants who used the computer with two monitors performed the task set faster and with less workload, and they also expressed a subjective preference for the multiple monitor computer.

There are few visualization techniques for displaying complex software systems with large numbers of packages and classes. One visualization technique is the System Hotspots View, which has yet to have any empirical studies conducted to validate its effectiveness. We have conducted an experiment to see whether users of our modified System Hotspots View using a large visualization wall can accurately identify key measurements and comparisons in the underlying software system. The results of our experiment indicate that users were able to effectively use our modified System Hotspots View to explore the example domain: version 1.6 of the Java API. Our observations also indicate that there are issues around interacting with the visualization wall.

Tiled-monitor large displays are widely used in various application domains. However, how their interior bezels affect user performance and behavior has not been fully understood. We conducted three controlled experiments to investigate effects of tiled-monitor interior bezels on visual search, straight-tunnel steering, and target selection tasks. The conclusions of our paper are: 1) interior bezels do not affect visual search time nor error rate; however, splitting objects across bezels is detrimental to search accuracy, 2) interior bezels are detrimental to straight-tunnel steering, but not to target selection. In addition, we discuss how interior bezels affect user behaviors, and suggest guidelines for effectively using tiled-monitor large displays and designing user interfaces suited to them.

Continued advances in display hardware, computing power, networking, and rendering algorithms have all converged to dramatically improve large high-resolution display capabilities. We present a survey on prior research with large high-resolution displays. In the hardware configurations section we examine systems including multi-monitor workstations, reconfigurable projector arrays, and others. Rendering and the data pipeline are addressed with an overview of current technologies. We discuss many applications for large high-resolution displays such as automotive design, scientific visualization, control centers, and others. Quantifying the effects of large high-resolution displays on human performance and other aspects is important as we look toward future advances in display technology and how it is applied in different situations. Interacting with these displays brings a different set of challenges for HCI professionals, so an overview of some of this work is provided. Finally, we present our view of the top ten greatest challenges in large highresolution displays.