Designing Interactive Paper: Lessons from Three Augmented Reality Projects (1999)

Augmented Reality offers a new paradigm for interacting with computers, linking familiar, physical objects to powerful computer networks. Although still in its infancy, the field is expanding rapidly, due to a wealth of new materials and technologies and a shift away from conventional notions about human-computer interaction. The increasing power and decreasing size of computers, the development of materials such as electronic ink and paper, and the recent explosion of the world-wide web, make Augmented Reality the user interface of the future. However, creating successful augmented reality applications is not simply a matter of coming up with a new technology, no matter how clever. Because of the potential for confusion between the real and the virtual, augmented reality requires a multi-disciplinary approach, with a strong emphasis on the user. New technologies may offer fundamentally new ways of empowering users; but successful applications will have to be integrated into real-world activities. We are interested in a particular type of augmented reality, which we call Paper. This position reports on our experiences with three augmented projects: Ariel provides augmented engineering drawings for construction engineers, Video Mosaic provides augmented storyboards for video producers and Cameleon provides augmented flight strips for air traffic controllers. Using these projects as a starting point, we examine from three perspectives: as a physical object, as a social artifact and as an augmented object. We argue that field observations of users and participatory design and prototyping approaches are essential for understanding the situated nature of the use of paper, which is, in turn, essential for developing effective applications. INTRODUCTION Our work in augmented reality grows out of our observations of users who have held on to paper, despite powerful incentives to adopt electronic replacements. Contrary to what many believe, users are not Luddites, clinging to as a way of resisting change. On the contrary: most are excited by the benefits offered by computers and some are even accomplished hackers. Their resistance is, in fact, extremely practical. New computer systems are either less efficient or simply cannot perform many required tasks. Depending upon the situation, users either reject the new system entirely (such as air traffic controllers who refuse to use on-screen flight strips) or else increase their workload by juggling an awkward combination of the existing and new on-line systems (as in many office applications). Augmented reality provides an interesting solution to this problem, directly providing a link between physical and a computer network. This interactive paper has the potential to offer the best aspects of both physical and electronic documents, by making the the user interface. However, Interactive Paper is not a panacea. A lack of understanding of the differences between physical and electronic paper, particularly when used in the context of the users work, can result in serious confusion. How do we provide users with feedback when aspects of the augmented break down or get out of sync? What happens when there are discrepancies between the real and virtual forms of paper? We believe that understanding the pre-existing use of ordinary in the context of the user's work is critical. Using multi-disciplinary teams and participatory design techniques, we developed different augmented reality solutions to support users needs. In each case, we emphasized exploring the design space rather than focusing on a single technological solution. We wanted to address the mismatch between physical and on-line systems and understand how would fit into and evolve within users' real-world work settings. This briefly describes three applications and discusses their use of from three perspectives: as a physical object, as a social artifact and as an augmented object. Three Interactive Paper applications We have explored the concept of paper, defined as using physical as the interface to a computer, in three different applications: Ariel provides augmented engineering drawings for construction engineers, Video Mosaic provides augmented storyboards for video producers and Cameleon provides augmented flight strips for air traffic controllers. Ariel: Augmented engineering drawings Our first project, called Ariel (Mackay et al., 1993, Mackay et al., 1995), grew out of work for the EuroCODE European ESPRIT project. We were initially charged with developing a multimedia communication system for construction engineers building the (then) longest suspension bridge in the world, in Denmark. In our observations and interviews with the engineers, we discovered that, although all had computers in their offices, they rarely used them. Engineers are constantly on the move, from the boat, to the bridge, pre-fabrication sites, meeting rooms as well as their