Enhanced Desk: Interactive Textbook and Interactive Venn Diagram

This paper describes two interface prototypes which we have developed on our augmented desk interface system, EnhancedDesk. The first application is Interactive Textbook, which is aimed at providing an effective learning environment. When a student opens a page which describes experiments or simulations, Interactive Textbook automatically retrieves digital contents from its database and projects them onto the desk. Interactive Textbook also allows the student hands-on ability to interact with the digital contents. The second application is the Interactive Venn Diagram, which is aimed at supporting effective information retrieval. Instead of keywords, the system uses real objects such as books or CDs as keys for retrieval. The system projects a circle around each book; data corresponding the book are then retrieved and projected inside the circle. By moving two or more circles so that the circles intersect each other, the user can compose a Venn diagram interactively on the desk. We also describe the new technologies introduced in EnhancedDesk which enable us to implement these applications.