Designing Interactions for Multi-touch Spherical Displays to Support Collaborative Learning in Museums

Abstract

Spherical displays are increasingly being used to present global data visualizations to support Earth science education in informal learning settings such as museums. However, most spherical displays deployed to date either support no interactivity or interaction only via an external touchscreen. Only recently have spherical displays become commercially available that can support multi-touch gesture interactivity. Family groups visiting museums can gather around these displays to collaboratively explore global science datasets simultaneously. However, the use of multi-touch spherical displays as an educational tool is relatively new and a deeper knowledge of how to design interactions for spherical touch surfaces to support collaborative learning has not been explored yet. Through my thesis work, I will explore how to design gestural interactions for multi-touch spherical displays to support collaborative learning from interactive science data visualizations in museums.