Developing pandemic-sensitive interaction concepts for public displays

Problem Statement and Objective

Touch displays have become an integral part of public and semi-public spaces - for example, in the form of information displays in museums, airports, and Universities but also for ticket vending machines and ATMs. Those displays are interacted with by many different users over the course of the day. However, with the current pandemic situation, people are getting reluctant to touch those displays, as they suspect a potential contamination of the surface by previous users. The main objective of this thesis is to come up with novel user interfaces and interaction concepts to mitigate effects from potentially contaminated surfaces. Examples include but are not limited to adapting the display of content and arrangement of interactive elements based on touch behavior, changing interaction modality, approaches to initiate cleaning the display, as well as psycho-education.

Scope of the Thesis

The aim of this thesis is to create novel interaction concepts for public displays, implement them in the form of prototype applications and test them in user studies. Those studies can focus on performance as well as on human behavior.

Tasks

• Comprehensive survey of related work
• Design and development of a prototype.
• Evaluation of the prototype by means of one (or more) interactive display applications.
• Investigating performance and user behavior.

Requirements

• Programming skills
• Independent scientific working and creativeness
• Experience with user-centered design processes
• Interest in touch surfaces and novel interaction techniques