Touching dante: a proximity-based paradigm for tabletop browsing

We present the design of a proximity-based interaction paradigm for browsing complex information. This paradigm builds on the intrinsic characteristics of interactive tabletops, namely their physical spatial dimension, direct-touch input modality and affordance for multi-user interaction. To validate such a proposal, we developed a prototypical application about Dante's Inferno, due to the complexity, vastness and universality of this classic and to the availability of partially-structured data about the relationships between characters. Four pairs of users were involved in a user study to assess qualitatively whether the interaction paradigm would help them in collaboratively browsing a collection of data. Preliminary results are encouraging: the proposed paradigm is easily understood, is perceived as simple while still engaging, allows for collaborative learning while not forcing it, and helps highlighting and remembering connections among data.