CoR²Ds: Context-Rooted Rotatable Draggables

We present a new popup widget, called CoR\²Ds (Context-Rooted Rotatable Draggables), designed for multi-user direct-touch tabletop environments. CoR\²Ds are interactive callout popup objects that are visually connected (rooted) at the originating displayed object by a semi-transparent colored swath. CoR\²Ds can be used to bring out menus, display drilled-down or off-screen ancillary data such as metadata and attributes, as well as instantiate tools. CoR\²Ds can be freely moved, rotated, and re-oriented on a tabletop display surface by fingers, hands, pointing devices (mice) or marking devices (such as a stylus or light pen). CoR\²Ds address five issues for interaction techniques on interactive tabletop display surfaces: occlusion, reach, context on a cluttered display, readability, and concurrent/coordinated multi-user interaction. In this paper, we present the design, interaction and implementation of CoR\²Ds. We also discuss a set of current usage scenarios.