MOBILE COLLABORATION AT THE TABLETOP IN PUBLIC SPACES 1 MOBILE COLLABORATION AT THE TABLETOP IN PUBLIC SPACES Jacqueline Brodie and Mark Perry DISC, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK. {Jacqueline.Brodie, Mark.Perry, @brunel.ac.uk} “Illyenkov invites us to consider the differences between a lump of wood and a (wooden) table. The table comes into being by way of purposive human activity…we are able to distinguish between these two objects by virtue of the cultural affordances endowed in the wood by the craftsman…the table to be useful must embody basic level affordances such as able to support the weight of crockery…and the affordances arising from the embodiment, that is, be of a size to allow people to sit at it (Turner and Turner, 2002:95) Abstract This paper examines the critical role that the "tabletop" can play in face-to-face collaboration of mobile workers and discusses the relationship between digital tabletop displays and the mobile device. We present fieldwork observations of current mobile collaboration at the tabletop in public spaces and draw from these observations some implications for future off the desktop technology. Research Vision Introduction Our research has examined what mobile workers do when they collaborate face-to-face away from the office, how this differs from more traditional forms of collaboration and how this kind of collaboration can be augmented by technology (Brodie and Perry, 2001). While the initial focus has been on the mobile device as the prime means of augmenting collaborative work on the move, through fieldwork we have began to identify the critical role that the "tabletop" can play in face-to-face collaboration of mobile workers (e.g. at airports and on trains). Attempting to understand the relationship that the tabletop can have with both mobility and face-to-face collaboration we find that on the one hand, the ‘micro-mobility’ (Luff and Heath, 1998) of digital artefacts, and thus their role in collaboration, can be assisted by the presence of a table, for example, allowing the easy movement of a laptop computer towards another user to facilitate the occasional sharing of a laptop screen during collaboration. On the other hand, mobility on the larger scale is often not served by the traditional tabletop because the form factor of current ‘tabletops’ 1 and mobile devices combine to afford limited patterns of work and hinders group dynamics through constraining the physical mobility of the individuals and orientation of the information involved in the face-to-face collaboration. To demonstrate the role that the tabletop plays in collaboration we present some examples from fieldwork and end with offering some implications for an integration of digital ‘artefacts’ at the tabletop in public spaces that lend themselves to more productive and effective mobile face-to face collaboration. Vision It has been established through our research and other work that the form factor of current mobile devices (especially when used in combination with one another) can hinder mobile collaboration (e.g. Luff and Heath, 1998; Brodie and Perry, 2001). This creates a complex scenario of current use where both mobility and collaboration can be further constrained by the relationship mobile technology develops with existing tabletops when workers are on the move. We could turn to wearable computers in our future vision to solve the mobility problem that arises - as some have done in their desire to replace the restrictive “desktop” 1 Rarely do we see a user’s lap being used to support a laptop computer