ORIGINAL ARTICLE VisPorter: facilitating information sharing for collaborative sensemaking on multiple displays Haeyong Chung • Chris North • Jessica Zeitz Self • Sharon Chu • Francis Quek Received: 14 January 2013 / Accepted: 25 July 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag London 2013 Abstract The multiplicity of computing and display devices currently available presents new opportunities for how visual analytics is performed. One of the significant inherent challenges that comes with the use of multiple and varied types of displays for visual analytics is the sharing and subsequent integration of information among different devices. Multiple devices enable analysts to employ and extend visual space for working with visualizations, but this requires users to switch intermittently between activi- ties and foci of interest over different workspaces. We present a visual analytics system, VisPorter, developed for use in a multiple display and device environment, and a user study that explores the usage and benefits of this system. VisPorter enables seamless cross-device activity through lightweight touch interactions, and allows multiple displays and devices to be fluidly connected for sensemaking. Keywords Display ecology Á Collaborative sensemaking Á Visual analytics Á Text analytics Á Multiple displays 1 Introduction Our modern environment is filled with various communi- cation and computing devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop workstations, and large high- definition displays. Such devices that vary widely in interactivity, capabilities, and affordances present new opportunities for data analysis and visualization. Several benefits and characteristics can be derived from interactive workspaces using multiple displays and devices. The fact that multiple displays provide physical spaces beyond one single virtual raster space enables users to: (1) increasingly utilize space as a resource for visual percep- tion and spatial ability [1], (2) extend the device they are currently using to any nearby devices as needed, with appropriate technology [2, 3], (3) tap into the potential of different types of technologies for suitable tasks or data [2, 4], and (4) collaborate more flexibly by satisfying the analytic needs of multiple users in a group through multiple devices [5]. These benefits are directly related to the spatial, opportunistic, and collaborative nature of multi-display environments. Multiple displays enable analysts to employ and extend visual space, but require users to switch inter- mittently between activities and foci of interest across different displays. Thus, one of the significant inherent challenges that accompanies the use of multiple types of displays for visual analytics is the requirement for seamless cooperation and coordination of displays and devices into a unified system for sharing and subsequent integration of information and analysis tasks [6]. There has been an ample amount of previous research that enables cross- device interaction in multiple display environments [7–10] but little work has focused on directly supporting visual text analytics for collaborative sensemaking in which multiple users can spatially and opportunistically transit and organize their analytic activities, documents, and visualization across displays. To address these issues, we present VisPorter, a col- laborative text analytics tool directed toward supporting sensemaking in multiple display environments in an H. Chung (&) Á C. North Á J. Z. Self Á S. Chu Á F. Quek Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, 2202 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA e-mail: chungh@vt.edu 123 Pers Ubiquit Comput DOI 10.1007/s00779-013-0727-2