The Writing’s on the Wall: Large, Remotely Controlled Displays

Large display devices are now affordable and desirable in fixed environments such as offices, and scalable methods are available to combine multiple projectors to form such displays with high resolutions. With new input devices, they can facilitate new interaction paradigms. This paper describes the hardware and software of a wall-sized projected display controlled at a distance by a pointing device. The display can replace the monitor and mouse of a computer that uses any of the major operating systems and window systems. Experiences in using it to control a drawing program as a demonstration tool indicate that it is a useful tool for presenting information, especially when the speaker is responding to questions from the audience, and when an audience member wishes to accompany a question with some addition to the existing information. Plans are described to use the technology as part of a collaborative medium that will be tested with a teaching application.