Exploring the Use of a Multi-touch Surface to support Collaborative Information Retrieval

Collaborative Information Retrieval (CIR) is the process by which people search for and retrieve information, typically using documents as data sources. Shared computing surfaces that utilise multi-touch interaction can allow multiple users to interact around a shared display. This paper describes the design and evaluation of a prototype system to support CIR, named Co-IMBRA. Co-IMBRA was developed to allow multiple users to retrieve information, using the Internet as a shared information space. Documents are represented as visual objects that can be manipulated on a multi-touch surface, annotated, rated and added to folders. Co-IMBRA was evaluated using a user study to determine whether the multi-touch interaction techniques effectively supported CIR. The results showed that Co-IMBRA can be used to effectively support and encourage CIR.