Visual and tactile engagement: Designing projected touch-surfaces for community use in a rural context

This paper discusses the design, development and deployment of a large projected multi-touch surface within a rural context. Based on our previous work we deployed the system and worked in a real world setting in order to understand how it might be used in this particular scenario and to further understand the issues involved in using such systems in a rural context. Such systems are often deployed in urban or lab-based scenarios, however rural settings come with their own set of issues that can often make them very different in terms of design implications from urban settings, and it is important to understand how these issues can impact upon both the design of the interface and the whole system. This innovative research engaged with the local community and this enabled us to further understand how we might advance the use of the system, in terms of its interface, software architecture and physical design. This paper discusses the impetus for the design of the system, the methods we used to frame our studies, the technical development and design of the system, and some findings from the actual deployment.