Michael Bernstein, Avi RobinsonMosher, Ron Yeh and Scott Klemmer

1
Diamonds Edge from paper to table and back
again
Michael Bernstein, Avi Robinson-Mosher, Ron Yeh
and Scott Klemmer mbernst_at_stanford.edu,
avir_at_stanford.edu
Evaluation
Diamonds Edge
A tale of two technologies
scenario
Three teams of two students were brought in as
design consultants for a fictitious digital
electronics company that wanted a design for an
iPod Video tailored for 7-9 year old girls. They
were asked to collaboratively brainstorm a series
of designs for the product.
Results and future directions
Users rated their collaborative performance using
Diamonds Edge highly (avg. 5.8/7, Likert scale)
and commented positively on the programs
collaboration support. Future directions based
on this feedback include the ability to create
branching copies of images, erasing, and
editing without leaving pen strokes behind.
Experienced product design students generally
wished for greater leverage of the private
(incomplete sketches) vs. public (sharing with
the group) distinction.
Anoto pen technology digital ink in the physical
world
Our chosen scenario for Diamonds Edge is a
collaborative brainstorming session. The digital
nature of the software allows for users to sketch
together in real-time and quickly leapfrog off
each others designs. Specific advantages over
paper and whiteboard involve quick duplication of
drawings, collaborative editing and a fluidity of
movement from private to public space. The
physical, paper-based status of the interface is
likewise critical to the application paper
(unlike tablet PCs) can be easily passed between
people, taped up to the wall, and wrapped into
designers existing practice.
Anoto technology tracks users pen strokes as
they write on specially-prepared paper. This
affords extremely portable, high-quality input
with all the known advantages of paper. However,
Anoto pens have almost no output feedback (or in
fact interactivity at all).
An example brainstorm
The result of a short Diamonds Edge brainstorm
between two users. This image is composed of
eight designs the users sketched collaboratively.
in your private notebook to generate ideas.
Diamonds Edge is a marriage of these two
technologies. It is our belief that the
resulting ensemble provides a richer experience
than either technology alone. In Diamonds Edge,
the Anoto pen is used as a high-resolution,
affordance-rich input to the DiamondTouch table,
which is responsible for composing drawings
together and for sharing work in a public area.
with the group by publishing to the table.
by concurrently refining the joint design.