Making collaborative affinity diagram usable with distributed screen

Affinity Diagrams are an essential problem solving method that helps teams structure ideas and generate solutions. Collaborative affinity diagrams are created using paper sticky notes for input on a white board where groups and drawings can be made. Although many researchers have tried to leverage technology to support this practice, most live discussion support systems are based on SDG (Single Display Groupware). Some researchers have pursued distributed display solutions, but as yet they have been unable to produce a high usability system that supports this collaborative activity. In this paper, we introduce DADS (Digital Affinity Diagram System), which separates two essential tasks of affinity diagram creation: input and collaboration. Using a dual extended monitor system, DADS is designed for one screen to act as a private input screen while the extended monitor shows a distributed interactive screen for collaboration. Leveraging the network socket infrastructure popularized by multi-player online games, DADS turns each participant into a player with a unique identity in the discussion, and synchronizes all users’ activities across the distributed screens. This paper explores a system architecture that can solve problems in field of DUI, and presents design choices that promote high usability for collaborative affinity diagram creation.