Most of what I
perceived as a
have on how I worked. As you
might expect, technical issues like
projector resolution meant that
certain tasks were better suited
to a given surface. The desk provided an excellent area to organize my thoughts and keep track
of my schedule using a projected
to-do list inside of a virtual sticky
note. It was a space for peripheral
awareness, peripheral applications, visual organization, subtask
triage, group review, and the temporary storage of files and notes.
By contrast, the monitor was an
area for focused tasks, such as
reading, writing, programming,
and Web browsing.
The physical separation of the
surfaces could also be used to
reflect a logical separation within
and between different aspects of
work processes. For example, I
would often take note of, organize,
and sort through various things
(thoughts, sources, images, etc.) on
the desk before integrating them
in a more complete form using
the monitor, where I had better
control over details. This is not
dissimilar to habits observed using
virtual desktops or multidisplay
solutions [ 6, 7]. However, unlike a
virtual desktop, the contents of
my periphery remained immediately visible, and unlike multiple
displays, the desk space offered
more creative ways to arrange the
contents of my focal and peripheral zones.
such actions, allowing me to mix
the physical and digital, juxtapose
items, and play with layouts by
changing position, size, color, and
orientation—with the layouts all
remaining in view and sharable
with those around me.
An example of this in practice
is document planning done by
distributing thoughts over sticky
notes. Physically grouping them by
relevance allowed me to use color
to indicate additional details like
belonging within a specific theme.
Other examples include projecting icons onto a physical inbox as
a reminder that they should be
dealt with soon. In a collaborative
context, placing and orientating
objects toward a person can be
used to imply ownership or attract
attention.
Through these kinds of habits, I
came to see the desk as an extension of my thought processes—a
memory aid, like any desk, but
also integrated more fluidly with
a digital context. I could quickly
manipulate, save, and share with
none of the cumbersome qualities
of physical objects, but with all
the transience, speed, and connectedness of the digital world.
In terms of personal expression,
I was able to decorate my workspace using virtual and physical
items to suit my taste. My desk
played host to an array of clutter: bottles, mugs, paper, icons,
sticky notes, laptops, and digital
fish, which would swim around
unintelligently, appearing to hide
behind my monitor and beneath
my keyboard. Even with a setup as
simple as mine, there was scope
for interplay between the physical
and virtual. For example, I placed
my recycle bin over a hole in my
desk so that as files were dropped
into the hole, they were simultaneously deleted.
benefit of the desk
stemmed from its
role as an output
device rather than
an input device.
Creative Use of Space
Part of the value of being able to
creatively arrange your working
environment stems from epistemic
actions: the act of modifying your
environment to put yourself in
a better position to think, solve
problems, and extract information from your surroundings [ 8].
The desk expanded the palette of
November + December 2012