Do Large Shared Displays Facilitate Group Effort?

Abstract

Twelve four-man groups searched and counted visually displayed items. In one session, they used a large display shared in common by the group members; in another session, separate smaller displays were viewed individually. Information was presented under conditions of equal visual angle, so that these two display modes were logically equivalent. Performance was 15 percent faster with the large group display than with the small individual displays. There was no significant difference in error frequency. Some subjects preferred the large display, some the small. In a supplementary study, running individual subjects rather than groups, there were no differences in speed or accuracy between the display modes. This suggests that the difference in group performance time resulted from some facilitating effect of the shared display on the process of group interaction.