Kolibri – Tiny and Fast Gestures for Large Pen-based Surfaces,

Triggering commands on large interactive surfaces is less efficient than on desktop PCs. It requires either large physical movements to reach an interaction area (e.g., buttons) or additional operations to call context menus (e.g., dwell). There is a lack of efficient ways to trigger shortcuts. We introduce Kolibri - a pen-based gesture system that allows fast access of commands on interactive whiteboards. Users can draw tiny gestures (approx. 3 mm) anywhere on the surface to trigger commands without interfering with normal inking. This approach does neither require entering a gesture mode, nor dedicated gesture areas. The implementation relies on off-the- shelf hardware only. We tested the feasibility and explored the properties of this technique with several studies. The results from a controlled experiment show significant benefits of Kolibri comparing to an existing approach.