Knowledge workers, a growing component of our modern workforce, have specialized work practices not well served by existing office technology solutions. Our research in designing office systems that better support this class of workers has included an in-depth study of traditional whiteboard use and the development of three large display systems, each addressing different aspects of and work practices involved in knowledge work. We have identified three cross-cutting themes in making these kinds of large display applications effective for supporting a variety of information management activities: context-awareness, privacy and content relevance, and informal and casual interaction techniques. In this chapter, we reflect on the ways in which each of these themes guided the design of our system prototypes and how they may inform future efforts in integrating large displays into the office environment.
