We present the ConnecTable, a new mobile, networked and context-aware information appliance that provides affordances for pen-based individual and cooperative work as well as for the seamless transition between the two. In order to dynamically enlarge an interaction area for the purpose of shared use, a flexible coupling of displays has been realized that overcomes the restrictions of display sizes and borders. Two ConnecTable displays dynamically form a homogeneous display area when moved close to each other. The appropriate triggering signal comes from built-in sensors allowing users to temporally combine their individual displays to a larger shared one by a simple physical movement in space. Connected ConnecTables allow their users to work in parallel on an ad-hoc created shared workspace as well as exchanging information by simply shuffling objects from one display to the other. We discuss the user interface and related issues as well as the software architecture. We also present the physical realization of the ConnecTables.

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Many object-oriented toolkits and frameworks for groupware development provide shared objects as a basic service. This relieves developers of a lot of problems originating from the field of distributed systems. However, there is little support on how to use shared objects to actually build collaborative applications. In this paper we propose an object-oriented model for applications using shared objects. The model is discussed with respect to object-oriented reusability aspects and its applicability is tested against CSCW-specific aspects like the provision of group-awareness and coupling control. Furthermore, concrete model examples derived from an example application are shown for illustration.