We present design research on personal public displays: mobile and wearable displays that direct user designated content towards other collocated individuals. We built display software that projects text and image on the outer facing side of a two-screen laptop and used this prototype as a design probe with three different groups: (1) attendees at a 300-person conference, (2) eight office workers, and (3)twenty design students. We analyze how users crafted content for the displays, identifying that in close-knit groups, the social pressure to appear witty with text postsled to a preference for using images. The mobility afforded by the display allowed users to explore new relationships between physical location and digital content, and we also discuss how by standers observed the displays and re-purposed the messages for use with other outsiders. We conclude with a discussion of potential applications for future design and research work.

Two experiments comparing user performance on ClearType and Regular displays are reported. In the first, 26 participants scanned a series of spreadsheets for target information. Speed of performance was significantly faster with ClearType. In the second experiment, 25 users read two articles for meaning. Reading speed was significantly faster for ClearType. In both experiments no differences in accuracy of performance or visual fatigue scores were observed. The data also reveal substantial individual differences in performance suggesting ClearType may not be universally beneficial to information workers.