Sharing bubbles: reflections on offline multi-surface scenarios

The iPad is typically perceived as a personal device, evoking the image of its owner tapping away - silently submerged in their private digital bubble. Here we portray iPads in a different light: Face-to-face play in groups, using connected and shared surfaces. Applying the bubble metaphor to multi-user cases, we ask the following questions: (a) How many people can be in one bubble together before it bursts? (b) Can multiple bubbles be connected, nested, etc. and what configurations are beneficial? (c) What design qualities are helpful in keeping beneficial bubble configurations intact and together, rather than bursting or floating away? By contrasting user observations from two multi-iPad scenarios, we illustrate the usefulness of 'bubble dynamics' as a lens for evaluating large offline social applications. We hope to inspire discussion of future use cases, evaluation methods and design recommendations.