Tele-Board: Enabling efficient collaboration in digital design spaces

Remote collaboration among geographically dispersed team members has become standard practice for many companies and research teams. A number of computer supported collaborative work systems exist, but there still lacks acceptable support for teams working in creative settings, where traditionally numerous physical and analog tools are used. We have created an environment for teams applying creative methods that allows them to work together efficiently across distances, without having to change their working modes. We present the Tele-Board system, which combines video conferencing with a synchronous transparent whiteboard overlay. This setup enables regionally separated team members to simultaneously manipulate artifacts while seeing each other's gestures and facial expressions. Our system's flexible architecture maximizes hardware independence by supporting a diverse selection of input devices.