A Study on How Users Perceive Distributed Interactions on Web Applications

Currently, users are able to interact with several devices, from smart watches to desktop computers, to perform different tasks. Such diversity of heterogeneous devices form a multi-device and multi-display ecosystem. Although this device ecosystem is usually connected by cloud services, a new interconnected environment is possible due to the emergence of a new paradigm based on distributed interactions. New techniques such as the proposed responsive Web interaction provides users with an environment that supports distributed interactions using the Web platform. This paper presents a study on how users perceive distributed interactions in educational environments using multi-device setups. The educational environment enriched with the Web interaction hub tool allows users to interact in a heterogeneous device ecosystem as if it were a single device. This paper was performed with more than 150 students using a satisfaction metric. The results show the impact that distributed interactions made on students, who preferred using distributed interactions in multi-device environments over traditional interactions.