AdaM: Adapting Multi-User Interfaces for Collaborative Environments in Real-Time

TL;DR

This paper introduces AdaM, a real-time combinatorial optimization approach for dynamically adapting multi-user interfaces across devices in collaborative environments, considering user roles, preferences, and device capabilities.

Contribution

It formulates UI distribution as an assignment problem and provides a mixed integer programming solution for real-time, adaptive multi-user interface management.

Findings

Effective real-time UI adaptation in collaborative settings

Improved user satisfaction through personalized interface distribution

Outperforms traditional paper prototyping in usability studies

Abstract

Developing cross-device multi-user interfaces (UIs) is a challenging problem. There are numerous ways in which content and interactivity can be distributed. However, good solutions must consider multiple users, their roles, their preferences and access rights, as well as device capabilities. Manual and rule-based solutions are tedious to create and do not scale to larger problems nor do they adapt to dynamic changes, such as users leaving or joining an activity. In this paper, we cast the problem of UI distribution as an assignment problem and propose to solve it using combinatorial optimization. We present a mixed integer programming formulation which allows real-time applications in dynamically changing collaborative settings. It optimizes the allocation of UI elements based on device capabilities, user roles, preferences, and access rights. We present a proof-of-concept designer-in-the-loop tool, allowing for quick solution exploration. Finally, we compare our approach to traditional paper prototyping in a lab study.