UniDisplay — A research prototype to investigate expectations towards public display applications

As public display networks become open, novel types of interaction applications emerge. In particular, we expect applications that support user-generated content to rapidly gain importance, since they provide a tangible benefit for the user in the form of digital bulletin boards, discussion platform that foster public engagement, and applications that allow for self-expression. At the same time, such applications infer several challenges: first, they need to provide suitable means for the passerby to contribute content to the application; second, mechanisms need to be employed that provide sufficient control for the display owner with regard to content moderation; and third, the users´ expectations with regard to the posting procedure needs to be well understood. In this paper we present UniDisplay, a research prototype that enables users to post text and images to a public display. We report on the design and development of the application and provide early insights of the deployment in a University setting.