Where Should We Put It? Layout and Placement Strategies of Documents in Augmented Reality for Collaborative Sensemaking

Future offices are likely reshaped by Augmented Reality (AR) extending the display space while maintaining awareness of surroundings, and thus promise to support collaborative tasks such as brainstorming or sensemaking. However, it is unclear how physical surroundings and co-located collaboration influence the spatial organization of virtual content for sensemaking. Therefore, we conducted a study (N=28) to investigate the effect of office environments and work styles during a document classification task using AR with regard to content placement, layout strategies, and sensemaking workflows. Results show that participants require furniture, especially tables and whiteboards, to assist sensemaking and collaboration regardless of room settings, while generous free spaces (e.g., walls) are likely used when available. Moreover, collaborating participants tend to use furniture despite personal layout preferences. We identified different placement and layout strategies, as well as the transitions in-between. Finally, we propose design implications for future immersive sensemaking applications and beyond.