In a prior job, Yahoo researcher Elizabeth Churchill wanted to build relationships between colleagues in the Bay area and in Tokyo. In this talk at eTech 2008, Elizabeth discusses a project undertaken to accomplish this. The implementation was a large public touchscreen display where employees from both locations could post content of their choice to share with colleagues. The project allowed colleagues to window shop into an online world at a public display where people in the physical space could interact with the digital content and with each other, strengthening weak ties and creating ice breakers.
Elizabeth shares some of the challenges faced during the project and poses questions about the possible trajectories of uptake and success of such installations in the marketplace.