Portaview Overview

PortaView is a digital picture frame that you can store pictures, organize them into slideshows, and broadcast them to other PortaViews around your house through a wireless network.

In this world where ubiquitous computing plays an increasingly important role, we are expected to see more intelligent devices with big displays around the household. PortaView can be one such device that focuses on distributing pictures and slideshows around the house.

There would be a central PortaView that serves as the central repository for digital pictures. One can use the control panel to create slideshows from different folders, or just show one picture at a time. Furthermore, you can transfer the slideshow you have made to a different PortaView in your house. You can even broadcast the same slideshow to all the PortaViews. Although this project has a limited scope, it may help our understanding on how users conceptualize and manage multiple devices that serve a specific function.

What types of users will use this interface?

The typical user of PortaView would both be a frequent user of digital photography, and also a user of regular non-digital picture frames. The close physical analogies to a non-digital photo frame would make it ideal for non-digital photo takers to foray into digital photography. Expert computer users would also certainly be comfortable with PortaView, but they will not be exclusively targeted.