Augmenting real-world objects

The Audio Notebook allows a user to capture and access an audio recording of a lecture or meeting in conjunction with notes written on paper. The audio recording is synchronized with the user’s handwritten notes and page turns. As a user flips through physical pages of notes, the audio scans to the start of each page. Audio is also accessed by pointing with a pen to a location in the notes or using an audio scrollbar. A small observational study of users in real settings was performed. The prototype did not interfere with the user’s normal interactions yet gave reassurance that key ideas could be accessed later. In future work, automatic segmentation of the recorded speech using acoustic cues will be combined with user activity to structure the audio.