Idea Archipelago allows users to collect, organize, and share all project related information assets. It can be defined as a project management tool that helps organizing data. The prototype introduces a novel visualization, designed for direct pen-based interaction on digital whiteboards, with the purpose of supporting long-term design projects. Our design has been guided by the goals to make information visible, and to support long-term collaboration in design projects. The managed assets include documents, sketches, images, etc. In order to make information visible, the aggregation of these assets provides a current snapshot of a project. Users can freely navigate on this canvas. To keep interaction easy, the application supports two distinct zoom-levels, one to gain an overview and one to provide more details. To support the organization of information, the grid-based visualization allows users to structure assets within predefined slots or group them.
Many of the concepts provided with in Idea Archipelago can be found in the second iteration Archipelago 2.0 developed by the ETHZ Zurich. In contrast to IdeaArchipelago, which is primary designed for the use on large interactive pen-based surfaces, it features a web-based approach to provide a tighter integration of mobile devices.