Abstract
Tablets, although initially used as personal, entertainment devices, are more frequently appearing in the work environment. It has been suggested, but not empirically verified, that tablets are best suited for tasks where information is “consumed” whereas “creation” tasks are better suited to desktop or traditional computers. A survey was administered in order to better understand how tasks may be classified as consumption or creation tasks, and to determine if a relationship exists between this categorization and user preference to complete a task with a tablet or a traditional computer. Participants classified 57 tasks/applications according to consumption/creation dimensions, and according to their preference to complete the task on a tablet or desktop computer. Results indicate creation and consumption are not mutually exclusive categories and that device preference is not directly related to these categories. Results of this work may be used in the further design, development and evaluation of applications across devices.