| CSCW'94 Workshops | | BIBA | PDF | 1 | |
| Prasun Dewan | |||
| A large number of workshops were organized this year to allow attendees to explore in-depth the many sub-areas emerging within CSCW. Some of them such as the work analysis, communication spaces and software architecture, workshops were continuations of CSCW '92 workshops while others such as the workflow, video, and cobbler's children workshops addressed new topics. Some of these workshops broadened the scope of the conference by exploring the relationships between CSCW and related disciplines such as software process, hypermedia, and distributed systems. A few topics were addressed by multiple workshops to allow these workshops to focus on different levels and subareas within the topic. For instance, one workshop on CSCW system design explored the range of useful design techniques while another focussed on a particular design technique. Summaries of the workshops are provided below, together with the e-mail address of the primary contact person. | |||
| Workflow = Office Information Systems? | | BIBA | PDF | 1 | |
| Dirk Mahling; Carson Woo | |||
| Current workflow systems and their application in business process reengineering seem to resemble previous work in office information systems (OIS). The purpose of this workshop was to revisit and summarize experiences gained from OIS and to discuss how the workflow field can take advantage of some of the results gathered in office information systems. Commonalities and differences between workflow and office information system were addressed. With connections established, workflow systems and their deployment should be spared some of the problems office information systems encountered. Conceptual problems common to both types of systems might point at unresolved issues that are not yet fully understood in workflow systems. | |||
| Relationships between CSCW and Software Process | | BIBA | PDF | 1 | |
| Balachander Krishnamurthy; K. Narayanaswamy | |||
| For several years, much research has been done independently in both CSCW
and Software Process (broadly, support for the collaborative activity of
producing software). There is now increased interest in the links between
these two research areas. This one-day workshop brought together about 20
leading researchers (with about half from each discipline) to discuss the
relationships between CSCW and Software Process.
The different research concerns and approaches in Software Process and CSCW were examined. The workshop was the starting point for discussions on relating the research agendas in CSCW and Software Process in such areas as the use of formalized process descriptions, process visualization, style of user interaction with the support environment, monitoring of actual performance of the formal process, and CSCW frameworks for the software process. | |||
| Collaborative Realtime Process Management | | BIBA | PDF | 1 | |
| Yvonne Wærn | |||
| Several situations in modern working life imply that people have to cooperate in order to handle dynamic systems in real time. Traffic control, emergency management, military command and control as well as process control in industrial plants are the most important examples of such situations. Approaches to such situations require expertise in several domains, particularly social, psychological, educational, and computer science, as well as the domains to be covered. A European COST project has started collecting research experience within this field. The one-day workshop identified key features of, critical needs of and opportunities for integrating computer support into collaborative realtime process management. | |||
| Approaches to Work Analysis for CSCW Systems Design | | BIBA | PDF | 1-2 | |
| John A. Hughes; Kjeld Schmidt | |||
| CSCW has brought in a number of disciplines new to system design, such as sociology and anthropology, as well as encouraging further developments in cognitive science, such as distributed cognition, and in organizational studies, such as activity theory. This has also been associated with the development of 'new' methods for carrying out work analysis to inform design, most notably ethnography. However, approaches need to demonstrate what it is they inform designers of and which aspects of the design process they contribute to. Attendees discussed a range of approaches outlining the theoretical and methodological principles of each and illustrated them from field studies drawn from a variety of domains. | |||
| Scenario-Based Design Workshop | | BIBA | PDF | 2 | |
| Wendy E. Mackay; Susanne Bødker | |||
| This workshop addressed a critique of participatory design: that
observational field studies of individual work settings cannot be adequately
generalized to provide input for general-purpose CSCW tools. The workshop
brought together a diverse group of people who have studied users engaged in
real-world cooperative work settings. The participants began by comparing
scenarios drawn from their individual experiences and identified both common
and unique work practices. They then produced generalized scenarios that
highlighted areas most amenable to a general purpose solution, i.e., activities
common across work settings, regardless of context. They also identified
another, largely overlooked, set of scenarios that require individualized
solutions or customizable interfaces, because the activities are more strongly
influenced by local work context.
The set of generalized scenarios provided a sound basis for designing technology to support these work practices, which can then be improved and extended through participatory design studies. We were interested both in testing the scenario-based design method and in producing useful results that can be incorporated into the ongoing EuroCODE design project. | |||
| Critical Considerations in the Creation and Control of Personal/Collective Communication Spaces | | BIBA | PDF | 2 | |
| Andrew Clement; Lucy Suchman; Ina Wagner | |||
| The development of CSCW applications generally implies new ways of recording
and making available information about individual users' behaviour.
Frequently, this is associated with new forms of interpersonal access. This is
the case for those working in settings as diverse as team based manufacturing
environments and the "media spaces" of research labs.
The workshop explored theoretical and practical considerations in developing various forms of communications spaces under the control of the individuals and groups concerned. It began with detailed examination of several realistic scenarios involving privacy/accessibility issues and later identified some general principles that can guide the design of technologies and inform working practices. | |||
| Video-Mediated Communication: Testing, Evaluation, and Design Implications | | BIBA | PDF | 2 | |
| Kate Finn; Abi Sellen; Sylvia Wilbur | |||
| Video-mediated communication (VMC) has been touted as an invaluable tool for such applications as distance learning, collaboration, and communication. In trying to compare, evaluate, or improve upon these systems, various studies have found widely conflicting conclusions, marked by the absence of a common language or set of metrics. There were two main goals of this workshop: (1) to resolve discrepancies in research findings by comparing methods, metrics, and interpretations of results; and (2) to draft a set of guidelines for designers of VMC systems based on the results of our analysis of the research. The main topics addressed were: VMC evaluation methods, metrics, and terminology; interpretation of research results and assessment of impact of VMC on conversation and collaboration; and implications for design. | |||
| Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Human Interaction Issues in Technology Supported Environments | | BIBA | PDF | 2-3 | |
| K. C. Burgess Yakemovic; Michael Harris; Rebecca Stephens; Welyne Thomas | |||
| Several years ago there were few commercially available tools specifically meant to support people working together in group settings. Today there are many, with more becoming available almost daily. However, both developers and users of this technology have pointed to "the people problem" as a significant barrier to achieving the potential effectiveness and efficiency improvements. There are at least two major sources of human interaction problems: pre-existing conditions that the technology reveals, and problems created by the technology. This workshop explored the human issues surrounding the use of technology to support groups and teams. The workshop provided a forum where people with experience using and designing group support technology could identify the "people problems" experienced in the use of group support technology; categorize and, where reasonable, prioritize, these problems; and identify possible solutions or research actions. | |||
| The Cobbler's Children: How Can and Should We Use CSCW Tools in Our Own Work? | | BIBA | PDF | 3 | |
| Robert Halperin; Kevin Crowston; Jintae Lee | |||
| This year, Lotus Notes and World Wide Web were used as an information
sharing and communication vehicle among a large number of the CSCW Program
Committee members to support the paper review process. Approximately 45
committee members in 14 states and 7 countries were connected to a Lotus Notes
server at the MIT Center for Coordination Science. The committee members used
a Lotus Notes application to access information about the approximately 200
papers submitted to CSCW'94, and to compose reviews of assigned papers.
Subcommittee chairs then collated the reviews, and carried on a structured
discussion in Notes regarding which papers should be accepted, and how the
conference and proceedings should be structured. One of the subcommittees
experimented with Mosaic for similar tasks.
The purpose of this workshop was to explore the practical ways CSCW tools are already being used or might be used by the CSCW research community itself. Participants discussed how CSCW tools can be used to support the research life cycle and how existing research practices and incentive systems promote or impede the wider adoption of CSCW tools in our own work. Several collaborative applications already in use in the CSCW research community were discussed, and debated, and their applicability to the CSCW community considered. | |||
| Collaborative Hypermedia Systems | | BIBA | PDF | 3 | |
| Joerg M. Haake; Cathy Marshall; Douglas E. Shackelford; Uffe K. Wiil | |||
| The topic of this workshop was collaborative hypermedia systems and their
impact/relevance for CSCW systems. To make hypermedia systems group aware or
to exploit hypermedia techniques in collaborative systems, four areas need to
be explored: work practice and collaborative hypermedia, layers and services in
collaborative hypermedia system architectures, persistent object management in
collaborative hypermedia systems, and collaborative hypermedia systems in a
larger system context.
The above four areas are not completely independent. Rather, they provide different foci for collaborative hypermedia systems. The goal of the workshop was to discuss these issues and thereby to produce a better understanding of the topic as well as to produce an agenda of open research questions together with an indication of possible directions to go, and a list of further areas to be explored. | |||
| Distributed Systems, Multimedia, and Infrastructure Support in CSCW | | BIBA | PDF | 3 | |
| Atul Prakash; John Riedl | |||
| The goal of this workshop was to identify common services needed by CSCW systems and to explore whether the support provided by current generation of distributed systems is satisfactory for developing robust CSCW applications. The topics included design of specific services to support collaborative applications; communication and group membership services to support CSCW systems; access control and security in synchronous and asynchronous CSCW systems; concurrency control and replicated data management in collaborative applications; incorporation of multimedia in CSCW systems; window systems support for building CSCW applications and extensions for supporting multiple media. | |||
| Software Architectures for Cooperative Systems | | BIBA | PDF | 3 | |
| Tom Rodden; Steve Benford; Philip Johnson; Alan Dix; Simon Kaplan | |||
| This workshop focused broadly on architectural issues in CSCW systems, including CSCW frameworks and mechanisms for interoperability. The topics included theoretical models of collaboration that inform the architecture of CSCW systems; issues relating to the architecture of both individual collaboration tools and larger composite collaboration systems; and problem-specific aspects of collaboration architectures such as collaborative user interfaces, new transaction models for collaboration servers and mechanisms for awareness support. | |||
| CSCW'94 Tutorials | | BIBA | PDF | 5 | |
| Lee Sproull | |||
| As we learn more about CSCW, education and professional development can help leverage our knowledge and experience. CSCW'94 tutorials provide a key to this leverage. They cover some of the most important topics in CSCW today, in formats designed for managers, practitioners, educators and researchers. | |||
| Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Groupware: A Survey of Systems and the Behavioral and Social Issues that Affect Development and Use | | BIBA | PDF | 5 | |
| Jonathan Grudin; Steven Poltrock | |||
| Objective: To survey the definition and scope of the field; the current
state of research and development in several application areas; design and
evaluation issues, including problems and promising approaches for addressing
them.
Content: How do we ensure that changes in communication and coordination enhance productivity and job satisfaction? We describe specific challenges that have led to groupware failures and research and development approaches that address them. We illustrate applications through descriptions and numerous videotapes of prototype and commercial systems. We focus on the interplay between technology and group work. | |||
| Designing Groupware for Realtime Collaboration | | BIBA | PDF | 5 | |
| Tom Brinck; Ralph D. Hill | |||
| Objective: To present an overview of issues involved in designing and
implementing synchronous groupware applications.
Content: An overview of different types of synchronous groupware applications will be presented, followed by a taxonomy of design issues, with case studies demonstrating alternative architectural choices. Participants will acquire experience through an extensive small-group design exercise. | |||
| Working Through Meetings: A Framework for Designing Meeting Support | | BIBA | PDF | 5 | |
| John L. Bennett; John Karat | |||
| Objective: Through this tutorial, participants will: understand the
importance of partnership for achieving team results in meetings; understand
distinctions among various types of meetings and the role of various types of
conversations in successful meetings; formulate plans for successful
technological support of meetings.
Content: Through joining in a series of connected exercises, participants will experience an ad hoc meeting designed to highlight what is important about meetings. Out of this experience, various theories that apply to meetings will become relevant. From an integration of experience and theory, we will explore how technology can be used innovatively and effectively to support meetings. | |||
| Designing and Implementing Collaborative Applications | | BIBA | PDF | 5-6 | |
| Prasun Dewan | |||
| Objective: To summarize important parts of the collaboration design space,
and identify and compare collaborative architectures and tools.
Content: Survey and examples of collaborative applications, architectures, and tools. | |||
| Applications of Distributed Hypermedia Technology | | BIBA | PDF | 6 | |
| Rob Akscyn; Don McCracken | |||
| Objective: To provide an in-depth look at how distributed hypermedia
technology can be applied to a number of important application areas --
including document development, online publishing, software engineering, law,
issue analysis, database engineering and access, and education/training -- with
a focus on how to support collaboration work in these areas.
Content: Lessons and principles relevant to the development and use of hypermedia will be described both in general terms and by case studies that highlight actual applications developed in a broad range of areas and clientele. | |||
| Computer Support for Collaborative Learning: Theoretical Foundations | | BIBA | PDF | 6 | |
| Timothy Koschmann; Claire O'Malley | |||
| Objective: To familiarize participants with relevant theories of
collaboration in psychology and education and to describe possible roles
technology could serve in supporting these theories.
Content: Survey of leading theoretical traditions within CSCL including Piagetian sociocognitive learning, constructivist learning, Vygotsky's sociocultural learning, and theories of situated learning. Discussion will highlight the implications of these theories for instruction and technology. | |||
| Ethnography and Collaborative Systems Development Part 1: Learning to Work Together | | BIBA | PDF | 6 | |
| Dave Randall; Richard Bentley; Michael Twidale | |||
| Objective: To introduce participants to the nature of ethnographic analysis,
its relevance in the collaborative domain, and its use in systems development.
Content: An overview of ethnographic methods, issues related to ethnographic practice in the CSCW community, issues related to integrating ethnography and collaborative systems development. | |||
| "Bifocals" for Participatory Analysis, Design, and Assessment of Work and Computer Systems | | BIBA | PDF | 6 | |
| Michael J. Muller | |||
| Objective: To provide hands-on experience in techniques for participatory
analysis, design, and assessment.
Content: Practicum exercises through which participants will learn both broad-focus and narrow-focus techniques for participatory analysis, design, and assessment. | |||
| Computer Supported Cooperative Learning: Making it Happen | | BIBA | PDF | 6-7 | |
| Starr Roxanne Hiltz; Murray Turoff | |||
| Objective: To provide examples and practical advice on the promises and
pitfalls of asynchronous learning networks.
Content: Extended case example of designing, teaching in, and evaluating a collaborative learning environment constructed within a computer conferencing system, steps for putting your classes online, probable developments in the next ten years. | |||
| CSCW in the Real World: A Management Information Systems Perspective on CSCW | | BIBA | PDF | 7 | |
| M. Lynne Markus; J. D. Eveland | |||
| Objective: To distill insights from the field of Management Information
Systems into a form readily accessible to software developers, computer
scientists and specialists in computer-human interaction.
Content: How the MIS expert sees the world, how organizations acquire and manage information technology, how people in organizations use information technology, and what these realities have to do with the development, purchase, and use of CSCW applications. | |||
| Networking for Collaboration: Video Telephony and Media Conferencing | | BIBA | PDF | 7 | |
| Robert S. Fish | |||
| Objective: To provide a grounding in the fundamentals -- both technical and
social -- of video/audio conferencing.
Content: This tutorial will offer an introduction to the concepts and terminology of video, audio, digital compression, transmission networks, and station equipment. It will also describe what people like and dislike about these systems and how these networks fit within an organizational context. | |||
| Collaborative Writing: Practical Problems and Prospective Solutions | | BIBA | PDF | 7 | |
| Jolene Galegher; Christine Neuwirth | |||
| Objective: To describe recent research in collaborative writing; to analyze
software designed to solve specific problems in collaborative writing and to
make possible new writing relationships.
Content: The instructors will interweave contemporary analyses of problems in writing with demonstrations and descriptions of software intended to confront these problems. | |||
| Computer Support for Collaborative Learning: Applications | | BIBA | PDF | 7 | |
| Timothy Koschmann; Claire O'Malley | |||
| Objective: To offer a detailed survey of types of CSCL applications and to
highlight current research issues in CSCL.
Content: A series of CSCL applications will be organized and presented via a taxonomy based on the role of the technology and the locus of use. Each application will serve as a case study for discussion. The tutorial will conclude with a survey of current research issues in CSCL. | |||
| Ethnography and Collaborative Systems Development Part 2: Practical Application in a Commercial Context | | BIBA | PDF | 7-8 | |
| Dave Randall; Richard Bentley; Michael Twidale | |||
| Objective: To understand the pragmatics of ethnographic analysis in a
commercial context.
Content: We will extend the ideas embodied in the use of ethnography as a tool for research to consider additional factors necessary for its practical application. We will discuss the complicating factors which influence the form and focus of ethnographic studies in this context, and show how such studies can usefully be applied to needs analysis, system development, system evaluation, and training. | |||
| Behavioral Evaluation of CSCW Technologies | | BIBA | PDF | 8 | |
| Gary M. Olson; Judith S. Olson; Tom Finholt | |||
| Objective: To survey techniques of behavioral evaluation that can be used to
improve user-centered design, choice among competing applications, and
assessment of performance.
Content: How to frame behavioral questions in the context of group applications, how to collect data to answer those questions, costs and benefits of alternative methods. | |||
| Strategies for Encouraging Adoption of Group Technologies | | BIBA | PDF | 8 | |
| Susan E. Rudman; Ellen Francik | |||
| Objective: To provide detailed practical advice for introducing innovative
communication systems into organizations.
Content: In-depth case studies of the introduction of voice mail in the early 1980's and more recent introduction of multimedia mail and desktop conferencing systems will be used to illustrate the issues. Participants will evaluate a case study for the introduction of desktop video conferencing and are encouraged to bring their own case studies for discussion. | |||
| The Law of Computer Communications and Networked Communities | | BIBA | PDF | 8 | |
| David Johnson | |||
| Objective: To describe the legal environment in which networked communities
currently operate and to highlight problem areas in this environment.
Content: The tutorial will explore such issues as privacy, piracy, pornography, defamation, liability for negligent behavior, intellectual property rights, protection of proprietary interests in factual data, on line discussions and computer conferencing. | |||
| CSCW'94 Formal Video Program | | BIBA | PDF | 9 | |
| Saul Greenberg; Beverly Harrison | |||
| Much of the experimental work in CSCW involves highly interactive systems and complex group interactions. While paper can convey the academic details of CSCW work, video is far more appropriate for capturing the true flavor and details of interactions. The CSCW conference has recognized the importance of video by including a refereed formal video program. These are published as videotapes in the SIGGRAPH Video Review series -- this year's program is in Issue 106, while the CSCW'92 program was in Issue 87. | |||
| Montage: Multimedia Glances for Distributed Groups | | BIBA | PDF | 9 | |
| John C. Tang; Monica Rua | |||
| Montage is a research prototype that uses video to help remote collaborators find opportune times to interact with each other. Montage uses momentary, reciprocal glances among networked workstations to make it easy to peek into someone's office. From a Montage glance, users can quickly start a full-featured desktop video conference. If the glance shows that the person is not in her office, Montage provides quick access to browse her on-line calendar, send her e-mail, or send her an electronic note that pops up on her screen. In this way, Montage supports the pre-interaction coordination that is often needed to negotiate a time to establish contact. Montage tries to provide lightweight access to group members while also conveying enough visual and aural cues to enable users to protect their privacy [9]. | |||
| GroupKit -- A Groupware Toolkit | | BIBA | PDF | 9 | |
| Saul Greenberg; Mark Roseman | |||
| GroupKit is a toolkit for developing real-time groupware for desktop
conferencing. GroupKit developers build groupware applications, such as shared
text and graphics editors, games, and meeting support tools. They also build
registration interfaces that allow participants to create, join and monitor
meetings. The scenes in this video describe GroupKit's design goals, show what
an end-user of GroupKit applications may see, step through GroupKit's run-time
architecture, illustrate its main programming constructs (multicast remote
procedure calls, conference event handling, and groupware widgets), and display
different registration interfaces. By presenting a variety of GroupKit
applications and discussing their code complexity, we argue that building
groupware in GroupKit is only slightly harder than building conventional
applications [8].
GroupKit is based upon the Tcl/TK language. It is available via anonymous ftp from: ftp.cpsc.ucalgary.ca /pub/projects/grouplab/software/groupkit | |||
| Teleporting -- Making Applications Mobile | | BIBA | PDF | 9-10 | |
| Tristan Richardson; Frazer Bennett; Glenford Mapp; Andy Harter; Andy Hopper | |||
| The ORL TELEPORTING SYSTEM augments the standard X Window System with a mechanism for migrating an individual's computer environment between X displays. TELEPORTING allows people to be mobile within the workplace yet maintain full access to their complete applications environment. TELEPORTING also provides a simple way in which people can share information and work together. The system makes use of ORL's ACTIVE BADGE, which provides location information about personnel and equipment within a building. TELEPORTING is in daily use both within the organisation and in suitably equipped homes. In this way, teleporting makes the movement of an individual's application environment between work and home a simple process. This is a step towards realising universal "follow-me" applications. [7] | |||
| Courtyard: Integrating a Shared Large Screen and Individual Screens | | BIBA | PDF | 10 | |
| Masayuki Tani; Masato Horita; Kimiya Yamaashi; Koichiro Tanikoshi; Masayasu Futakawa | |||
| The operation of complex real-world systems requires that multiple users cooperate in monitoring and controlling large amounts of information. The Courtyard system supports such cooperative work by integrating an overview on a shared large display and per-user detail on individual displays. Courtyard allows a user to move a mouse pointer between the shared and individual screens as though they were contiguous, and to access per-user detailed information on the user's individual screen simply by pointing to an object on the shared screen. Courtyard selects the detailed information according to the tasks assigned to the point user [10]. | |||
| Combining Reatime Multimedia Conferencing with Hypertext Archives in Distance Education | | BIBA | PDF | 10 | |
| Per Einar Dybvik; Hakon W. Lie | |||
| The video demonstrates how real-time multimedia conferencing systems are combined with hypertext archives in a course offered at the University of Oslo. Traditional video conferencing systems transfer audio and video information between sties. However, this is only a limited part of the communication that naturally takes place during a course. Handouts, copies of transparencies and high-quality images are examples of data that are not easily transferable over a video link. By adding a networked hypertext system (World Wide Web) to this setup, we are able to render higher quality text and images in the electronic classrooms. Also, presentations are available for review by students at any time. By combining a hypertext system with real-time multimedia communication, we are seeing the contours of a rich, distributed groupware environment where distance education will thrive [4]. | |||
| CSCW for Government Work: Polikom-Video | | BIBA | PDF | 10 | |
| Uta Pankoke-Babatz | |||
| This video is a live performance of a scenario demonstrating telecommunication and telecooperation in a work setting. The scenario shows several geographically distributed members -- located in Bonn and Berlin -- of a government construction commission working on modifications to the parliament building. The integrated use of a variety of system prototypes supporting both asynchronous and real-time cooperation is illustrated. Access and interaction security are managed by SECUDE using smart-card technology. The ACTIVITY ASSISTANT facilitates asynchronous cooperation through coordination of shared to-do lists. The SEPIA hypertext system allows asynchronous and real-time joint editing of documents. Detailed discussions are supported using the LIVE video-conferencing tool. Orientation assistance is provided by the TOSCA organization information system which handles user queries concerning an organization's regulations and responsible cooperation partners [3]. | |||
| Multimedia Folklore: Capturing Design History and Rationale with Raison d'Etre | | BIBA | PDF | 10 | |
| John M. Carroll; Mary S. Van Deusen; Geoff Wheeler; Sherman Alpert; John Karat; Mary Beth Rosson | |||
| Raison d'Etre is a multimedia design history application. It provides access to a database of video clips containing stories and personal perspectives of design team members, recorded at various times through the course of a project. The system is intended to provide a simple framework for capturing and organizing the informal history and rationale that design teams create and share in the course of their collaboration. Raison d'Etre makes possible a richer and more engaging kind of history and rationale: the personalities and attitudes of the design team members are directly observed and experienced by the user, not merely inferred from the disembodied textual content [1]. | |||
| Historic Video: A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect | | BIBA | PDF | 11 | |
| Douglas C. Engelbart; William K. English | |||
| This invited video is an edited record of Douglas Engelbart's historic
presentation of the NLS system at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San
Francisco, December 8, 1968. Many concepts in today's interfaces were first
introduced and/or demonstrated in NLS. These include word processing,
outlining, hierarchical hypermedia, mouse and one-hand keyboards, shared
documents, messaging, electronic mail and filtering, video conferencing, and
desktop conferencing through shared displays. The video captures what was
projected onto a very large screen at the convention center. On stage was
Engelbart at the control of NLS, whose output was displayed onto the public
screen. Behind the scenes, Bill English and crew manned cameras and signal
switchers connecting the convention center to their Menlo Park laboratory 30
miles away [2].
Engelbart's original 1.5 hour presentation was edited for the CSCW'94 video program by Saul Greenberg. | |||
| CAVECAT: Computer Audio Video Enhanced Collaboration at Toronto | | BIBA | PDF | 11 | |
| Gifford Louie; Marilyn Mantei | |||
| The CAVECAT video contains a retrospective of the media space research conducted by the University of Toronto from 1989-1992. The CAVECAT project focused on understanding underlying human communication processes in order to build tools to support these processes at a distance. As such, the tape details the research on meetings and making contact that was done to support conversation, the research on shared work tools that was done to support collaboration, and the research on evaluation tools that were needed to analyze the user communication data we were collecting [6]. | |||
| Seamless Media Design | | BIBA | PDF | 11 | |
| Hiroshi Ishii | |||
| This is a vision video that illustrates our dreams of the future of ClearBoard for creative collaborative tasks. Our focus of interest is not on the technology, but on how future collaboration media can empower the dynamic process of collaborative creation by people. This video presents three scenes of collaborative creation: a joint drawing by kids, a design session by engineers, and an artistic session by a musician and a painter. The philosophy of "seamless media design" is also described in this video. The envisionment is based on our design experience of the ClearBoard-1 and ClearBoard-2 systems that were presented at CSCW'92 as a paper and a video [5]. | |||
| | BIBA | PDF | 11 | ||
| See Greenberg & Harrison, p. 9:
1. Carroll, J. M., Alpert, S. R., Karat, J., Van Deusen, M. D., and Rosson, M.
B. (1994). Capturing design history and rationale in multimedia narratives. In Proceedings of CHI'94, Boston, April 24-28, pp. 192-197. 2. Engelbart, D. C. and English, W. K. (1968). A research center for augmenting human intellect. Proceedings of the Fall Joint Computer Conference, 33(1), ASIPS Press. Reprinted in Greif, I. (ed.) Computer Supported Cooperative Work: A book of readings. Morgan-Kaufmann, 1988. 3. Hoschka, P., Butscher, B., and Streitz, N. (1992). Telecooperation and telepresence: Technical challenges of a government distributed between Bonn and Berlin. Informatization and the Public Sector, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 269-299. 4. Hovig, I. and Lie, H. W. (1993). Teleteaching in a graduate seminar: Practical experiences and a look ahead. In Proceedings of the IFIP TC3 International Conference: Teleteaching 93, Trondheim, Norway, 1993. 5. Ishii, H., Kobayashi, M. and Grudin, J. (1993). Integration of Interpersonal Space and Shared Workspace: ClearBoard Design and Experiments. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, Vol. 11, No. 4, October 1993, ACM, New York, pp. 349-375. 6. Mantei, M. M., Baecker, R. M., Sellen, A. J., Buxton, W. A. S., Milligan, T., and Wellman, B. (1991). Experiences in the use of a media space. In Proceedings of CHI'91, New Orleans, April 28-May 2, pp. 127-138. 7. Richardson, T., Bennett, F., Mapp, G., Hopper, A. (1994). Teleporting in an X Window System Environment. IEEE Personal Communications Magazine, Third Quarter 1994. 8. Roseman, M. and Greenberg, S. (1992). GROUPKIT: A groupware toolkit for building real-time conferencing applications. In Proceedings of the ACM CSCW Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Toronto, Nov 1-4, pp. 43-50. 9. Tang, J. and Rua, M. (1994). Montage: Providing teleproximity for distributed groups. In Proceedings of CHI'94, Boston, April 24-28, pp. 37-43. 10. Tani, M., Horita, M., Yamaashi, K., Tanikoshi, K. and Futakawa, M. (1994). Courtyard: Integrating shared overview on a large screen and per-user detail on individual screens. In Proceedings of CHI'94, Boston, April 24-28, pp. 44-49. | |||
| Life and Death of New Technology: Task, Utility and Social Influences on the Use of a Communication Medium | | BIBA | PDF | 13-21 | |
| Robert E. Kraut; Colleen Cool; Ronald E. Rice; Robert S. Fish | |||
| This field experiment investigates individual, structural and social influences on the use of two video telephone systems. One system flourished, while an equivalent system died. We use a time series design and multiple data sources to test media richness theory, critical mass theory, and social influence theories about new media use. Results show that the fit between tasks and features of the communications medium influences use to a degree, but cannot explain why only one system survived. Critical mass -- the numbers of people one can reach on a system -- and social influence -- the norms that grow up around a new medium -- can explain this phenomenon. | |||
| Supporting Distributed Groups with a Montage of Lightweight Interactions | | BIBAK | PDF | 23-34 | |
| John C. Tang; Ellen A. Isaacs; Monica Rua | |||
| The Montage prototype provides lightweight audio-video glances among
distributed collaborators and integrates other applications for coordinating
future contact. We studied a distributed group across three conditions: before
installing Montage, with Montage, and after removing Montage. We collected
quantitative measures of usage as well as videotape and user perception data.
We found that the group used Montage glances for short, lightweight
interactions that were like face-to-face conversations in many respects. Yet
like the phone, Montage offered convenient access to other people without
leaving the office. Most glances revealed that the person was not available,
so it was important to integrate other tools for coordinating future
interaction. Montage did not appear to displace the use of e-mail, voice-mail,
or scheduled meetings. Keywords: Awareness, Media space, Informal communication, Video, Remote collaboration | |||
| GestureCam: A Video Communication System for Sympathetic Remote Collaboration | | BIBAK | PDF | 35-43 | |
| Hideaki Kuzuoka; Toshio Kosuge; Masatomo Tanaka | |||
| An approach supporting spatial workspace collaboration via a video-mediated
communication system is described. Based on experimental results, the
following were determined to be the system requirements to support spatial
workspace collaboration: independency of a field of view, predictability,
confidence in transmission and sympathy toward the system. Additionally, a
newly developed camera system, the GestureCam System, is introduced. A camera
is mounted on an actuator with three degrees of freedom. It is controlled by
master-slave method or by a touch-sensitive CRT. Also, a laser pointer is
mounted to assist with remote pointing. Preliminary experiments were conducted
and the results are described herein. Keywords: Remote collaboration, CSCW, Groupware, Field of view, Video-mediated
communication, Confidence in transmission, Sympathy, SharedView, GestureCam | |||
| From Implementation to Design: Tailoring and the Emergence of Systematization in CSCW | | BIBAK | PDF | 45-54 | |
| Randall H. Trigg; Susanne Bødker | |||
| In this paper, we look at how people working in a governmental labor
inspection agency tailor their shared PC environment. Starting with standard
off-the-shelf software, the tailors adapt that software to the particular
workplace in which they are embedded, at the same time that they modify and
extend the practices of that workplace. Over time, their adaptations and the
tailoring processes themselves become structured and systematized within the
organization. This tendency toward systematization is in part a response to
the requirement that the results of tailoring be sharable across groups of
users. Our study focuses on several dimensions of the work of tailoring:
construction, organizational change, learning, and politics. We draw two kinds
of lessons for system development: how better to support the work of tailors,
and how system developers can learn from and cooperate with tailors. Keywords: Tailoring, Customization, Emergent use of standard technology, Development
and use of shared standards | |||
| Helping CSCW Applications Succeed: The Role of Mediators in the Context of Use | | BIBAK | PDF | 55-65 | |
| Kazuo Okamura; Masayo Fujimoto; Wanda J. Orlikowski; JoAnne Yates | |||
| This study found that the use of a computer conferencing system in an R&D
lab was significantly shaped by a set of intervening actors -- mediators -- who
actively guided and manipulated the technology and its use over time. These
mediators adapted the technology to its initial context and shaped user
interaction with it; over time, they continued to modify the technology and
influence use patterns to respond to changing circumstances. We argue that
well-managed mediation may be a useful mechanism for shaping technologies to
evolving contexts of use, and that it extends our understanding of the powerful
role that intervenors can play in helping CSCW applications succeed. Keywords: Computer conferencing system, Contextualizing technology, Intervention,
Technology use | |||
| Exploring Obstacles: Integrating CSCW in Evolving Organisations | | BIBAK | PDF | 67-77 | |
| Yvonne Rogers | |||
| Integrating CSCW systems to organisations is highly complex. This paper
examines the co-evolution process involved in tailoring a CSCW system to fit in
with the current organisational structure, whilst concurrently adapting the
working practices to enable the system to support collaboration. A study is
presented which analyses the various obstacles and inequities that ensue when a
multi-user system is implemented in a company. To facilitate the management
and resolution of the emergent problems, a preliminary conceptual framework is
outlined. Finally, a case is presented for involving intermediaries in helping
companies customise CSCW systems and adapt their work practices. Keywords: CSCW systems, Implementation, Evaluation, Situation use, Conceptual
framework, Field studies | |||
| A Conceptual Model of Groupware | | BIBAK | PDF | 79-88 | |
| Clarence (Skip) Ellis; Jacques Wainer | |||
| This paper discusses a conceptual model of groupware consisting of three
complementary components or models: a description of the objects and operations
on these objects available in the system; a description of the activities (and
their orderings) that the users of the system can perform; and a description of
the interface of users with the system, and with other users. Keywords: Groupware, CSCW, Collaboration technology, System modelling, Ontological
model, Coordination model, User interface model | |||
| Situating Conversations within the Language/Action Perspective: The Milan Conversation Model | | BIBAK | PDF | 89-100 | |
| Giorgio De Michelis; M. Antonietta Grasso | |||
| The debate on the language/action perspective has been receiving attention
in the CSCW field for almost ten years. In this paper, we recall the most
relevant issues raised during this debate, and propose a new exploitation of
the language/action perspective by considering it from the viewpoint of
understanding the complexity of communication within work processes and the
situatedness of work practices. On this basis, we have defined a new
conversation model, the Milan Conversation Model, and we are designing a new
conversation handler to implement it. Keywords: Language/action perspective, Conversation, Work process, Commitment | |||
| The Organization of Cooperative Work: Beyond the "Leviathan" Conception of the Organization of Cooperative Work | | BIBA | PDF | 101-112 | |
| Kjeld Schmidt | |||
| This paper examines the relationship between cooperative work and the wider organizational context. The purpose of the exploration is not to contribute to organizational theory in general, but to critique the transaction cost approach to organizational theory from the point of view of cooperative work. The paper posits that the formal conception of organization -- organization conceived of in terms of "common ownership" -- is inadequate as a conceptual foundation for embedding CSCW systems in a wider organizational context. The design of CSCW systems for real-world application must move beyond the bounds of organizational forms conceived of in terms of "common ownership." | |||
| Experiences with Workflow Management: Issues for the Next Generation | | BIBAK | PDF | 113-120 | |
| Kenneth R. Abbott; Sunil K. Sarin | |||
| Workflow management is a technology that is considered strategically
important by many businesses, and its market growth shows no signs of abating.
It is, however, often viewed with skepticism by the research community,
conjuring up visions of oppressed workers performing rigidly-defined tasks on
an assembly line. Although the potential for abuse no doubt exists, workflow
management can instead be used to help individuals manage their work and to
provide a clear context for performing that work. A key challenge in the
realization of this ideal is the reconciliation of workflow process models and
software with the rich variety of activities and behaviors that comprise "real"
work. Our experiences with the InConcert workflow management system are used
as a basis for outlining several issues that will need to be addressed in
meeting this challenge. This is intended as an invitation to CSCW researchers
to influence this important technology in a constructive manner by drawing on
research and experience. Keywords: Workflow, Business process reengineering | |||
| Interpreted Collaboration Protocols and Their Use in Groupware Prototyping | | BIBAK | PDF | 121-131 | |
| Richard Furuta; P. David Stotts | |||
| The correct and timely creation of systems for coordination of group work
depends on the ability to express, analyze, and experiment with protocols for
managing multiple work threads. We present an evolution of the Trellis model
that provides a formal basis for prototyping the coordination structure of a
collaboration system. In Trellis, group interaction protocols are represented
separately from the interface processes that use them for coordination.
Protocols are interpreted (rather than compiled into applications) so group
interactions can be changed as a collaborative task progresses. Changes can be
made either by a person editing the protocol specification "on the fly" or by a
silent "observation" process that participates in an application solely to
perform behavioral adaptations.
Trellis uniquely mixes hypermedia browsing with collaboration support. We term this combination a hyperprogram, and we say that a hyperprogram integrates the description of a collaborative task with the information required for that task. As illustration, we describe a protocol for a moderated meeting and show a Trellis prototype conference tool controlled by this protocol. Keywords: Dynamic protocol, Moderated meeting, Trellis, Process-based
hypertext/hypermedia, Colored Petri net, Coordination structure, Formal methods | |||
| Experience with the Virtual Notebook System: Abstraction in Hypertext | | BIBAK | PDF | 133-143 | |
| Jerry Fowler; Donald G. Baker; Ross Dargahi; Vram Kouramajian; Hillary Gilson; Kevin Brook Long; Cynthia Petermann; G. Anthony Gorry | |||
| The Virtual Notebook System (VNS) is a distributed collaborative hypertext
system that has made a successful transition from research prototype to
commercial product. Experience in developing and deploying the VNS in diverse
settings including biomedical research, undergraduate education, and
collaborative system prototyping has developed insight into the use of systems
for computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). This paper provides a brief
overview of the VNS, discusses some of its strengths and weaknesses with
respect to collaboration, and draws some conclusions about the impact of
metaphor and extensibility on the collaborative process. Keywords: CSCW, Collaboration, Consortium, Dexter model, Hypertext, Memento, Metaphor,
VNS, VOM | |||
| Computer Support for Distributed Collaborative Writing: Defining Parameters of Interaction | | BIBAK | PDF | 145-152 | |
| Christine M. Neuwirth; David S. Kaufer; Ravinder Chandhok; James H. Morris | |||
| This paper reports research to define a sat of interaction parameters that
collaborative writers will find useful. Our approach is to provide parameters
of interaction and to locate the decision of how to set the parameters with the
users. What is new in this paper is the progress we have made outlining task
management parameters, notification, scenarios of use, as well as some
implementation architectures. Keywords: Parameters of interaction, Synchronous/asynchronous, Collaborative writing,
Computer-supported cooperative work | |||
| DistView: Support for Building Efficient Collaborative Applications using Replicated Active Objects | | BIBAK | PDF | 153-164 | |
| Atul Prakash; Hyong Sop Shim | |||
| The ability to share synchronized views of interactions with an application
is critical to supporting synchronous collaboration. This paper suggests a
simple synchronous collaboration paradigm in which the sharing of the views of
user/application interactions occurs at the window level within a multi-user,
multi-window application. The paradigm is incorporated in a toolkit, DistView,
that allows some of the application windows to be shared at a fine-level of
granularity, while still allowing other application windows to be private. The
toolkit is intended for supporting synchronous collaboration over wide-area
networks. To keep bandwidth requirements and interactive response time low in
such networks, DistView uses an object-level replication scheme, in which the
application and interface objects that need to be shared among users are
replicated. We discuss the design of DistView and present our preliminary
experience with a prototype version of the system. Keywords: Groupware, Multi-user interfaces, Collaboration technology, Shared windows,
Active objects, Distributed objects, Replicated objects, Concurrency control | |||
| Duplex: A Distributed Collaborative Editing Environment in Large Scale | | BIBAK | PDF | 165-173 | |
| Francois Pacull; Alain Sandoz; Andre Schiper | |||
| DUPLEX is a distributed collaborative editor for users connected through a
large-scale environment such as the Internet. Large-scale implies
heterogeneity, unpredictable communication delays and failures, and inefficient
implementations of techniques traditionally used for collaborative editing in
local area networks. To cope with these unfavorable conditions, DUPLEX
proposes a model based on splitting the document into independent parts,
maintained individually and replicated by a kernel. Users act on document
parts and interact with co-authors using a local environment providing a safe
store and recovery mechanisms against failures or divergence with co-authors.
Communication is reduced to a minimum, allowing disconnected operation.
Atomicity, concurrency, and replica control are confined to a manageable small
context. Keywords: Collaborative editing, Distributed groupware, Large scale networks,
Concurrency control | |||
| GroupLens: An Open Architecture for Collaborative Filtering of Netnews | | BIBAK | PDF | 175-186 | |
| Paul Resnick; Neophytos Iacovou; Mitesh Suchak; Peter Bergstrom; John Riedl | |||
| Collaborative filters help people make choices based on the opinions of
other people. GroupLens is a system for collaborative filtering of netnews, to
help people find articles they will like in the huge stream of available
articles. News reader clients display predicted scores and make it easy for
users to rate articles after they read them. Rating servers, called Better Bit
Bureaus, gather and disseminate the ratings. The rating servers predict scores
based on the heuristic that people who agreed in the past will probably agree
again. Users can protect their privacy by entering ratings under pseudonyms,
without reducing the effectiveness of the score prediction. The entire
architecture is open: alternative software for news clients and Better Bit
Bureaus can be developed independently and can interoperate with the components
we have developed. Keywords: Collaborative filtering, Information filtering, Electronic bulletin boards,
Social filtering, Usenet, Netnews, User model, Selective dissemination of
information | |||
| Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Using CLARE: The Approach and Experimental Findings | | BIBAK | PDF | 187-198 | |
| Dadong Wan; Philip M. Johnson | |||
| Current collaborative learning systems focus on maximizing shared
information. However, "meaningful learning" is not simply information sharing
but, more importantly, knowledge construction. CLARE is a computer-supported
learning environment that facilitates meaningful learning through collaborative
knowledge construction. CLARE provides a semi-formal representation language
called RESRA and an explicit process model called SECAI. Experimental
evaluation through 300 hours of classroom usage indicates that CLARE does
support meaningful learning, and that a major bottleneck to computer-mediated
knowledge construction is summarization. Lessons learned through the design
and evaluation of CLARE provide new insights into both collaborative learning
systems and collaborative learning theories. Keywords: Computer supported collaborative learning, collaborative work, Knowledge
representation, Knowledge construction, Meaningful learning | |||
| Meaning-Making in the Creation of Useful Summary Reports | | BIBAK | PDF | 199-206 | |
| Barbara Katzenberg; John McDermott | |||
| Summary reports are the periodic assemblings of text, numbers, and other
data, drawn from diverse sources to present a picture of some aspect of an
organization's state. They have become ubiquitous in organizations with the
advent of computers, but are not always as useful as their readers would like
them to be. This paper focuses on the meaning-making work that report
contributors and readers must do in order for reports to be useful and presents
some examples drawn from everyday interactions in a business unit of a large
corporation. The paper uses these examples as a foundation for asking what it
might mean to purposefully support meaning-making in organizational reporting. Keywords: Summary reports, Spreadsheets, Meaning-making, Conversation analysis,
Ethnography | |||
| Real Time Groupware as a Distributed System: Concurrency Control and its Effect on the Interface | | BIBAK | PDF | 207-217 | |
| Saul Greenberg; David Marwood | |||
| This paper exposes the concurrency control problem in groupware when it is
implemented as a distributed system. Traditional concurrency control methods
cannot be applied directly to groupware because system interactions include
people as well as computers. Methods, such as locking, serialization, and
their degree of optimism, are shown to have quite different impacts on the
interface and how operations are displayed and perceived by group members. The
paper considers both human and technical considerations that designers should
ponder before choosing a particular concurrency control method. It also
reviews our work-in-progress designing and implementing a library of
concurrency schemes in GROUPKIT, a groupware toolkit. Keywords: Real time groupware, Computer supported cooperative work, Distributed
systems, Concurrency control algorithms | |||
| The Use of Adapters to Support Cooperative Sharing | | BIBAK | PDF | 219-230 | |
| Jonathan Trevor; Tom Rodden; John Mariani | |||
| This paper examines the importance of providing effective management of
sharing in cooperative systems and argues for a specialised service to support
the cooperative aspects of information sharing. The relationship between
features of the cooperative shared object service and existing services is
briefly examined. A number of management services of particular importance to
CSCW systems are identified. The paper presents a technique of realising a
shared object service by augmenting existing object facilities to provide
management of their cooperative use. These facilities are realised through
object adapters that provide additional cooperative facilities and greater
control over the supporting infrastructure. Keywords: Information sharing, Distributed systems support, Cooperative systems
infrastructure | |||
| A Flexible Object Merging Framework | | BIBAK | PDF | 231-242 | |
| Jonathan P. Munson; Prasun Dewan | |||
| The need to merge different versions of an object to a common state arises
in collaborative computing due to several reasons including optimistic
concurrency control, asynchronous coupling, and absence of access control. We
have developed a flexible object merging framework that allows definition of
the merge policy based on the particular application and the context of the
collaborative activity. It performs automatic, semi-automatic, and interactive
merges, supports semantics-determined merges, operates on objects with
arbitrary structure and semantics, and allows fine-grained specification of
merge policies. It is based on an existing collaborative applications
framework and consists of a merge matrix, which defines merge functions and
their parameters and allows definition of multiple merge policies, and a merge
algorithm, which performs the merge based on the results computed by the merge
functions. In conjunction with our framework we introduce a set of merge
policies for several useful kinds of merges we have identified. This paper
motivates the need for a general approach to merging, identifies some important
merging issues, surveys previous research in merging, identifies a list of
merge requirements, describes our merging framework and illustrates it with
examples, and evaluates the framework with respect to the requirements and
other research efforts in merging objects. Keywords: Diff, Flexible coupling, Optimistic concurrency control, Merging, Undo,
Versions | |||
| Augmenting the Organizational Memory: A Field Study of Answer Garden | | BIBAK | PDF | 243-252 | |
| Mark S. Ackerman | |||
| A growing concern for organizations and groups has been to augment their
knowledge and expertise. One such augmentation is to provide an organizational
memory, some record of the organization's knowledge. However, relatively
little is known about how computer systems might enhance organizational, group,
or community memory.
This paper presents findings from a field study of one such organizational memory system, the Answer Garden. The paper discusses the usage data and qualitative evaluations from the field study, and then draws a set of lessons for next-generation organizational memory systems. Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work, Organizational memory, Corporate
memory, Group Memory, Information retrieval, Information access, Information
systems, CSCW | |||
| Steps Towards an Ecology of Infrastructure: Complex Problems in Design and Access for Large-Scale Collaborative Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 253-264 | |
| Susan Leigh Star; Karen Ruhleder | |||
| This paper analyzes the initial phases of a large-scale custom software
effort, the Worm Community System (WCS), a collaborative system designed for a
geographically dispersed community of geneticists. Despite high user
satisfaction with the system and interface, and extensive user feedback and
analysis, many users experienced difficulties in signing on and use, ranging
from simple lack of resources to complex organizational and intellectual
tradeoffs. Using Bateson's levels of learning, we characterize these as levels
of infrastructural complexity which challenge both users and developers. Usage
problems may result from different perceptions of this complexity in different
organizational contexts. Keywords: Infrastructure, Collaboratory, Organizational computing, Participatory
design, Ethnography | |||
| The Role of "Help Networks" in Facilitating Use of CSCW Tools | | BIBA | PDF | 265-274 | |
| J. D. Eveland; Anita Blanchard; William Brown; Jennifer Mattocks | |||
| The pattern of CSCW system users helping other users to resolve problems and make more effective use of such tools has been observed in a variety of settings, but little is known about how help patterns develop or their effects. Results from a pre-post study of the implementation of CSCW tools among university faculty, staff and administration indicate that the network of helping relationships is largely disaggregated and generally follows work group alignments rather than technical specialization. A relatively small group of "high providers" is responsible for most help to users, and tends to act as a liaison between central support staff and work group members. These providers are not systematically different from other personnel except in terms of their expertise. Implications of these findings for the development and cultivation of help relationships in support of CSCW are developed. | |||
| Working with "Constant Interruption": CSCW and the Small Office | | BIBAK | PDF | 275-286 | |
| Mark Rouncefield; John A. Hughes; Tom Rodden; Stephen Viller | |||
| Ethnographic studies of CSCW have often seemed to involve the investigation
of relatively large-scale and highly specific systems, consequently ignoring
the small office within which many people spend much of their working lives and
which is a major site for the introduction and implementation of IT. This
paper is concerned with a "quick and dirty" ethnographic study of a small
office that was considering the introduction of greater levels of IT. Generic
features of office work are outlined: the process of work in a small office and
its recurrent features, notably the massive volume of paperwork; the importance
of local knowledge in the accomplishment of work; and the phenomenon of
"constant interruption." This paper suggests that despite the obvious contrasts
with work settings analysed in other ethnographic studies, similar features of
cooperative work can be observed in the small office. It further suggests that
the issues of cooperation and the sociality of work cannot be ignored even in
small-scale system design. Keywords: Cooperative systems, Information sharing, Observational studies of work,
Systems development | |||
| The Work to Make a Network Work: Studying CSCW in Action | | BIBA | PDF | 287-298 | |
| John Bowers | |||
| This paper reports on a field study of the procurement, implementation and use of a local area network devoted to running CSCW-related applications in an organization within the U.K.'s central government. In this particular case, the network ran into a number of difficulties, was resisted by its potential users for a variety of reasons, was faced with being withdrawn from service on a number of occasions and (at the time of writing) remains only partly used. The study points to the kinds of problems that a project to introduce computer support for cooperative work to an actual organization is likely to face and a series of concepts are offered to help manage the complexity of these problems. In so doing, this paper adds to and extends previous studies of CSCW tools in action but also argues that experience from the field should be used to re-organise the research agenda of CSCW. | |||
| The Effects of Interactive Graphics and Text on Social Influence in Computer-Mediated Small Groups | | BIBAK | PDF | 299-310 | |
| Jozsef A. Toth | |||
| Computer-mediated small group research has focused efforts on the medium of
electronically networked text-based messages. An experiment which instead
combines a synchronous text-based messaging medium with two-dimensional
interactive computer graphics is detailed. Three-person groups participated in
a risk-taking choice-dilemma task involving a discussion of the dilemma and
consensus attainment. The groups' prediscussion and postdiscussion opinions
were collected. Two conditions, one where groups received graphics-based
feedback of their individual prediscussion opinions, and a second, which
included a graphical representation of the prediscussion average, were coupled
with a text-based communication medium. The text-based medium, without
interactive graphics, served as control. In the condition involving the
graphical prediscussion opinions and average, groups sent proportionately more
messages containing persuasive-style arguments and proportionately fewer
messages containing normative-style arguments. In the graphical condition
without the average, roughly the inverse was found to occur. In the control,
the discussion parameters fell proportionately between the two graphics
conditions. In both graphics conditions, the first discussant to advocate a
decision proposal had a stronger influence on the group decision than in the
control. The data suggests that the inclusion of two-dimensional graphics can
either augment or inhibit normative and informational forms of social influence
during the group decision-making process. Keywords: Computer-mediated small group, Discourse analysis, Human factors,
Interactive computer graphics, Perceptual and cognitive persistence, Small
group decision-making, Social influence | |||
| Communication Control in Computer Supported Cooperative Work Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 311-321 | |
| Robert Simon; Robert Sclabassi; Taieb Znati | |||
| This paper presents AlphaDeltaPhi-groups (ADP-group) as a communication tool
for connection level management in distributed CSCW systems. In order to
accurately model CSCW communication patterns, an ADP-group is a related set of
cooperating processes whose communication is supported by allowing a spectrum
of quality-of-service, message delivery reliability, atomicity and causal
ordering options to co-exist within the same group. ADP-group communication
provides appropriate connection management support and network control within
distributed CSCW environments characterized by a heterogeneous mixture of
equipment types, network performance and user activity levels. This efficiency
is achieved by defining a small set of canonical group communication
operations, by automatically making appropriate connections between data
sources and sinks, and by using a receiver-based method of connection
specification, monitoring and modification. Keywords: CSCW, Group communication, Multimedia, Network connection management | |||
| Session Management for Collaborative Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 323-330 | |
| W. Keith Edwards | |||
| Session management systems for collaborative applications have required a
great deal of reimplementation work by developers because they have been
typically created on a case-by-case basis. Further, artifacts of this
development process have limited the flexibility of session management systems
and their ability to cooperate across applications, resulting in the fairly
formalized, heavy-weight session management found in most collaborative systems
today. We present a model for a light-weight form of session management, the
theoretical foundation for this model (based on the sharing of information
about user and system activity), and details of a collaboration support
environment which implements our session management model. Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work, Collaboration support environments,
Session management, Itermezzo | |||
| Integrating Communication, Cooperation and Awareness: The DIVA Virtual Office Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 331-343 | |
| Markus Sohlenkamp; Greg Chwelos | |||
| DIVA, a novel environment for group work, is presented. This prototype
virtual office environment provides support for communication, cooperation, and
awareness in both the synchronous and asynchronous modes, smoothly integrated
into a simple and intuitive interface which may be viewed as a replacement for
the standard graphical user interface desktop. In order to utilize the skills
that people have acquired through years of shared work in real offices, DIVA is
modeled after the standard office, abstracting elements of physical offices
required to support collaborative work: people, rooms, desks, and documents. Keywords: Groupware, Communication, Cooperation, Awareness, Synchronous/asynchronous,
Virtual office, Integration, CSCW | |||
| DOLPHIN: Integrated Meeting Support Across Local and Remote Desktop Environments and LiveBoards | | BIBAK | PDF | 345-358 | |
| Norbert A. Streitz; Jorg Geissler; Jorg M. Haake; Jeroen Hol | |||
| This paper describes DOLPHIN, a fully group aware application designed to
provide computer support for different types of meetings: face-to-face meetings
with a large interactive electronic whiteboard with or without networked
computers provided for the participants, extensions of these meetings with
remote participants at their desktop computers connected via computer and
audio/video networks, and/or participants in a second meeting room also
provided with an electronic whiteboard as well as networked computers. DOLPHIN
supports the creation and manipulation of informal structures (e.g., freehand
drawings, handwritten scribbles), formal structures (e.g., hypermedia documents
with typed nodes and links), their coexistence, and their transformation. Keywords: Electronic meeting rooms, Document-based cooperation, Shared workspaces,
Collaborative writing/drawing, Brainstorming, Planning, Hypermedia, Pen-based
interaction, Interactive whiteboards | |||
| Meet Your Destiny: A Non-Manipulable Meeting Scheduler | | BIBAK | PDF | 359-371 | |
| Eithan Ephrati; Gilad Zlotkin; Jeffrey S. Rosenschein | |||
| In this paper we present three scheduling mechanisms that are
manipulation-proof for closed systems. The amount of information that each
user must encode in the mechanism increases with the complexity of the
mechanism. On the other hand, the more complex the mechanism is, the more it
maintains the privacy of the users.
The first mechanism is a centralized, calendar-oriented one. It is the least computationally complex of the three, but does not maintain user privacy. The second is a distributed meeting-oriented mechanism that maintains user privacy, but at the cost of greater computational complexity. The third mechanism, while being the most complex, maintains user privacy (for the most part) and allows users to have the greatest influence on the resulting schedule. Keywords: Meetings scheduling, Game theory | |||
| Automated Assistance for the Telemeeting Lifecycle | | BIBAK | PDF | 373-384 | |
| Neil W. Bergmann; J. Craig Mudge | |||
| We analyse eighteen months of national and international deployment of a
prototype telemeeting system supporting synchronous remote meetings which make
extensive use of shared documents as well as video and audio conferencing.
Logistics of a telemeeting include scheduling people and equipment, document
format conversion, pre-sending documents, training, equipment and call setup,
and meeting followup. The logistics burden is much larger than expected and
can be a barrier to adoption of telemeeting technology. Using a process model
that recognises moving between solo and group, asynchronous and synchronous
work modes, the paper explores the amenability of individual logistics tasks to
automated assistance, proposes a framework for such assistance, and develops a
set of design principles. Keywords: CSCW, Group work, Automated assistance | |||
| Multiparty Videoconferencing at Virtual Social Distance: MAJIC Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 385-393 | |
| Ken-ichi Okada; Fumihiko Maeda; Yusuke Ichikawaa; Yutaka Matsushita | |||
| This paper describes the design and implementation of MAJIC, a multi-party
videoconferencing system that projects life-size video images of participants
onto a large curved screen as if users in various locations are attending a
meeting together and sitting around a table. MAJIC also supports multiple eye
contact among the participants and awareness of the direction of the
participants' gaze. Hence, users can carry on a discussion in a manner
comparable to face-to-face meetings. We made video-tape recordings of about
twenty visitors who used the prototype of MAJIC at the Nikkei Collaboration
Fair in Tokyo. Our initial observations based on this experiment are also
reported in this paper. Keywords: MAJIC, Multi-party videoconferencing, Multiple eye contact, Gaze awareness,
Groupware, Networked realities, Tele-presence | |||
| High Performance Infrastructure for Visually-Intensive CSCW Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 395-403 | |
| Stephen Zabele; Steven L. Rohall; Ralph L. Vinciguerra | |||
| We describe a scalable CSCW infrastructure designed to handle heavy-weight
data sets, such as extremely large images and video. Scalability is achieved
through exclusive use of reliable and unreliable multicast protocols. The
infrastructure uses a replicated architecture rather than a centralized
architecture, both to reduce latency and to improve responsiveness. Use of 1)
reliable (multicast) transport of absolute, rather than relative, information
sets, 2) time stamps, and 3) a last-in-wins policy provide coherency often
lacking in replicated architectures. The infrastructure allows users to toggle
between WYSIWIS and non-WYSIWIS modes. That, coupled with effective use of
multicast groups, allows greatly improved responsiveness and performance for
managing heavy-weight data. Keywords: CSCW infrastructure, Reliable multicast, Scalable architecture | |||
| A Forum for Supporting Interactive Presentations to Distributed Audiences | | BIBAK | PDF | 405-416 | |
| Ellen A. Isaacs; Trevor Morris; Thomas K. Rodriguez | |||
| Computer technology is available to build video-based tools for supporting
presentations to distributed audiences, but it is unclear how such an
environment affects participants' ability to interact and to learn. We built
and tested a tool called Forum that broadcasts live audio, video and slides
from a speaker, and enables audiences to interact with the speaker and other
audience members in a variety of ways. The challenge was to enable effective
interactions while overcoming obstacles introduced by the distributed nature of
the environment, the large size of the group, and the asymmetric roles of the
participants. Forum was most successful in enabling effective presentations in
cases when the topic sparked a great deal of audience participation or when the
purpose of the talk was mostly informational and did not require a great deal
of interaction. We are exploring ways to enhance Forum to expand the
effectiveness of this technology. Keywords: Broadcast video, Distributed presentations, Distance learning, Remote
collaboration, User interface design, Multimedia | |||
| The Limits of Ethnography: Combining Social Sciences for CSCW | | BIBAK | PDF | 417-428 | |
| Dan Shapiro | |||
| This paper addresses some of the divergences between social sciences, and
proposes the development of hybrid forms of participation in CSCW. It offers a
critique of the theoretical isolationism of some ethnomethodological
ethnography. It reviews the prospects for interdisciplinary collaboration, and
seeks to motivate it with some "core propositions" which expose the inescapable
character of the problems (although not necessarily of the solutions) which are
"owned" by different disciplines. It illustrates hybrid forms with discussion
of some issues in two areas: the cognitive versus the ethnographic; it further
describes the politics of participation. Keywords: CSCW, Interdisciplinary relations, Ethnography, Ethnomethodology, Cognitive
science, Participative design, Distributed cognition | |||
| Moving Out from the Control Room: Ethnography in System Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 429-439 | |
| John Hughes; Val King; Tom Rodden; Hans Andersen | |||
| Ethnography has gained considerable prominence as a technique for informing
CSCW systems development of the nature of work. Experiences of ethnography
reported to date have focused on the use of prolonged on-going ethnography to
inform systems design. A considerable number of these studies have taken place
within constrained and focused work domain. This paper reflects more generally
on the experiences of using ethnography across a number of different projects
and in a variety of domains of study. We identify a number of ways in which we
have used ethnography to inform design and consider the benefits and problems
of each. Keywords: Systems design and development, Ethnographic study, Design methods, Studies
of work | |||
| Situated Evaluation for Cooperative Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 441-452 | |
| Michael Twidale; David Randall; Richard Bentley | |||
| This paper discusses an evaluation of the MEAD prototype, a multi-user
interface generator tool particularly for use in the context of Air Traffic
Control (ATC). The procedures we adopted took the form of opportunistic and
informal evaluation sessions with small user groups, including Air Traffic
Controllers (ATCOs). We argue that informal procedures are a powerful and cost
effective method for dealing with specific evaluation issues in the context of
CSCW but that wider issues are more problematic. Most notably, identifying the
"validity" or otherwise of CSCW systems requires that the context of use be
taken seriously, necessitating a fundamental re-appraisal of the concept of
evaluation. Keywords: Evaluation, Ethnographic observation, Rapid prototyping, Multi-user
interface design, Air traffic control | |||
| The Role of CSCW Technology in Ad Hoc Groups | | BIB | PDF | 453-454 | |
| Kate Ehrlich; Sara Bly; Jonathan Grudin; Chris Schmandt; Andrea Saveri | |||
| Corporate Memory: What Does it Mean in Today's Organizations? | | BIB | PDF | 455-456 | |
| Joanne Yates; Jeff Conklin; Marjorie Horton; Gerardine DeSanctis; Peter Rothstein | |||
| Groupware and Open Information Networks: Are They Ready to Merge or are They Competing for the Same Turf? | | BIB | PDF | 457 | |
| Terry Winograd | |||
| CSCW and K-12 Education: Will Technology "Take Off" Once it's Used for Collaboration? | | BIB | PDF | 459-460 | |
| Irene Greif; Beverly Hunter; D. Midian Kurland; Peter Rowley; Steve Reder | |||