| Concept Indexing | | BIBAK | PDF | 1-10 | |
| Angi Voss; Keiichi Nakata; Marcus Juhnke | |||
| Marking text in a document is a convenient way of identifying bits of
knowledge that are relevant for the reader, a colleague or a larger group.
Based on such markings, networks of concepts with hyperlinks to their
occurrences in a collection of documents can be developed. On the Internet,
marked documents can easily be shared, concepts can be constructed
collaboratively and the concept-document network can be used for navigation and
direct access. Text marking, grounded concepts and the Internet as base
technology are characteristics of our tool for managing so called "concept
indexes". We describe the current and the new design and outline some
application scenarios: electronic help desks, information digests on the Web,
teaching design in virtual classes and planning under quality control in
distributed teams. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Content Analysis
and Indexing (H.3.1): Indexing methods; Computing Methodologies -Artificial
Intelligence - Distributed Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design,
Management, Theory; collaboration, concepts, documents, knowledge management,
software agents, text marking | |||
| Building Bridges: Customisation and Mutual Intelligibility in Shared Category Management | | BIBAK | PDF | 11-20 | |
| Paul Dourish; John Lamping; Tom Rodden | |||
| Research into collaborative document use often concentrates on how people
share document content. However, studies of real-world document practices
reveal that the structures by which document corpora are organised may also,
themselves, be important sites of collaborative activity. Unfortunately, this
poses a problem. When category structures are used to understand a set of
documents, the manipulation of those structures can interfere with shared
understanding and intelligibility of the document space.
We show how this problem arises in real-world settings, using a case arising from some recent field work. We outline a solution to the customisation/intelligibility problem, and show how it has been implemented in a system for personal and workgroup document management. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Content Analysis
and Indexing (H.3.1); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence -
Distributed Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design, Management, Theory;
categorisation, customisation, document management, shared views, shared
workspaces | |||
| Negotiation Support for Compiling Knowledge | | BIBAK | PDF | 21-29 | |
| Marita Duecker; Bernd Gutkauf; Stefanie Thies | |||
| Critiquing systems, a special kind of knowledge-based systems, can be seen
as a personal assistant helping to reflect on a particular design and to
improve it. They have successfully demonstrated their capability to aid users
during design tasks. Critiquing systems make knowledge and expertise of
different domain experts available to end users of authoring tools.
Unfortunately it is a quite demanding and time consuming task to get the
expertise of different distributed domain experts into such a system and to
maintain it. That might explain why many critiquing systems only exist as
prototypical implementations. We propose a collaborative development
environment for supporting domain experts in constructing design-oriented
critiquing systems. Our approach intends to support rapid prototyping,
establishment and maintenance of critiquing systems. Especially domain experts
not familiar with programming shall be enabled to participate in this process.
We expect to improve and to ensure the knowledge base's quality by supporting
information exchange and negotiation processes between domain experts. Keywords: Information Systems -Database Management - Systems (H.2.4); Computing
Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Knowledge Representation Formalisms
and Methods (I.2.4); Experimentation, Theory; critiquing systems, knowledge
acquisition, negotiation support | |||
| Getting to Know the 'Customer in the Machine' | | BIBAK | PDF | 30-39 | |
| John Hughes; Jon O'Brien; Dave Randall; Tom Rodden; Mark Rouncefield; Peter Tolmie | |||
| This paper reflects on the emerging results of a long-standing ethnographic
study of everyday work in a large retail Bank. While customers as economic
actors have often been overlooked in studies of computer supported work they
are generally and necessarily the focus of commercial organisational life. The
paper explicates the developing relationship between technology use and these
organisational concerns through the notion of 'the customer in the machine.'
Features of the contingent and skillful nature of everyday work are documented
and used to comment on aspects of working with the 'customer in the machine' or
'virtual customers' within a rapidly changing commercial organisation. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Knowledge Representation
Formalisms and Methods (I.2.4); Information Systems -Models and Principles -
User/Machine Systems (H.1.2); Experimentation, Theory; computer supported
cooperative work, customers, ethnography, retail financial services | |||
| It's All in the Words: Supporting Work Activities with Lightweight Tools | | BIBAK | PDF | 40-49 | |
| Elizabeth F. Churchill; Sara Bly | |||
| The development of tools to support synchronous communications between
non-collocated colleagues has received considerable attention in recent years.
Much of the work has focused on increasing a sense of co-presence between
interlocutors by supporting aspects of face-to-face conversations that go
beyond mere words (e.g. gaze, postural shifts). In this regard, a design goal
for many environments is the provision of as much media-richness as possible to
support non-collocated communication. In this paper we present results from our
most recent interviews studying the use of a text-based virtual environment to
support work collaborations. We describe how such an environment, though
lacking almost all the visual and auditory cues known to be important in
face-to-face conversation, has played an important role in day-to-day
communication. We offer a set of characteristics we feel are important to the
success of this text-only tool and discuss issues emerging from its long-term
use. Keywords: Information Systems -Database Management - Systems (H.2.4); Computing
Methodologies -Simulation and Modeling - Model Validation and Analysis (I.6.4);
Design, Experimentation, Theory; computer mediated communication, distributed
collaboration, interviews, presence, text-based communication, virtual
environments | |||
| "Let's See Your Search-Tool!" -- Collaborative Use of Tailored Artifacts in Groupware | | BIBAK | PDF | 50-59 | |
| Volker Wulf | |||
| Groupware applications should be tailorable to fit the requirements of
dynamically evolving and differentiated fields of application. To encourage
individual and collaborative tailoring activities, applications should be
tailorable on different levels of complexity. A search tool has been developed
which offers different levels of tailoring complexity by means of
hierarchically organized component languages. Users can create alternative
search tools and compound components by themselves. Search tool alternatives
and compound components can also be shared among the users. When introducing
this tool into an organization of the political administration, it turned out
that the users had considerable problems in understanding the functioning of
artifacts created by someone else. To ease cooperative tailoring activities, we
have implemented features, which allow users to structure, describe, and
explore shared components and search tool alternatives. Also we provided means
to store and exchange examples for components' use. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Information Search
and Retrieval (H.3.3); Design, Experimentation, Theory; annotation,
exploration, groupware, learning, tailorability | |||
| Supporting Cooperation Across Shared Virtual Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 61-70 | |
| Monika Busher; John Hughes; Jonathan Trevor; Tom Rodden; Jon O'Brien | |||
| As cooperative virtual environments have become more prominent as a means of
allowing users to work together so has the need for users to understand the
nature of these environments. This paper presents the development of a set of
techniques to allow users to understand the properties of virtual environments
as they move between different environments. The development of these
techniques is informed by an ethnographic study of a multimedia art museum
containing a wide range of different virtual environments. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Simulation and Modeling - Model Validation
and Analysis (I.6.4); Experimentation, Theory; cooperative virtual
environments, ethnographic studies, intersubjectivity, learnability | |||
| Perspective Layered Visualization of Collaborative Workspaces | | BIBAK | PDF | 71-80 | |
| Hidekazu Shiozawa; Ken-ichi Okada; Yutaka Matsushita | |||
| Visual shared workspaces will be always staying on users' screens in the
near future. Users will be moving frequently between their personal workspaces
for personal and asynchronous work and shared workspaces for communication and
synchronous cooperation. Also the system should supports users' everyday
awareness of co-workers. For supporting such situation, this paper proposes a
new technique to visualize workspaces as a set of layered virtual screens in
three-dimensional space. In this way, groups' shared spaces are shown as
background of users' personal spaces like as looking from a top personal layer
down to a bottom public layer. In conventional groupware, user's workspace is
divided into some shared spaces and a personal space to show all of them
simultaneously, so the size of the personal space is very restricted. This
layered perspective visualization alleviates this problem and also supports
users' awareness by always showing shared spaces in background. Keywords: Computing Milieux -Computers and Society - Organizational Impacts (K.4.3);
Information Systems -Information Interfaces and Presentation - Group and
Organization Interfaces (H.5.3); Human Factors, Theory; 3d user interfaces,
CSCW, VNC, awareness, background, groupware, information visualization, layered
workspaces, perspective view, shared workspaces, virtual desk-tops, virtual
desktops | |||
| Supporting Virtual Team Collaboration: The TeamSCOPE System | | BIBAK | PDF | 81-90 | |
| Charles Steinfield; Chyng-Yang Jang; Ben Pfaff | |||
| In this paper, we describe a collaborative system specifically designed to
address problems faced by distributed (or virtual) teams. TeamSCOPE (Team
Software for a Collaborative Project Environment) is a web-based work
environment that has emerged from a research project studying the communication
needs of internationally distributed engineering design teams. The paper begins
by outlining some of the needs of virtual teams. An integrative framework that
focuses on facilitation of group members' awareness of group activities,
communications and resources is proposed. These needs and awareness
requirements are then translated into a set of collaborative system design
goals which have guided the implementation of TeamSCOPE. The features of
TeamSCOPE are briefly reviewed, and some preliminary observations from early
users are provided. We conclude by noting some of the new features planned for
TeamSCOPE based on our early trials. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Experimentation, Theory; CSCW, collaborative
systems, distributed group, groupware, virtual team | |||
| Supporting the Shared Care of Diabetic Patients | | BIBAK | PDF | 91-100 | |
| Tim Kindberg; Nick Bryan-Kinns; Ranjit Makwana | |||
| This paper reports on a study of clinicians who care for diabetic patients,
and on the design of an application to support their work. The clinicians'
long-term activity is rooted in a series of private sessions with the patient.
Clinicians exchange information but the timeliness, specificity and other
salient features of the communication are often unsatisfactory. Problems
consequently arise such as the omission or duplication of tests. We describe a
conceptual framework to account for the effectiveness of knowledge-sharing in
groups such as these, and use it to motivate an application aimed at improving
the clinicians' levels of communication and coordination. Keywords: Computer Applications - Life and Medical Sciences (J.3); Information Systems
-Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems (H.4.2); Experimentation,
Human Factors, Theory; cooperative systems, knowledge sharing, medical
informatics | |||
| The Coordinative Functions of Flight Strips: Air Traffic Control Work Revisited | | BIBAK | PDF | 101-110 | |
| Johan Berndtsson; Maria Normark | |||
| Cooperation in time-critical and physically distributed work settings, such
as air traffic control, requires extensive coordination between the involved
actors. For this coordination to be efficient the controllers rely both on the
comprehensive use of rules and procedures, and on artifacts supporting them in
following these procedures. At the Copenhagen Air Traffic Control Center this
coordination is largely carried out through the use of a flight plan database
system, paper flight strips, and a closed-circuit television system. In
relation to the introduction of a new and increasingly automated system in the
year 2003 this paper discusses the coordinative functions served by these
three, soon to be replaced, artifacts from a design perspective. Despite the
skepticism expressed in previous research, our results show that a further
computerization could be successful if the coordinative functions the system
currently fulfills are properly preserved. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Information Systems -Information Systems Applications -
Types of Systems (H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence -
Applications and Expert Systems (I.2.1); Experimentation, Management, Theory;
CSCW, air traffic control, automation, closed-circuit television system,
computerization, coordination, computerization, flight strips | |||
| Supporting Shop Floor Intelligence: A CSCW Approach to Production Planning and Control in Flexible Manufacturing | | BIBAK | PDF | 111-120 | |
| Peter Carstensen; Kjeld Schmidt; Uffe Kock Wiil | |||
| Many manufacturing enterprises are now trying to introduce various forms of
flexible work organizations on the shop floor. However, existing computer-based
production planning and control systems pose severe obstacles for autonomous
working groups and other kinds of shop floor control to become reality. The
research reported in this paper is predicated on the belief that the CSCW
approach could offer a strategy for dealing with this problem. The paper
describes the field work and its constructive outcome: a system that assists
shop-floor teams in dealing with the complexities of day-to-day production
planning by supporting intelligent and responsible workers in their situated
coordination activities on the shop floor. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Information Systems -Information Systems Applications -
Types of Systems (H.4.2); Experimentation, Theory | |||
| A Distributed Algorithm for Graphic Objects Replication in Real-Time Group Editors | | BIBAK | PDF | 121-130 | |
| David Chen; Chengzheng Sun | |||
| Real-time collaborative editing systems are groupware systems that allow
multiple users to edit the same document at the same time from multiple sites.
A specific type of collaborative editing system is the object-based
collaborative graphics editing system. One of the major challenge in building
such systems is to solve the concurrency control problems. This paper addresses
the concurrency control problem of how to preserve the intentions of
concurrently generated operations whose effects are conflicting. An object
replication strategy is proposed to preserve the intentions of all operations.
The effects of conflicting operations are applied to different replicas of the
same object, while non-conflicting operations are applied to the same object.
An object identification scheme is proposed to uniquely and consistently
identify non-replicated and replicated objects. Lastly, an object replication
algorithm is proposed to produce consistent replication effects at all sites. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Algorithms, Design, Reliability;
collaborative editing, concurrency control, consistency maintenance,
distributed computing, graphics editing | |||
| Reducing the Problems of Group Undo | | BIBAK | PDF | 131-139 | |
| Matthias Ressel; Rul Gunzenhauser | |||
| Providing undo functionality in groupware has been identified as an
important, but difficult problem. Existing solutions show deficiencies like
lacking generality, being too complex, being inefficient, or failing to yield
acceptable results in common situations. In this paper we describe a new
approach which reduces local group undo to a transformation-based method for
combining the effects of concurrently issued user commands. Besides
transformations we introduce mirror and folding operators in order to build a
unique and consistent multidimensional model of the user interaction. In this
way the problems of group undo mentioned above can be either overcome or at
least reduced. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Information Systems -Information Systems Applications -
Types of Systems (H.4.2); Design, Experimentation, Theory; CSCW, consistency
maintenance, group editors, operation transformations, real-time groupware,
undo | |||
| An Access Control Framework for Multi-User Collaborative Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 140-149 | |
| Adrian Bullock; Steve Benford | |||
| A vital component of any application or environment is security, and yet
this is often one of the lower priorities, losing out to performance and
functionality issues, if it is considered at all. This paper considers a
spatial approach to enabling, understanding and managing access control that is
generally applicable across a range of collaborative environments and
applications. Access control is governed according to the space within which
subjects and objects reside, and the ability to traverse space to get close to
an object. We present a framework that enables the SPACE access model [4],
previously presented as an access model solely for collaborative virtual
environments, to be applied across a number of collaborative systems. This
framework is exemplified through mappings of the model to 3D and 2D
collaborative environments, namely Spline [1], TeamRooms [19] and Orbit [16].
One particularly interesting feature of the model is the way in which it
handles group access by considering how group credentials are determined. These
credentials are presented to the model in the usual manner. We conclude by
presenting some limitations of our approach, and workarounds. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Computing Methodologies -Simulation and Modeling - Model
Validation and Analysis (I.6.4); Information Systems -Information Systems
Applications - Types of Systems (H.4.2); Design, Management, Theory; access
control, collaborative systems, security | |||
| Evaluating the Usability of an Evolving Collaborative Product -- Changes in User Type, Tasks and Evaluation Methods Over Time | | BIBAK | PDF | 150-159 | |
| Chris Nodder; Gayna Williams; Deborah Dubrow | |||
| The first users of a new technology are often engineers and enthusiasts. The
functionality and interface that they find acceptable may be very different
than the requirements of a more mainstream audience. This poses challenges for
usability engineers in both defining user groups and then evaluating a product
against usability goals, when both users and goals are changing as the
technology matures. Usability evaluation methods for collaborative applications
must evolve and iterate at least as fast as the products themselves. This paper
describes the changes in approach taken by usability engineers between Version
1 and Version 3 of the Microsoft NetMeeting product. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design, Theory, Verification; NetMeeting,
application sharing, collaborative tools, design consideration, development
process, usability evaluation | |||
| An Investigation of the Influence of Network Quality of Service on the Effectiveness of Multimedia Communication | | BIBAK | PDF | 160-168 | |
| Rob Procter; Mark Hartswood; Andy McKinlay; Scott Gallacher | |||
| In this paper we describe an experimental evaluation of multimedia packages
intended for use as in-house training aids within a large UK bank. We focus on
the influence of different kinds of media content and of network quality of
service upon subjects' memory for, and comprehension of, the material. In
particular, we observe that degraded quality of service has a greater influence
on subjects' uptake of emotive/affective content than on their uptake of
factual content. The results have implications for the more general application
of multimedia communication. Keywords: Computer Systems Organization -Computer-Communication Networks - General
(C.2.0); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Theory, Verification; multimedia evaluation,
network quality of service, training, vicarious learning | |||
| Impacts of PACS on Radiological Work | | BIBAK | PDF | 169-178 | |
| Nina Lundberg | |||
| This paper identifies and analyzes the impacts on work practices and
interdependencies in radiological work by PACS (Picture Archive and
Communication System). It illustrates that when PACS was introduced not only
technical devices were integrated, but the people, work practices and
organizations as well. In addition, the paper illustrates how detailed
workplace studies may identify substantial social changes, emerged from
initially insignificant technical solutions that rapidly grows and quickly
becomes embedded and central in large and complex networks as health care. Keywords: Computer Applications - Life and Medical Sciences (J.3); Computing
Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial Intelligence
(I.2.11); Design, Experimentation, Theory: PACS, artifact, health care,
technology impact, work practice | |||
| Pavilion: A Middleware Framework for Collaborative Web-Based Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 179-188 | |
| P. K. McKinley; A. M. Malenfant; J. M. Arango | |||
| This paper describes Pavilion, an object-oriented middleware framework for
developing collaborative web-based applications. Pavilion enables a developer
to construct new applications by inheriting and extending its default
functionality. Reusable and extensible Pavilion components include interfaces
to common web browsers, a reliable multicast protocol tailored for delivery of
web resources, a leadership protocol for floor control, and a highly modular
proxy server that supports data type-specific plug-ins. The architecture and
operation of Pavilion are described, followed by a discussion of VGuide, a
synchronous VRML application built using Pavilion. VGuide enables one user to
lead other users through virtual worlds in a synchronous manner. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Systems and
Software (H.3.4); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence -
Distributed Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design, Experimentation, Theory | |||
| Modeling Collaboration Using Shared Objects | | BIBAK | PDF | 189-198 | |
| Christian Schuckmann; Jan Schummer; Peter Seitz | |||
| Many object-oriented toolkits and frameworks for groupware development
provide shared objects as a basic service. This relieves developers of a lot of
problems originating from the field of distributed systems. However, there is
little support on how to use shared objects to actually build collaborative
applications. In this paper we propose an object-oriented model for
applications using shared objects. The model is discussed with respect to
object-oriented reusability aspects and its applicability is tested against
CSCW-specific aspects like the provision of group-awareness and coupling
control. Furthermore, concrete model examples derived from an example
application are shown for illustration. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Information Systems -Information Systems Applications -
Types of Systems (H.4.2); Design, Management, Theory; groupware frameworks,
object-oriented groupware design, shared objects, synchronous groupware | |||
| Modeling Shared Information Spaces (SIS) | | BIBAK | PDF | 199-208 | |
| Marit Kjosnes Natvig; Oddrun Ohren | |||
| Many companies experience that their corporate intranet is getting complex
and poorly manageable. We believe that developing a model for the website, or
shared information space will make the management easier and provide solutions
that support collaboration and knowledge sharing within the enterprise. The
present paper proposes a meta model defining the conceptual building blocks of
an information space. The meta model takes knowledge as well as information
sharing into account by letting ontologies represent problem domains important
to the enterprise, and be used as means of imposing structure on available
information. To support the different needs of the employees the ability to
interact with the information space through different perspectives is
essential. An example of how the meta model can be deployed to support
contextual retrieval of information in a workflow management application is
described. Keywords: Information Systems -Database Management - Systems (H.2.4); Information
Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Systems and Software (H.3.4);
Experimentation, Management, Theory; knowledge sharing, meta model, ontology,
shared information space | |||
| Use of Virtual Science Park Resource Rooms to Support Group Work in a Learning Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 209-218 | |
| Lydia M. S. Lau; Jayne Curson; Richard Drew; Peter M. Dew; Christine Leigh | |||
| This paper presents a detailed evaluation on the acceptability of a range of
synchronous and asynchronous collaborative tools provided within the Virtual
Science Park (VSP) for group work in a learning environment. In this study, the
VSP was used to provide a web-based 'Resource Room' adopting the familiar
'folder' metaphor for structuring and linking resources, and a number of
different user interfaces for interaction and sharing information. A list of
criteria is established for the evaluation. By using scenario testing and
structured questionnaires, qualitative feedback was collected from 43 Masters
students. The findings reinforce and add to the concerns highlighted in other
studies, in particular, the importance for shared awareness, privacy,
conventions for interaction and the provision of an effective multimedia
environment. More attention will be needed in these areas for effective use of
these groupware tools. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Learning (I.2.6);
Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Experimentation, Theory, Verification; Virtual Science
Park, co-operative learning, collaborative tools, common information space,
evaluation | |||
| Oxymoron, a Non-Distance Knowledge Sharing Tool for Social Science Students and Researchers | | BIBAK | PDF | 219-228 | |
| Camille Bierens de Haan; Gilles Chabre; Francis Lapique; Gil Regev; Alain Wegmann | |||
| Oxymoron is a World Wide Web based knowledge capitalization and sharing tool
that was conceived and developed by a multidisciplinary team, comprised of
adult education and distributed systems professionals from France and
Switzerland. Oxymoron's aim is to support and facilitate the work of students
and researchers in social science by providing them with a system where they
can contribute and obtain knowledge about the relevant readings in their fields
of interest. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Knowledge
Representation Formalisms and Methods (I.2.4); Design, Theory; WWW,
bibliography, groupware, knowledge management, methodology of research,
organizational learning, reading cards, social sciences | |||
| The Role of Expectations in Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBAK | PDF | 229-238 | |
| Joseph A. Bonito; Judee K. Burgoon; Bjorn Bengtsson | |||
| This paper describes a pilot study on the role of expectations in
human-computer interaction on a decision-making task. Participants (N=70) were
randomly assigned to one of 5 different computer partners or to a human
partner. After completing the rankings for the Desert Survival Task,
participants engaged in a dialog with their computer or human partners. Results
revealed that interaction with human partners was more expected and more
positively evaluated than interaction with computer agents. In addition, the
addition of human-like qualities to computer interfaces did not increase
expectedness or evaluations as predicted. Correlation analysis for the five
computer conditions demonstrated that expectations and evaluations do effect
influence and perceptions of the partner. Discussion focuses on ways to
coordinate expectations, interface design, and task objectives. Keywords: Information Systems -Models and Principles - User/Machine Systems (H.1.2);
Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Experimentation, Management, Theory; computer-mediated communication,
expectations, human-computer interaction, interactivity | |||
| User Population and User Contributions to Virtual Publics: A Systems Model | | BIBAK | PDF | 239-248 | |
| Quentin Jones; Sheizaf Rafaeli | |||
| This paper provides a comprehensive review of empirical research into user
contributions to computer-mediated discourse in public cyber-spaces, referred
to here as virtual publics. This review is used to build a systems model of
such discourse. The major components of the model are i) critical mass, ii)
social loafing, and iii) the collective impact of individual cognitive
constraints on the processing of group messages. By drawing these three
components into a single model it becomes possible to describe the shape of a
"user-contributions/user-population function" after controlling for context.
Virtual publics can be created with the support of various technologies including email, newsgroups, webbased bulletin boards etc. Traditionally the choice of technology platform and the way it is used has largely depended on arbitrary factors. This paper suggests that choices of this nature can be based on knowledge about required segmentation points for discourse as they relate to a particular type of technology. This is because the "user-contributions/user-population function" will map differently to different classes of technology. Similarly the different classes of technologies used to enable virtual publics will each have different stress zones at which users will experience information overload resulting from computer mediated discourse. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Systems and
Software (H.3.4); Design, Experimentation, Theory; computer mediated
communication, coordination theory, discourse structures, group communication,
group communication, information overload, systems theory, virtual communities | |||
| An Investigation of Social Loafing and Social Compensation in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work | | BIBAK | PDF | 249-257 | |
| Andy McKinlay; Rob Procter; Anne Dunnett | |||
| The effects of computer-mediated communication on social loafing in
brainstorming tasks and social compensation in decision-making tasks are
examined. In the first experiment, subjects performed a brainstorming task in
either nominal, face-to-face or computer-mediated brainstorming group
conditions. Production blocking, in which brainstorming group members interfere
with each other's output, was minimised, but the nominal group still
out-performed the other groups. In the second experiment, subjects performed a
group decision task in face-to-face and computer mediated communication
conditions. Social compensation in the presence of social loafing was seen to
occur in the first condition, but not in the second. The paper concludes by
discussing some of the consequences of both experiments for the future role of
computer-mediated communication in group work. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Experimentation, Theory, Verification; computer-mediated
communication, computer-supported cooperative work, social compensation, social
loafing | |||
| Pragmatic Solutions for Better Integration of the Visually Impaired in Virtual Communities | | BIBAK | PDF | 258-266 | |
| Thorsten Hampel; Reinhard Keil-Slawik; Bastian Ginger Claassen; Frank Plohmann; Christian Reimann | |||
| This article introduces and discusses issues in the design of user
interfaces for visually impaired people in the domain of virtual communities.
We begin by pointing out that collaborative virtual environments provide
additional means for visually impaired people which may help to accomplish a
better integration into existing communities and social activities. We give a
short introduction to the way visually impaired people usually work with a PC
and show how their method of information access differs to sighted people. We
then take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of existing adaptations to
operating systems. Based on this analysis we describe some requirements for
user interfaces the usability for visually impaired people without losing the
attractiveness and intuitiveness for the sighted. We finally describe a
prototype of a special IRC-Client, called BIRC, and discuss its advantages and
limitations. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Information Systems -Information Interfaces and Presentation - User
Interfaces (H.5.2); Design, Theory; chat, internet, user interface, virtual
communities, visually impaired | |||
| Augmenting Recommender Systems by Embedding Interfaces into Practices | | BIBAK | PDF | 267-275 | |
| Antonietta Grasso; Michael Koch; Alessandro Rancati | |||
| Automated collaborative filtering systems promote the creation of a
meta-layer of information, which describes users' evaluations of the quality
and relevance of information items like scientific papers, books, and movies. A
rich meta-layer is required, in order to elaborate statistically good
predictions of the interest of the information items; the number of users'
contributing to the feedback is a vital aspect for these systems to produce
good prediction quality. The work presented here, first analyses the issues
around recommendation collection then proposes a set of design principles aimed
at improving the collection of recommendations. Finally, it presents how these
principles have been implemented in one real usage setting. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design, Experimentation, Theory; paper
interface, recommender system | |||
| "Making Place" to Make IT Work: Empirical Explorations of HCI for Mobile CSCW | | BIBAK | PDF | 276-285 | |
| Steinar Kristoffersen; Fredrik Ljungberg | |||
| This paper addresses issues of user interface design, relating to ease of
use, of handheld CSCW. In particular, we are concerned with the requirements
that arise from situations in which a traditionally designed mobile computer
with a small keyboard and screen, may not be easily used. This applies to many
mobile use contexts, such as inspection work and engineering in the field. By
examining two such settings, we assert that what is usually pointed to as
severe shortcomings of mobile computing today, for example: awkward keyboard,
small display and unreliable networks, are really implications from a
conceptual HCI design that emphasise unstructured, unlimited input; a rich,
continuous visual feedback channel and marginal use of sound. We introduce
MOTILE, a small prototype that demonstrates some alternative ideas about HCI
for mobile devices. We suggest that identifying complementing user interface
paradigms for handheld CSCW may enhance our understanding not only of mobile
computing or handheld CSCW, but the CSCW field as a whole. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Interfaces and Presentation - User
Interfaces (H.5.2); Design, Experimentation, Theory; audio, direct
manipulation, handheld CSCW, tactile input, user interface design, video | |||
| From Description to Requirements: An Activity Theoretic Perspective | | BIBAK | PDF | 286-295 | |
| Phil Turner; Susan Turner; Julie Horton | |||
| This paper demonstrates how activity theoretic concepts can be used in
conjunction with an ethnographically informed approach to derive requirements
on a work situation. We present a case study based on a series of collaborative
design episodes, the structured description derived from it and show how a
preliminary set of contextually-grounded requirements on supporting the design
process can be created. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design, Experimentation, Theory; WWW,
activity theory, contextual analysis, ethnography, requirements | |||
| A Design Process for Embedding Knowledge Management in Everyday Work | | BIBAK | PDF | 296-305 | |
| Marcel Hoffmann; Kai-Uwe Loser; Thomas Walter; Thomas Herrmann | |||
| Knowledge Management Software must be embedded in processes of knowledge
workers' everyday practice. In order to attain a seamless design, regarding the
special qualities and requirements of knowledge work, detailed studies of the
existing work processes and analysis of the used knowledge are necessary.
Participation of the knowledge owners and future users us an important factor
for success of knowledge management systems. In this paper we describe
characteristics of knowledge work motivating the usage of participatory design
techniques. We suggest a design process for developing or improving knowledge
management, which includes ethnographic surveys, user participation in cyclic
improvement, scenario based design, and the use of multiple design artifacts
and documents. Finally we explain the benefits of our approach. The paper is
based on a case study we carried out to design and introduce a knowledge
management system in a training company. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Knowledge Representation
Formalisms and Methods (I.2.4); Information Systems -Information Systems
Applications - Types of Systems (H.4.2); Design, Management, Theory; knowledge
management, knowledge work, organizational learning, organizational memory
systems, participatory design | |||
| The Geography of Coordination: Dealing with Distance in R&D Work | | BIBAK | PDF | 306-315 | |
| Rebecca E. Grinter; James D. Herbsleb; Dewayne E. Perry | |||
| Geographically distributed development creates new questions about how to
coordinate multi-site work. In this paper, we present four methods product
development organizations used to coordinate their work: functional areas of
expertise, product structure, process steps, and customization. We describe the
benefits and difficulties with each model. Finally, we discuss two difficulties
that occur irrespective of the model used: consequences of unequal distribution
of project mass, and finding expertise. Keywords: Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed Artificial
Intelligence (I.2.11); Information Systems -Information Systems Applications -
Types of Systems (H.4.2); Design, Experimentation, Theory; collaborative work,
coordination mechanisms, geographically distributed development | |||
| Intertwining Perspectives and Negotiation | | BIBAK | PDF | 316-325 | |
| Gerry Stahl; Thomas Herrmann | |||
| Cooperative work typically involves both individual and group activities.
Computer support for perspectives allows people to view and work in a central
information repository within personal contexts. However, work in personal
perspectives encourages divergent thinking. Negotiation in group perspectives
is needed to converge on consensus, shared understanding, and cooperation.
Negotiation processes on their own can delay progress. By intertwining
perspective and negotiation mechanisms, individual results can be
systematically merged into a group product while work continues. Personal
perspectives on shared information are thereby intertwined and merged into a
shared group understanding. WEBGUIDE is a prototype system that integrates
perspective and negotiation mechanisms; its user interface has been mocked up
in detail to work out the many issues involved. We have begun to use partial
implementations of WEBGUIDE to support cooperative intellectual work in small
research groups. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Experimentation, Theory; CSCL, WebGuide,
negotiation, perspectives | |||
| Collaboration Transparency in the DISCIPLE Framework | | BIBAK | PDF | 326-335 | |
| Wen Li; Weicong Wang; Ivan Marsic | |||
| Sharing single-user software applications is a major goal of synchronous
groupware particularly because the majority of applications continues to be
developed for single users. We present a mechanism for sharing
collaboration-transparent single-user applications in our DISCIPLE
collaboration framework. DISCIPLE is the equivalent of a Web browser that
allows sharing applets (Java components, both transparent and aware of
collaboration). It allows users with no programming background to quickly
assemble arbitrary collaborative applications. Even though the presented
solutions are specific to Java, many apply to other platforms as well. We
introduce a novel concept of resource servers to solve the problem of resource
access in collaboration-transparent applications. We also discuss the
limitations of the framework in particular and of sharing
collaboration-transparent applications in general. The framework has been
implemented and tested on a variety of applications. Preliminary experimental
results are reported. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Design, Experimentation, Theory; CSCW, CSCW
frameworks, JavaBeans, collaborative systems, collaboration,
collaboration-transparent applications, distributed computing, dynamic
reconfiguration, runtime dynamics, synchronous groupware | |||
| Runtime Dynamics in Collaborative Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 336-345 | |
| Du Li; Richard R. Muntz | |||
| The importance of supporting flexible roles and dynamic policies has long
been recognized in the CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) literature
but unfortunately never with a systematic solution. This paper proposes a
taxonomy of runtime dynamics in collaborative systems in general and discusses
our solution in the COCA framework. Firstly, individual participants can take
roles, drop roles, and switch between roles as a collaboration runs, Secondly,
a role can be transferred from one participant to another at runtime. Thirdly,
session-wide, authorized participants can change the definition of roles and
coordination policies on the fly while keeping the mapping between roles and
participants. When such changes happen on the fly, the runtime environment of
the sites which are potentially affected, including the state information
within the computation modules and the communication channels, must be handled
properly according to the semantics of the collaboration itself. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Computing Methodologies -Artificial Intelligence - Distributed
Artificial Intelligence (I.2.11); Experimentation, Theory; CSCW, collaboration,
collaborative systems, distributed computing, dynamic reconfiguration, runtime
dynamics | |||
| A System Architecture for the Extension of Structured Information Spaces by Coordinated CSCW Services | | BIBAK | PDF | 346-355 | |
| Peter Manhart | |||
| The World Wide Web is an emerging platform for information systems; however
established system architectures for web systems focus mainly on the creation
and storage of consistent hypermedia information structures and on the
efficient distribution of the resulting documents. The interaction between the
information users is seldom supported.
As many application scenarios profit greatly from human interaction, the paper presents a platform- and application-independent generic system architecture designed to extend existing web-based information systems by coordinated services for human interaction. One prototype implementation of the architecture supports user awareness and human interaction on corporate web sites. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Systems and
Software (H.3.4); Design, Experimentation, Theory; CSCW services, group
interaction, system architecture, web-based human interaction | |||
| Recognition and Reasoning in an Awareness Support System for Generation of Storyboard-Like Views of Recent Activity | | BIBAK | PDF | 356-364 | |
| Datong Chen; Hans-Werner Gellersen | |||
| Awareness support system are based on formal and specific context
information such as location, or on video-mediated general context information
such asa view into a remote office. We propose a new approach based on fusion
of these different kinds of context information. In this approach we
distinguish white box context, used by the awareness system for reasoning, and
black box context, which can only be interpreted by humans. Our approach uses a
variety of perception techniques to obtain white box context from audio and
video streams. White box context is then used for further processing of context
information, for instance to derive additional context. It is further used to
generate a storyboard-like multimedia representation of collected and extracted
context information. This storyboard provides a condensed view of recent
activity to collaboration partners. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Experimentation, Theory; awareness support systems, collaboration
awareness, context recognition, context-awareness, groupware | |||
| Facilitating Orientation in Shared Hypermedia Workspaces | | BIBAK | PDF | 365-374 | |
| Jorg M. Haake | |||
| Shared workspaces are an important means for supporting long-term
synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. Shared workspaces themselves become
difficult to manage due to increasing size and constant change. This is
especially true for shared hypermedia workspaces. Thus means for managing the
shared hypermedia workspace in terms of keeping an overview of the group's work
and coordinating changes become necessary.
In this paper we propose a shared hypermedia workspace model representing not only shared content but also team and process related information. Four complementary tools facilitate orientation and coordination in the shared workspace: a group aware content browser, a group aware overview browser, a shared workspace search tool, and a shared process space browser. Together, these tools should enable groups to stay aware of each other's activities and to control the level of awareness according to their needs. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Systems Applications - Types of Systems
(H.4.2); Experimentation, Theory; awareness, collaboration support, cooperative
work, coordination, orientation, shared hypermedia workspace | |||
| Getting Some Perspective: Using Process Descriptions to Index Document History | | BIBAK | PDF | 375-384 | |
| Paul Dourish; Richard Bentley; Rachel Jones; Allan MacLean | |||
| Process descriptions are used in workflow and related systems to describe
the flow of work and organisational responsibility in business processes, and
to aid in coordination. However, the division of a working process into a
sequence of steps provides only a partial view of the work involved. In many
cases, the performance of individual tasks in a larger process may depend on
interpretations and understandings of how other aspects of the work were
conducted.
We present an example from an ethnographic investigation of one particular organisation, and introduce a mechanism, which we call "Perspectives," for dealing with it. A "Perspective" uses the process description to provide an index into the history of a document moving through a process. Perspectives allow workflow systems to manage and present information about the execution of specific process instances within the general frame of abstract process descriptions. Keywords: Information Systems -Information Storage and Retrieval - Content Analysis
and Indexing (H.3.1); Experimentation, Theory; awareness, process execution,
process modeling, visualisation, workflow | |||