ICS 463, Intro to Human Computer Interaction Design:

12. Computer Supported Collaborative Work

Dan Suthers

Forms of CSCW

SynchronousAsynchronous

Co-located

Distributed

Colab (late 1980’s onwards)

• Synchronous-local• Liveboard, individual workstations • Software

– Cognoter– Argnoter– Boardnoter

• Can work in private or

public spaces

Colab: Hardware innovations

• Liveboards – Light-based– Ultrasonic

Colab: Cognoter

• Preparing an outline of a presentation

• Based on three-phase model: – Brainstorm (also uses Boardnoter) – Organize– Evaluate

• Others have developed similar schemes

• Let’s see a video …

Colab: Argnoter

• Presentation and evaluation of proposals

• Also three-phase model – Propose - placed in the workspace– Argue - annotated by participants– Evaluate - rank evaluation criteria and

apply under different belief sets

• Example of a Group Decision Support System (GDSS)

Colab: Portable meetings & ideas

• Vison: Colab workspaces available everywhere, interconnected

Synchronous-Remote CSCW

• Typically two components: – Shared workspaces– Natural language interaction

• Video• Audio• Textual “chat”

• Commercial tools: NetMeeting, Polycom videoconferencing etc.

Activity / presence awareness

• Is Jan in his office? • What is he doing? • Is he willing to talk?

Eye Contact

Video Tunnel Hydra

Access Grid (HITS on steroids?)

I think …

• The technology is great, but the real issues are in designing the workspaces (representations, collaborative work tools) and activity structures

Asynchronous Examples

• Discussion tools, e.g. Email, Threaded discussions

• Document repositories– BSCW http://bscw.gmd.de/

• Document annotation systems– Kukakuka, Pink – JIME http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/

• Multimedia/Mixed– Knowledge Forum

http://kf.oise.utoronto.ca/kfdemo/kfdemo.html– Teamwave

Synchronous Issues

• Awareness– Who is on right now?– Is Jan answering my question, or did

he leave for lunch?

• Coherence– Who is answering whom?

• Value of video– When are talking heads valuable? – Demonstrations, negotiation,

familiarity

Asynchronous Issues

• Context and coherence– Artifact-centered discourse

• What is this message about?• Where are the messages about this

artifact?– Picking up where we left off

• What was the last idea proposed? • What is she responding to?

Asynchronous Issues Cont.

• Single versus multiple workspaces – Multiple threads in a single workspace – Movement of ideas between multiple

workspaces and groups

• Group Awareness– Are there any new messages? – Has anyone been reading my

proposal?

General Issues

• Identity and trust• Cross cultural communications • Serendipity of informal interactions

– Always-on shared spaces? – Virtual coffee pot?

More Design Issues and Ideas

• Viability compared to alternatives• Build based on existing work practice • May invent new collaborative practices• Local conventions develop: acclimate

newcomers• Time zones a problem• Synchronous meetings with large groups

require facilitation• Delays can impede rhythm of

communication