Computer Supported Cooperative Work 440 Autumn 2008 CSCW & Groupware Computer Supported Cooperative Work 440 Autumn 2008

Background CSCW grew from discontent with single user HCI methods applied to multi-user technologies and settings Focus on Workplace activity Understanding nature of collaborative tasks Co-evolution of technologies and communities Early apps CAD, computer integrated manufacturing, computer aided software engineering, office automation

What is CSCW? Work is a social activity People and their activities are integral to design of technology Workers may have social proximity despite physical/temporal distance. The water cooler effect. What is “work”

CSCW focuses on people working with others Community Organization Project teams Small groups Individuals CSCW HCI traditional HCI

Related Fields Behavioural Science Computer Science Telecommunications Social psychology Organizational science Anthropology Sociology Computer Science Distributed computing Networking User interface/visualization Mobile & wireless Telecommunications Telephony video

Related methods Involve users! User Centered Design Management Studies Focus on user at the interface Management Studies Focus on decision making Contextual Analysis and Design Interviews in work settings Participatory Design Have the user be a designer Anthropology/Ethnography Long term study of groups/organizations

Face to Face communication Personal Space Eye contact and gaze Can convey interest, confusion, boredom Gestures and body language Back channels, confirmation, interruption Back channels = nods, shrugs, small noises Turn Taking Ums, ahs, pauses What happens when these channels are unavailable?

Face to Face vs CMI Face to Face Computer mediated interaction Communication Face to Face Coordination Information Failure to understand context *Manager reciprocity example. *backchannel communication (eg dentist notes in margins) Technology not good enough Missing out on the intangibles. Computer mediated interaction Communication Coordination Information

Beyond Being There What are some advantages of computer mediated collaboration over face to face?

Dimensions of Cooperation Location Same Place Different Place Same Time Synchronous Local Remote Different Asynchronous Time What are some examples of applications in these areas?

Dimensions of Cooperation Location Same Place Different Place Same Time Face to Face conversation Telephone Different Post-it note Letter Time What are some examples of applications in these areas?

Where would google documents fit? Location Same Different Meeting rooms Video Conference Video wall IM Shared work surfaces and editors Shared PCs and windows Augmentation tools -”Where were you?” Email Electronic conferences Co-authoring systems Shared calendars Time Where would google documents fit?

Questions When is a text better than a phone call? What is the difference between IM and Email?

Activity Spectrum Awareness Shared Experience Loosely coupled activity Social Activities Informal Interactions Locating Colleagues Office Sharing Meetings Focused work tasks Highly interactive activity

The Awareness Orb

Organizational Issues Who benefits? Free rider problem Critical mass Changing power structures Benefits of use Cost of use Number of users Critical Mass

Organizational Issues Reciprocity / Symmetry If you do work for a system, you should get some benefit Fitting in with organizational structure and values Flexibility Cost Setup Maintenance

Granularity Network system with locking Large Chunk size Small Shared editor Frequent Infrequent Update

Groupware systems Email Videoconferencing Lotus Notes Bulletin Boards Google Documents …

Email Where does it fit? Why is it successful? Where has it failed? Place/Space Same Different Synchronous Local Remote Asynchronous Time

Videoconferencing Where does it fit? Why isn’t it more popular? Place/Space Same Different Synchronous Local Remote Asynchronous Time

Videoconferencing What are the difficulties? How has it failed? How has it succeeded? How could it be improved? Clearboard/Teamworkstation (Ishii et al) VideoWhiteboard (Tang et al)

ClearBoard

MultiView

Pebbles / Remote Commander

DiamondTouch

CSCW Topics Social Tagging Concurrent Editing Displays Social Networks Privacy Wikis