Computer Supported Cooperative Work

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Agenda Introductions and course information CSCW overview

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Overview Class Information Some reading (pick up readings from Engineering Copy Center) Some lectures A lot of discussion One paper One programming assignment

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Using Online Tools We will rely heavily on CSCW tools in this class EEE chat rooms will be open during class Office hours will be held online The wiki will be used to coordinate your groups and turn in assignments

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Your grades… Class participation 20% Quizzes 40% Programming assignment 20% Final 20%

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Class Website dex.html

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) Study of how people work together as a group and how technology affects this practice. Support the social processes of work, often among geographically separated people.

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Examples Scientists collaborating on a technical issue Authors editing a document together Programmers debugging a system concurrently Workers collaborating over a shared video conferencing application Buyers and sellers meeting in eBay

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Research Focus Often divided into two main areas Systems – Groupware –Designing software to facilitate collaboration Social component –Study of human and group dynamics in such situations

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Classification by Time/Space Time Place Same Different

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Time/Space Taxonomy Time Place Synchronous Co-located Asynchronous Remote Face-to-facePost-it note Phone call Letter E-meeting room Argument. tool Video window, wall I , newsgroup, CoWeb

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes A more-fleshed out taxonomy

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Classification by Function Cooperative work involves: –Participants who are working –Artifacts upon which they work participants artifacts of work control and feedback PP A communication understanding direct

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Communication via an artifact Deixis –reference to work objects Feedthrough –communication through the artifact control and feedback PP A communication understanding direct deixis

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes What interactions does a tool support? participants artefacts of work control and feedback PP A communication understanding direct meeting and decision support systems – common understanding computer-mediated communication – direct communication between participants shared applications and artifacts – control and feedback with shared work objects

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Meeting and Decision Support Systems Examples –Corporate decision-support conference room Provides ways of rationalizing decisions, voting, presenting cases, etc. Concurrency control is important –Shared computer classroom/cluster Group discussion/design aid tools

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Computer-mediated Communication Aids IM SMS Chats MUDs virtual worlds desktop videoconferencing

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Shared Applications and Tools Want to avoid “locking” and allow multiple people to concurrently work on document Requires some form of contention resolution How do you show what others are doing?

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Social Issues People bring in different perspectives and views to a collaboration environment Goal of CSCW systems is often to establish some common ground and to facilitate understanding and interaction

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Turn Taking There are many subtle social conventions about turn taking in an interaction –Personal space, closeness –Eye contact –Gestures –Body language –Conversation cues

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Geography, Position In group dynamics, the physical layout of individuals matters a lot –“Power positions” (Stasko)

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes The Challenge of Engineering and Math: Anecdotes On a mandatory assignment involving a math class studying results from Engineering students’ simulations, 40% of math students accepted a zero rather than collaborate with engineers. Swiki team provided an Equation Editor in the CoWeb (A Wiki at GT) for an Engineering and a Math course to facilitate talking about equations. Not a single student even tried the Editor.

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes

Competition Student quotes on “Why didn’t you participate in CoWeb?” “1) didn't want to get railed 2) with the curve it is better when your peers do badly” “since it is a curved class most people don’t want others to do well” (Note: Students claimed that the course grades were “curved” even when there was none!)

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes Learned helplessness Student quotes: “I haven't posted about questions because I am confident that my answers are wrong.” “I thought I was the only one having problem understanding what was asked in the exam.” “Who am I to post answers?” “The overall environment for [this class] isn't a very help-oriented environment.” Bottom line: For Collaboration to work in Engineering, must be explicit focus to make it work.

Informatics 153 – Fall 2008 – Gillian Hayes For Thursday History of CSCW You know the drill… names and pictures on the wiki