Computer Supported Cooperative Work

Saul Greenberg

Computer SupportedCooperative Work

Saul GreenbergProfessor

Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of Calgary

Motivation

I work by

myself

I work with

people

In the Near Future

Computers will be ubiquitous

Computers will be inter-connected

Result• through their computers, people will be able to

- communicate- work together

Let those who wish to communicate any matter of pressing importance to each other by fire-signals prepare two earthenware pots of exactly equal size both as to diameter and depth. Let the depth be 3 cubits, the diameter one…

Definitions / Research Goals

Groupware- software that supports group work- investigate algorithms & architectures fundamental to multi-user systems

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)- knowledge about the context of groupware design- investigate individual/group/organizational requirements for multi-user

systems

feedback

Perspectives

Why pursue collaboration through computers?• consider massive change to society of:

- printing press- telephone- facsimiles- electronic mail- world wide web

The Groupware Paradigm & Technologies

sameplace

differentplaces

same time different times

face to face interactions

public computer screens decision rooms brainstorming tools

continuous task

team rooms group displays shift work groupware project management

remote interactions

video conferencing walls & hallways desktop conferencing shared views shared drawing/editors...

communication+coordination

email bulletin boards asynchronous conferencing schedulers version control...

Anytime, any place groupware

sameplace

differentplaces

same time different times

Focus: Real Time Distributed Meetings

One or more participants are in different locations

• Telepresence- can we give participants a sense they are in the same room?

• Teledata- how can participants interact over their work artifacts?

• Casual Interaction- how can participants get in touch with each other?

Mmmm mmm mmmm mm mmm mmmmm m mmm.Mm mmmm mm. Mmmmm mmm.

Telepresence

Giving participants a sense they are in the same room

1. Video Conferencing Rooms• dedicated meeting rooms joined by audio & video• ‘heavy weight’ to use• talking heads

Telepresence

Giving participants a sense they are in the same room

2. Media spaces• digitally switched “ubiquitous” audio and video on personal

computers

Telepresence

Giving participants a sense they are in the same room

Videos:

• Digitally switched video technology- Pandora (Olivetti)

• Eye contact, gestures and body language- Talking heads (MIT)- Magik (Keio University)- GestureCam (University of Tsukuba)

Telepresence Issues

Size and Quality• what is the image fidelity?

Scalability• how do I show several people?

Camera positioning, focusing• am I centered in the view of the

camera?

Eye contact• is the other person looking at me?

Body language• can I see subtle body motions?

Gaze awareness• can I tell where the other person is

looking?

Gestures tied to artifacts• can I gesture around objects

Reciprocity• if I can see them, can they see

me?

Teledata

Letting participants interact over their work artifacts

Shared visual workspaces• views of computer artifacts are shared in real time

GroupSketch (Calgary)

Identical views, gestures, simultaneous activity

Supporting awareness when views are not identical

Supporting Awareness (Calgary)

Supporting both telepresence and teledata (NTT)

Casual Interaction and Awareness

Questions• who is around?• are they available now?• can they be interrupted?• how can I initiate contact?

The problem

Groupware can only work after people make contact with each other

?

Current approaches

Glancing into offices via Montage (Sun Microsystems)

What I see

Current Approaches

Video walls (Bellcore)

Current approaches

Periodic Snapshots

Mark’s office(3:05pm)

Mary’s office(3:01pm)

Deen’s office(now)

Current Approaches

Iconic indicators (Calgary)

Current Approaches

Iconic indicators

Current Approaches

Active badges (Olivetti)

Current Approaches

Digital but physical surrogates (Calgary and Tsukuba)

The Message

In the near future• people will regularly communicate and work together through

computers through groupware

Groupware design requires • technical know-how • deep knowledge of the human + social factors behind

communication- telepresence- teledata- awareness and casual interaction

TeamRooms