Hybrid Ecologies: Understanding Collaborative Action in Emerging PhysicalDigital Environments

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• Hybrid Ecologies Understanding Collaborative
  Action in Emerging Physical-Digital Environments

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Ecologies

• What do we mean?
• The physical environments in which collaborative
  action is situated and takes place
• A longstanding concern in studies of
  collaborative action
• E.g., air traffic control, print industry,
  domestic environment
• Focus on ways in which physical environment
  impacts on collaboration

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Ecologies and design

• Studies complemented by design efforts to develop
  digital ecologies
• Historically, 2 main strands predicated
• 1) on face-to-face models of collaboration
• E.g., media spaces, dual ecologies, mixed
  ecologies
• 2) on spatial models of collaboration resulting
• a) in CVEs and mixed reality environments, and b)
  in graphical interfaces that exploit spatial
  metaphors
• Emergence of ubiquitous computing provides a 3rd
  distinct strand of development

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Ubiquitous Computing

• Merges collaboration across physical and digital
  ecologies
• So creates hybrid ecologies - new kinds of
  collaborative environment
• hybrid
• noun - a thing made by combining two different
  elements a mixture
• Understanding the collaborative nature of the
  mixture is fundamental to ongoing development

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Unpacking the mixture

• Weisers vision
• To extrapolate from today's rudimentary
  fragments of embodied virtuality resembles an
  attempt to predict the publication of Finnegans
  Wake after just having invented writing on clay
  tablets. The Computer for the 21st Century
• Nevertheless, Sallys journey from waking to work

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From rudimentary to complex fragments

• Equator experiences, e.g.,
• Ambient Wood
• The Mack Room
• George Square
• SMS Public Display
• Can You See Me Now?
• Uncle Roy All Around You
• A range of complex experiences that flesh out,
  embody and articulate the fundamental vision
• But what do they tell us of the fundamental
  nature of collaboration in this new kind of
  environment (what sort of model is appropriate)?

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A perspicuous setting

• Uncle Roy All Around You
• Players must collaborate to find Uncle Roys
  office
• Collaboration mechanisms
• Audio messages from street players
• Text messages from online players
• Street players have a PDA and map view of game
  zone, and receive clues from Uncle Roy to guide
  them
• Online players have 3D virtual model and can
  track players avatars through it
• Street players must collaborate with online
  players to find a postcard somewhere in the city,
  which triggers the provision of information to
  online players with which to guide street players
  to Roys office

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Playing the game

• Collaboration between online and street players

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Whats happening?

• Reconciling fragments of interaction (1)
• Work of reconciliation
• Formulating adequate directions to places and
  objects (there)
• Establishing mutually intelligible orientations
  to places and objects (where)
• Establishing the ecological validity of
  instructions (here)
• Trading on the development of local knowledge

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Reconciling fragments of interaction (1)

• Fundamental features
• Articulation work
• Collaborative activities whereby users coordinate
  distributed action and situate UbiComp in the
  real world (finding phoneboxes, finding
  postcards, following clues, etc.)
• Vulgar competence
• The ordinary, unremarkable, taken for granted
  work-practices articulation consists of
• No one told users to do these things, they were
  done naturally without prior discussion,
  negotiation, training, etc.

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Reconciling fragments of interaction (2)

• Applies behind the scenes too

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Reconciling fragments of interaction (2)

• Seamful representations
• From breakdowns to transparent linking of wired
  and wireless networks (Weiser)
• Uncle Roy
• GPRS connectivity
• Online status (clue trail)
• Flow of messages
• Embedded in and articulated through orchestration
  practices
• Making system views on collaborative action
  visible and available as a resource for
  collaborative action

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Reconciling fragments of interaction (3)

• And its fragmented for the analyst
• Internal and external resources
• System logs
• Audio files
• Video recordings
• Etc.
• No single source provides for an adequate view on
  the work of reconciliation
• E.g., instructed action, logs and local knowledge
• Need to reconcile resources to get a coherent
  view on fragmented interaction

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The nature of collaboration in hybrid ecologies
(the model)

• Fragmented interaction
• Fragments reconciled through
• Articulation work
• Collaborative activities whereby users coordinate
  distributed action and situate UbiComp in the
  real world
• Vulgar competence
• The mundane, unremarkable, taken for granted
  work-practices that articulation work consists
  of
• Exploiting seamful representations
• System views on collaborative action, embedded in
  and articulated through orchestration practices

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Future challenges

• Unpacking fragmented interaction
• At the front end
• Adequate logging to support study of articulation
  work and vulgar competence
• Behind the scenes
• Logging seamful representations and documenting
  orchestration practices
• After the fact
• Developing tools to support the reconciliation of
  internal and external resources