Groupware

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Groupware

• Howell Istance

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Groupware

• Software designed to support group working, not
  just to facilitate communication
• CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) -
  field of study which examines the design,
  adoption, and use of groupware.
• not restricted to issues of "cooperation" or
  "work" but also examines competition,
  socialising, and play.

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Advantages of Groupware

• Groupware offers significant advantages over
  single-user systems.
• to facilitate communication make it faster,
  clearer, more persuasive
• to enable communication where it wouldn't
  otherwise be possible
• to enable telecommuting
• to cut down on travel costs

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More advantages of Groupware

• to bring together multiple perspectives and
  expertise
• to form groups with common interests where it
  wouldn't be possible to gather a sufficient
  number of people face-to-face
• to save time and cost in coordinating group work
• to facilitate group problem-solving
• to enable new modes of communication, such as
  anonymous interchanges or structured interactions

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Classifying Groupware Systems

• Can be classified by
• When and where the participants are working
• The function it performs for cooperative working

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Time/Space Matrix (when/where)

• Classify groupware according
• 1) when participants are working
• at the same time (synchronous) or not
  (asynchronous)
• 2) where the participants are working
• in the same place (co-located) or not (remote)

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Functions supported by Groupware

• Cooperative work involves
• Participants (P) who are working
• Artefacts (A) upon which they work

understanding
P
direct communication
P
(Joe)
(Bob)
Control and feedback
A
(shared document)
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asynchronous groupware

• email (computer mediated communication)
• newsgroups (computer mediated communication)
• workflow (control of shared objects)
• group calendars (control of shared objects)
• collaborative writing (control of shared
  objects)

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synchronous groupware

• shared whiteboards (meeting and decision
  support)
• video-conferencing (computer mediated
  communication)
• chat (computer mediated communication)
• decision support (meeting and decision support)
• games (control of shared objects)

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Computer-mediated communication

• asynchronous/remote tools
• email, bulletin boards, structured message
  systems (email plus some additional fields to
  enable sorted and filtering),
• asynchronous/co-located
• argumentation tools (enable recording of
  arguments for design decisions
• synchronous/remote
• video conferencing
• meeting and decision support systems
• synchronous/co-located
• meeting rooms (electronic support for
  face-to-face meetings)

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Collaborative Virtual Environments

• Graphical or text-based environments where
  several people, remotely located, collaborate on
  some common activity (work-based or for
  entertainment)
• Important to create the illusion of presence in
  the virtual world, to make a person they are in
  the world with other people
• Worlds can contain shared artefacts or tools to
  facilitate collaborative working

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a DIVE model of the atrium at Electrum
Between the 2 virtual bodies stands a whiteboard
application on which all participants can draw.
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3D visualisation of a database in DIVE
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ActiveWorlds - a web-based collaborative virtual
environment
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Greenspace project
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Use of Greenspace CVE for design reviews
Review of design of hotel rooms
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TeamWave
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Tools provided with TeamWave

• Address Book
• Calendar
• Concept Map
• Database
• Doorway
• Fileholder
• File Viewer

• Image Whiteboard
• Meeting Roster
• Message Board
• Postit
• Slide Tool
• To Do List
• URL Reference
• Vote

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Design Issues

• User Studies
• Adoption and Acceptance
• Session Control
• Floor Control
• Determining Conversation Structure
• Customisation
• Avoiding Abuse
• Privacy
• Awareness

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User studies

• Important to understand work-related needs of
  users of any system
• user group testing is often difficult than for
  single user systems
• pre-established groups vary in interaction style,
  determined by how long someone has been in a
  group
• groups are dynamic - roles change within groups
• testing within organisations difficult as
  introducing new versions may cause disruption
• studies often need to be long-term

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Adoption and Acceptance

• Perceived benefit - if the effort for an
  individual to use the system is not perceived to
  justify the benefit gained
• Interoperability - concerns about compatibility
  between systems available on the market may
  inhibit adoption of any one system

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Session Control

• session - a group of people are in a conversation
  together at a given time,
• session control - similar to a person standing at
  the door of a room checking IDs and deciding who
  gets to go in.
• issues include finding out what rooms are
  available, determining who can enter and exit the
  room, and when and how.

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Floor Control

• access each person has to shared artifacts, or
  conversational functions
• no control enables simultaneous access by anyone
  at anytime
• alternative policies involve some form of
  turn-taking

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Determining Conversation Structure

• Technology mediated conversation - system
  determines protocol and structure for exchanges
  of messages
• Socially-mediated conversation - how, when and if
  messages are responded to is left to the
  individual.

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Customisation

• Basic conflict between allowing one user to
  customise their view of information, and then
  sharing this view with someone else
• Leads to possibility of confusion and errors
• customisation through
• selection of information and emphasis of
  information
• presentation of information (e.g.colours)

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Other groupware design issues

• Avoiding Abuse
• spamming with email is an example
• some form of payment for the use of the system
  is a possible means to reduce this
• Privacy
• requires a balance between the need to share some
  information and keep some information private
• a mechanism for information hiding necessary
• Awareness
• issue of making others aware what an individual
  is currently doing
• telepresence - feeling of presence of a
  remotely located person

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Examples of awareness and privacy issues
In-your-face obtrusive telepresence
Unobtrusive telepresence
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Can I be disturbed?