A large number of cooperative applications are reliant on the facilities provided by distributed systems. However, little consideration has been given to the support of cooperative work by these systems. The seminar will examine provision of appropriate mechanisms to represent cooperative work within a distributed infrastructure.
Using an examination of the mechanisms provided by distributed platforms and existing models of activity in cooperative systems the seminar will present novel model of activity as the basis for a supporting infrastructure. Rather than concentrate on the exchange of information, this model focuses on the mechanisms for sharing objects. This focus enables a clear separation between the mechanisms provided by the distributed platform, and the policy which is the responsibility of the cooperative applications. A platform for sharing Cooperating Objects in Lightweight Activities (COLA) which realises the developed model will also be presented. The COLA platform provides the means to allow applications to externalise appropriate features of cooperative activities in such a way that these can be shared across applications. The platform mediates the sharing of information and provides suitable supporting mechanisms for information sharing. This approach allow the details of policy and the associated control of this policy to be administered by the applications being supported. Finally, an application of the platform to support the activities surrounding the setting of an electronic examination will be presented.
The Olivetti active badge, and, more recently, the Xerox PARC Tab (a small `wearable' computer with a two-way IR communications link) have led to some revolutionary computer applications.
One such is an aid to human memory: if Bill and Joan carry Tabs, Bill can say `When I next meet Joan, page me with the message "Discuss ..."' or, if data is stored, `What date was it that I last met Joan in the Conference Room'.
The talk will describe the background to work at Rank Xerox EuroPARC in Cambridge on building a memory prosthesis, and will cover some of the technical and personal issues that are involved.
This seminar outline the key foundations of information economics, including both macro and micro-economics. Information economics contributes one correction to a serious bias in the popular and professional literature which characterises information systems issues as essentially a technological problem.
This seminar discusses how, for most organisations, expenditure on the management of information is an order of magnitude greater than expenditure on information technology. There is therefore another reason to consider the context of the use of computers and software in addition to reasons suggested by CSCW work.
At a different level, there is much controversy in the business world because creating a business strategy is widely advocated, but there is little evidence that companies with strategies are more successful than those without. Information Economics provides a framework for considering the information market situation of an organisation such that the need for strategy is proportional to the information asymmetry in the environment of the organisation.
The micro-economic aspects of information economics include the very difficult problem of how to assess the return on investment from IT infrastructure projects.
This talk reports on some recent research comparing joint task performance and communication in face-to-face, video-mediated and audio-only conditions. In common with other research using similar tasks, the medium had no significant effect on task performance (as measured by accuracy and performance time). However, face-to-face communication was found to be more "efficient" than audio-only communication in terms of the number of speaker exchanges, length of dialogues and mean length of turns required to achieve the same level of task performance. In addition, face-to-face dialogues contained less interruptions and fewer verbal backchannels. This, together with the results of an analysis of dialogue structure and gaze, confirms the proposal of Clark and Brennan (1991) that nonverbal signals such as gaze play an important role in establishing mutual understanding or common ground in communication, and therefore carry communicative functions beyond simply regulating turn-taking or signalling affect. In contrast, video-mediated conversations were found to be less efficient and contained more interruptions than either face-to-face or audio-only conditions. Analysis of gaze and dialogue structure suggests that, although the nonverbal channel is used in similar ways to face-to-face conversations, the effectiveness of the video channel as a means of grounding information is somehow reduced. Suggestions are made as to why video mediated communication may be subtly different to face-to-face interactions.
The traditional model of abstraction in software engineering hides implementation decisions behind abstraction barriers because the "details don't matter". But the everyday experience of programmers shows that this isn't true; that the abstractions "lock in" decisions which limit their range of use.
In this talk, I'll discuss how these problems with abstraction come about, and how they manifest themselves; and outline an approach -- open implementation -- which can be taken to address them. I'll illustrate the issues and flesh out the solutions with a range of examples, but in particular, I'll discuss how I'm applying these ideas in Prospero, a toolkit for building collaborative applications.
I will talk about the problems users face when their colleagues or shared information resources are a 'long way' away. By a long way, I mean in terms of virtual space - people whose electronic connectivity is slow, weak, poor or intermittant. At the best end of communications under this heading I consider the Internet, but I also consider those working with portable computers who may be temporarily disconnected and even those whose chief means of electronic communication is a floppy disk in the post!
The critical aspect of the communication channels is typically not the bandwidth, but the pace of communication - the rate at which messages can be sent and the round-trip time of the channel. Pace limited interaction, whether inter-personal or with computers, has different characteristics from bandwidth limited interaction. Interfaces must be designed to take into account these characteristics. In particular, the direct manipulation paradigm is fundamentally flawed for such interaction, instead one must consider mediated communication, where the fact that the application is distant (and hence slow) is explicit.
This talk will describe some field work conducted at a major print
organization in the UK. In particular, it will focus on the introduction of
workflow technology to some of its sites. The technology was introduced at
the request of one of the organization's major customers as a condition of
contract so as to provide regular management information reports and
real-time monitoring of workflow through the shopfloor. However, the
workflow system has proven very difficult to use in the manner intended as
its use disrupts the standard practices shopfloor workers employ for
ensuring the smooth and efficient flow of work through the shopfloor.
Ironically, then, a system introduced to ensure and montior efficient print
work has made it hard for shopfloor workers to do their job. However, as
the use of the system is a condition of contract, it has had to have been
artfully accommodated into shopfloor work. I shall argue that cases such as
these (i) importantly extend the debate surrounding workflow systems away
from just focussing on office work; (ii) suggest that workflow systems can
often be understood as 'technologies of accountability' (rather than
technologies for supporting productive work) as organizations increasingly
experience the requirement of making their activities visible; (iii)
indicate the inter-organizational significance of workflow systems as new
trading relationships between organizations come into existence. I shall
conclude by drawing out the implications of this work not merely for
workflow system design but for how field study might relate to design
issues in CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) in general.
In the presentation we will discuss distributed multiuser
virtual reality systems and their implications for the future
of networked information services and knowledge affordances.
Furthermore we will adress the issue of man machine interfaces
based on so called "natural metaphors" and some possible extensions
thereof. There will also be some speculation in regards to what it
actually takes to inhabit and hold down a place "of your own" for
work and play in a future virtual cyber-metropolis.
The talk will be accompanied by slides and video-clips
showing some existing systems and concept demonstrators.
The talk will begin with a brief introduction to Lyytinen and Hirschheim's
four types of system failure: correspondence, process, interaction and
expectation failure. One cause of process failure is examined , that is,
that there is a failure to realise that appropriate human communication
mechanisms need to established as part of the requirements process. If
different interest groups do not communicate effectively with each other,
each will seek to exert power and influence over the other (Gasson, 1995,
Markus & Bjorn Anderson, 1987).
A case study of a multidisciplinary research and development project will
be presented. This will show that although the project began well with
agreement on the process model to be adopted, the two main groups drifted
apart. Two different requirements documents were produced, one from each
group, neither group developed any real understanding of the needs of the
other group, and both groups attempted to take control of the development
process. This resulted in eventual failure and abandonment of the project.
The main problem identified is a lack of appropriate human communication
mechanisms within the project.
The remainder of the talk will be dedicated to three different approaches
to requirements in which appropriate human communication mechanisms are
provided. The three are placed together under the heading of group session
approaches because each is centred around holding a series of group
meetings in which the role of facilitator is explicitly defined. The three
approaches discussed are JAD, QFD and CRC.
1. Nature of Safety Critical Software What sorts of hazards are
comprehended, life, physical injury, property damage, administrative chaos?
Should alternatives be measured? Is there a greater hazard by not
designing software? How can different sorts of risks be set-off?
2. Contractual Problems Can a guarantee ever be given of bug-free software?
How can such software be tested? To what extent does defective
specification, or subsequent variation, or joint membership of design team
reduce the amount of recovery?
3. Tortious Liability Characteristic of sophisticated software with many
contributing factors, usually of different legal entities. May cause
problems on account of hardware, operating environment, operating system,
coding language, system analysis, system design code or operation. These
give rise to procedural problems in relation to the contribution between
different tortfeasors, to selection of parties and interpleading, and to
prove of damage. Some otherwise useful devices such as doctrine of res ipsa
loquitur seem to depend upon conditions which it is impossible to satisfy
in this environment.
4. Expert Solutions One of the ways of attempting to meet the demand for
safety critical software is to build intelligence into the system so as to
attempt to pre-empt any breakdown. Such attempts may themselves raise a
different set of problems. It is unclear for example to what extent
liability can attach to failure to use such systems, especially in this
environment, and especially if they are novel systems. The maintenance and
presentation of such systems may also lead to problems, since liability may
attach to the negligent operation or failure top maintain preventative
devices. Because such systems embody both expertise and universal
application they attract some of the legal characteristics of mass-marketed
products, and some of those specialist devices.