Towards a Pattern Language for the Design of Collaborative Interactive Systems

Nowadays, the design of interactive systems addresses diverse communities of end users, each belonging to a certain culture, having a role in the context/domain and using a specific digital platform. More than often, they come together and collaborate in performing their work tasks and need to be supported by virtual interactive systems. This brings a set of challenges and design problems to be faced by interaction designers focused on the design of collaborative interactive systems. The present paper focuses on one approach to overcome these challenges – by making available the knowledge and wisdom within a team of designers to each and every designer in the team by the definition of pattern languages, organized as sets of multimedia, multimodal documents accessible and manageable in the Web. A design pattern language comprises a set of inter-related design patterns able to address interaction design problems and to allow the accumulation and use of knowledge within a team of designers. This paper identifies and describes a set of design patterns addressing the design of collaborative interactive systems together with the possible relationships among them and the operations made available to designers for managing and using the patterns

Cultivating the under-mined:Cross-case analysis as knowledge mobilization

Abstract: Despite a plethora of case studies in the social sciences, it is the authors ' opinion that case studies remain relatively under-mined sources of expertise. Cross-case analysis is a research method that can mobilize knowledge from individual case studies. The authors propose that mobilization of case knowledge occurs when researchers accumulate case knowledge, compare and contrast cases, and in doing so, produce new knowledge. In this article, the authors present theories of how people can learn from sets of cases. Second, existing techniques for cross-case analysis are discussed. Third, considerations that enable researchers to engage in cross-case analysis are suggested. Finally, the authors introduce a novel online database: the Foresee (4C) database. The purpose of the database is to mobilize case knowledge by helping researchers perform cross-case analysis and by creating an online research community that facilitates dialogue and the mobilization of case knowledge. The design of the 4C database is informed by theories of how people learn from case studies and cross-case analysis techniques. We present evidence from case study research that use of the 4C database helps to mobilize previously dormant case study knowledge to foster greater expertise. Key words: case study, cross-case analysis, computer-assisted analysis, knowledge mobilization, researcher, databas

SISTEMAS GROUPWARE PARA EL DISEÑO DE DIAGRAMA DE CLASES UML EN AMBIENTES TÁCTILES

ResumenEn las últimas décadas, se han explorado metodologías para el desarrollo de software que apoyen a personas en la realización de una actividad colaborativa. Estos sistemas conocidos como Groupware, ofrecen herramientas que apoyan la comunicación, colaboración y coordinación de personas en el cumplimiento de objetivos comunes. Estos sistemas son enfocados a dominios convencionales a través de sistemas Web o escritorio, los cuales apoyan ambientes de oficina, videojuegos, entre otros.  Por ello, este artículo explora escenarios colaborativos educativos apoyados por ambientes táctiles, donde usuarios utilizan un espacio digital táctil para dibujar o plasmar ideas. Para esto, se analizan elementos utilizados para ofrecer a usuarios de ambientes digitales que apoyen al diseño de diagramas de clases en la Programación Orientada a Objetos con una perspectiva educativa. Por tanto, se estudia el comportamiento de equipos cuando interactúan al realizar diagramas de clases de forma colaborativa en ambientes tradicionales, es decir, sin tener apoyo didáctico digital o pizarra táctil. Entre los resultados encontrados en ambientes sin apoyo digital, destacan falta de espacio y pérdida de secuencia de la actividad, además de hacer evidente la falta de reglas para el desarrollo de la actividad. Por lo tanto, en este artículo se propone el diseño conceptual de un sistema Groupware que apoye la enseñanza en el diseño de diagramas de clases soportado por un ambiente táctil.Palabra(s) Clave: CSCW, Diseño de interfaz de usuario, Pizarra interactiva, Sistemas groupware. GROUPWARE SYSTEMS FOR THE DESIGN OF UML CLASS DIAGRAMS IN TACTILE ENVIRONMENTSAbstractOver the last decades, methodologies have been explored in order to develop software that assist people to carry out collaborative activities. These systems are known as Groupware, which provide tools that support communication, collaboration and coordination of people for accomplishing common goals. These systems are focused on conventional domains through web systems or desktop, which support office environments, videogames among others. Therefore, this paper presents educational collaborative scenarios assisted by tactile environments where students make use of a digital touch space to draw or capture ideas. Consequently, used elements are analyzed to offer users of digital environments assistance while designing diagrams in Object-oriented programming with an educational perspective. Thus, the behavior of the teams that interact at the moment of designing class diagrams collaboratively in traditional environments is studied; in other words, without digital didactic support or a digital interactive whiteboards. Among the found results without digital support, there are some drawbacks such as the lack of space and loss of activity sequence, which evidently shows the lack of rules for the activity development. Therefore, this paper proposes the conceptual design of a Groupware system that assists the teaching of class diagrams supported by a touch screen environment.Keywords: CSCW, Groupware systems, Interactive whiteboard, User interface design

UMA ARQUITETURA DE SOFTWARE PARA O MORFEU: APOIANDO A REALIZAÇÃO DE ARQUITETURAS PEDAGÓGICAS EM ESPAÇOS VIRTUAIS COLABORATIVOS.

As lacunas tecnológicas no apoio as atividades colaborativas possibilitam à criação de novas propostas para atender à demanda por suporte tecnológico nas atividades a distância. Este trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura de software, baseado da proposta do MOrFEu, que favorece à criação e a organização flexível de espaços virtuais colaborativos. Entre as principais características desta arquitetura destacam-se a flexibilidade do apoio a colaboração pelas formas diferenciadas de coordenar as interações e organizar as produções, individuais e coletivas, tendo como referência espaços de autoria reorganizáveis e flexíveis. Por fim, foi realizado um estudo de caso, utilizando um protótipo de software, na avaliação do suporte tecnológico no atendimento aos requisitos das atividades de comunicação, cooperação e principalmente de coordenação da Arquitetura Pedagógica Debate de Teses

Dynamique de collaboration au sein des équipes dispersées : Le cas des projets d'ingénierie

La globalisation des marchés, la cherté des compétences, et le développement sans précédent des technologies de l’information et des communications (TIC) encouragent les entreprises à réviser leurs pratiques. Désormais, les entreprises se procurent des ressources bien au-delà de leurs frontières organisationnelles et nationales, et leurs équipes deviennent de plus en plus étendues. Pour la réalisation des projets d’ingénierie, la constitution des équipes dispersées dont les membres collaborent sur une base régulière est devenue un mode de fonctionnement de plus en plus répandu. Cependant, cette pratique amène un contexte nouveau qui se caractérise par la diversité culturelle, la variété des pratiques, la différence des TIC utilisées, la rivalité, etc. Il s’agit là d’une dynamique complexe qui nécessite davantage d’exploration. L’objectif général du présent projet de recherche est de développer une meilleure compréhension de la collaboration en contexte de dispersion des équipes de projets. Pour y répondre, une exploration de la littérature qui porte sur la collaboration et la dynamique des équipes dispersées est effectuée. Cette investigation a permis de développer un modèle caractéristique du phénomène étudié. Ce modèle qui exprime, en effet, les facteurs déterminants de la collaboration, le contexte auquel cette collaboration fait face, et l’impact que celle-ci exerce sur la performance des équipes de projets.----------Market globalization, the scarcity of skills, and the explosive development of information and communications technologies (ICT) compel companies to scrutinize their practices. Henceforth, companies will seek resources beyond their organizational and national boundaries, and project teams will become increasingly distributed. To carry out engineering projects, today’s enterprises require distributed teams whose members work together regularly and intensely. However, this practice has raised new challenges: cultural diversity, differing practices, incompatible ICT, rivalries, and more. This complex dynamic needs to be understood and effectively managed. The overall objective of this research project is to develop a better understanding of how collaboration works in distributed project teams. First, the literature on collaboration and the dynamics of distributed teams is reviewed. A model including the different determinants of collaboration, the characteristics of collaborative environments, and the impact of collaboration on project team performance is then presented. To verify the validity of the model, an empirical survey was administered to professionals involved with distributed engineering projects. Based on data gathered from 253 project teams, various research hypotheses are confirmed. The results support the central role of collaboration in successful distributed projects. Superior collaborative functioning depends on several factors: organizational support, ICT, project manager leadership, and the flexibility and commitment of team members. Moreover, the collaborative dynamic is found to be influenced by various contextual factors, including member distributedness, and within-team trust and rivalry. Our results provide both a practical and theoretical contribution through a better understanding of collaboration in distributed project teams to enable optimal management

Abstract A pattern system for the development of collaborative applications

Collaborative applications provide a group of users with the facility to communicate and share data in a coordinated way. Building collaborative applications is still a complex task. In this paper we propose a pattern system to design basic aspects of data sharing, communication, and coordination for collaborative applications. These patterns are useful for the design and development of collaborativ