Handoff and Deposit: Designing Temporal Coordination in Cross-Device Transfer Techniques for Mixed-Focus Collaboration

When working together, people frequently share information with each other to enable division of labour, assistance, and delegation of responsibility. The literature has explored both synchronous and asynchronous transfer techniques, known as Handoff and Deposit, respectively. However, current cross-device environments tend to only provide a single mechanism. Moreover, we have little understanding of the impact of different techniques on collaborative process. To understand how Handoff and Deposit may be designed to support complex sensemaking tasks, we followed a Research through Design process to iteratively design Handoff and Deposit techniques using paper and digital sketches and high-fidelity prototypes. We consulted the HCI literature to corroborate our findings with studies and descriptions of existing cross-device transfer designs and to understand the potential impact of those designs on mixed-focus collaboration. We learned that as we move away from a restricted physical workspace and leverage the flexibility of digital personal devices, there is a large design space for realizing cross-device transfer. To inform these designs, we provide five design considerations for cross-device transfer techniques: Transfer Acceptance, Action Dependencies, Immediate Usability, Interruption Potential, and Connection Actions

The Business Process Design Space for exploring process redesign alternatives

Purpose – Process redesign refers to the intentional change of business processes. While process redesign methods provide structure to redesign projects, they provide limited support during the actual creation of to-be processes. More specifically, existing approaches hardly develop an ontological perspective on what can be changed from a process design point of view and they provide limited procedural guidance on how to derive possible process design alternatives. This paper aims to provide structured guidance during the to-be process creation. Design/methodology/approach – Using design space exploration as a theoretical lens, we develop a conceptual model of the design space for business processes, which facilitates the systematic exploration of design alternatives along different dimensions. We utilized an established method for taxonomy development for constructing our conceptual model. First, we derived design dimensions for business processes and underlying characteristics through a literature review. Second, we conducted semi-structured interviews with professional process experts. Third, we evaluated our artifact through three real-world applications. Findings – We identified 19 business process design dimensions that are grouped into different layers and specified by underlying characteristics. Guiding questions and illustrative real-world examples help to deploy these design dimensions in practice. Taken together, the design dimensions form the “Business Process Design Space” (BPD-Space). Research limitations/implications – Practitioners can use the BPD-Space to explore, question, and rethink business processes in various respects. Originality/value – The BPD-Space complements existing approaches by explicating process design dimensions. It abstracts from specific process flows and representations of processes and supports an unconstrained exploration of various alternative process designs

Interaction Design for Mixed-Focus Collaboration in Cross-Device Environments

The proliferation of interactive technologies has resulted in a multitude of form factors for computer devices, such as tablets and phones, and large tabletop and wall displays. Investigating how these devices may be used together as Cross-Device Environments (XDEs) to facilitate collaboration is an active area of research in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). The research community has explored the role of personal and shared devices in supporting group work and has introduced a number of cross-device interaction techniques to enable interaction among devices in an XDE. However, there is little understanding of how the interface design of those techniques may change the way people conduct collaboration, which, in turn, could influence the outcome of the activity. This thesis studies the impact of cross-device interaction techniques on collaborative processes. In particular, I investigated how interface design of cross-device interaction techniques may impact communication and coordination during group work. First, I studied the impact of two specific cross-device interaction techniques on collaboration in an XDE comprised of tablets and a tabletop. The findings confirmed that the choice of interaction techniques mattered when it came to facilitating both independent and joint work periods during group work. The study contributes knowledge towards problematizing the impact of cross-device interaction techniques on collaboration in HCI research. This early work gave rise to deeper questions regarding coordination in cross-device transfer and leveraging that to support the flexibility of work periods in collaborative activities. Consequently, I explored a range of interface design choices that varied the degree of synchronicity in coordinating data transfer across two devices. Additionally, I studied the impact of those interface designs on collaborative processes. My findings resulted in design considerations as well as adapting a synchronicity framework to articulate the impact of cross-device transfer techniques on collaboration. While performing the two research projects, I identified a need for a tool to articulate the impact of specific user interface elements on collaboration. Through a series of case studies, I developed a visual framework that researchers can use as a formative and summative method to understand if a given interaction technique hinders or supports collaboration in the specific task context. I discuss the contributions of my work to the field of HCI, design implications beyond the environments studied, and future research directions to build on and extend my findings