Collaboration in a multi-user game: impacts of an awareness tool on mutual modeling

This paper presents an experimental research that focuses on collaboration in a multi-player game. The aim of the project is to study the cognitive impacts of awareness tools, i.e., artifacts that allow users of a collaborative system to be aware of what is going on in the joint virtual environment. The focus is on finding an effect on performance as well as on the representation an individual builds of what his partner knows, plans and intends to do (i.e., mutual modeling). We find that using awareness tools has a significant effect by improving task performance. However, the players who were provided with this tool did not show any improvement of their mutual modeling. Further analysis on contrasted groups revealed that there was an effect of the awareness tool on mutual modeling for players who spent a large amount of time using the too

Interactive tabletops in education

Interactive tabletops are gaining increased attention from CSCL researchers. This paper analyses the relation between this technology and teaching and learning processes. At a global level, one could argue that tabletops convey a socio-constructivist flavor: they support small teams that solve problems by exploring multiple solutions. The development of tabletop applications also witnesses the growing importance of face-to-face collaboration in CSCL and acknowledges the physicality of learning. However, this global analysis is insufficient. To analyze the educational potential of tabletops in education, we present 33 points that should be taken into consideration. These points are structured on four levels: individual user-system interaction, teamwork, classroom orchestration, and socio-cultural contexts. God lies in the detail

CollCAFETO: el esquema de colaboración de CAFETO, un groupware para gerenciar redes de datos vía la Web

CAFETO es un sistema Web-enabled que permite a un grupo administrador, gerenciar conjuntamente una red de datos. Intenta cubrir la ausencia de herramientas groupware específicas que simplifiquen la complejidad de gerenciar una red compartida y que solventen problemas de comunicación, coordinación y colaboración entre los miembros del grupo. En este artículo se presenta a CollCAFETO, el modelo de colaboración de CAFETO, y se especifica las políticas para sustentar la interacción grupal, describiendo las funcionalidades y servicios de colaboración que debe soportar. Es el motor que mantiene informados a todo el grupo sobre el estado del entorno compartido, propagándoles los eventos detectados, que provengan de los dispositivos o de los administradores mismos. En definitiva, CAFETO unifica dos áreas importantes de la Ciencia de la Computación: CSCW y la Administración de Redes de Datos. CollCAFETO es la clave para que esta integración arroje resultados efectivos y asegure el éxito del trabajo grupal.Área: Ingeniería de Software - Bases de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

CollCAFETO: el esquema de colaboración de CAFETO, un groupware para gerenciar redes de datos vía la Web

CAFETO es un sistema Web-enabled que permite a un grupo administrador, gerenciar conjuntamente una red de datos. Intenta cubrir la ausencia de herramientas groupware específicas que simplifiquen la complejidad de gerenciar una red compartida y que solventen problemas de comunicación, coordinación y colaboración entre los miembros del grupo. En este artículo se presenta a CollCAFETO, el modelo de colaboración de CAFETO, y se especifica las políticas para sustentar la interacción grupal, describiendo las funcionalidades y servicios de colaboración que debe soportar. Es el motor que mantiene informados a todo el grupo sobre el estado del entorno compartido, propagándoles los eventos detectados, que provengan de los dispositivos o de los administradores mismos. En definitiva, CAFETO unifica dos áreas importantes de la Ciencia de la Computación: CSCW y la Administración de Redes de Datos. CollCAFETO es la clave para que esta integración arroje resultados efectivos y asegure el éxito del trabajo grupal.Área: Ingeniería de Software - Bases de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Interactive tabletops in education

Interactive tabletops are gaining increased attention from CSCL researchers. This paper analyses the relation between this technology and teaching and learning processes. At a global level, one could argue that tabletops convey a socio-constructivist flavor: they support small teams that solve problems by exploring multiple solutions. The development of tabletop applications also witnesses the growing importance of face-to-face collaboration in CSCL and acknowledges the physicality of learning. However, this global analysis is insufficient. To analyze the educational potential of tabletops in education, we present 33 points that should be taken into consideration. These points are structured on four levels: individual user-system interaction, teamwork, classroom orchestration, and socio-cultural contexts. God lies in the details

Utilização do rastreamento ocular para visualização do local de atenção em sistemas de edição colaborativos

Awareness in computing is the knowledge about the present and past group’s activities, which is a relevant issue for cooperative work. There are many devices that supply awareness information in synchronous collaborative editing systems. However, the current awareness devices have restrictions to provide awareness more effectively and to capture the focus of attention, i.e. identify the exact place of the participants’ attentions. This paper presents an awareness device for synchronous collaborative editing systems called TeleEye, which provides information about the place of the participant’s attention during a collaborative session by means of eye tracking.Keywords: attention, collaboration, awareness, eye tracking.Awareness (percepção), em computação, é o conhecimento sobre as atividades passadas e presentes do grupo, que constitui uma questão relevante para o trabalho cooperativo. Existem diversos mecanismos que fornecem a percepção durante o uso de sistemas de edição colaborativos síncronos. Contudo, os mecanismos de percepção existentes evidenciam restrições, ao proporcionarem efetivamente a percepção e a captura do foco de atenção, isto é, ao identificarem o local exato da atenção dos participantes. Este artigo apresenta um mecanismo de percepção para sistemas de edição colaborativos síncronos chamado TeleEye, o qual fornece informações sobre o local da atenção dos participantes durante uma seção colaborativa com o auxílio de Rastreio Ocular.Palavras-chave: atenção, colaboração, percepção, rastreamento ocular

Groupware design : principles, prototypes, and systems

Computers are valuable tools for a wide range of work tasks. A substantial limitation on their value, however, is the predominant focus on enhancing the work of individuals. This fails to account for the issues of collaboration that affect almost all work. Research into computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) aims to eliminate this deficiency, but the promise of computer systems for group work has not been met. This thesis presents four design principles that promote the development of successful groupware. The principles identify the particular problems encountered by groupware, and provide guidelines and strategies to avoid, overcome, or minimise their impact. Derived from several sources, the major influence on the principles development is an investigation into the relationship between factors affecting groupware failure. They are stimulated by observations of groupware use, and by design insights arising from the development of two groupware applications and their prototypes: Mona and TELEFREEK. Mona provides conversation-based email management. Several groupware applications allow similar functionality, but the design principles result in Mona using different mechanisms to achieve its user-support. TELEFREEK provides a platform for accessing computer-supported communication and collaboration facilities. It attends to the problems of initiating interaction, and supports an adaptable and extendible set of "social awareness" assistants. TELEFREEK offers a broader range of facilities than other groupware, and avoids the use of prohibitively high-bandwidth communication networks. TELEFREEK demonstrates that much can be achieved through current and widely accessible technology. Together, Mona and TELEFREEK forcefully demonstrate the use of the design principles, and substantiate the claim of their utility

The Impact of Experience in Service Virtualization on Travel Intention - The Case of Forbidden City Tour

The advent of Internet and home shopping economy in the recent years has reduced the intention of people to leave home for sightseeing. This has significantly impacted the growth of physical tourism industry. This paper utilizes the virtual tour of Forbidden City to conduct a sequence of experiments in tourism experience. Before using the system, Theory of Planned Behavior and Involvement are employed to measure the intention of traveling. After then, two constructs, emotion and system, are adopted to explore how the experiential value of virtual tourism impacts the intention of travelling. The experience of tour virtualization allows customers to create unforgettable feelings in the virtual world. It can affect not only the customer’s experiential value of virtual tourism, but also intention of traveling in the future