Group reaching over digital tabletops with digital arm embodiments

In almost all collaborative tabletop tasks, groups require coordinated access to the shared objects on the table’s surface. The physical social norms of close-proximity interactions built up over years of interacting around other physical bodies cause people to avoid interfering with other people (e.g., avoiding grabbing the same object simultaneously). However, some digital tabletop situations require the use of indirect input (e.g., when using mice, and when supporting remote users). With indirect input, people are no longer physically embodied during their reaching gestures, so most systems provide digital embodiments – visual representations of each person – to provide feedback to both the person who is reaching and to the other group members. Tabletop arm embodiments have been shown to better support group interactions than simple visual designs, providing awareness of actions to the group. However, researchers and digital tabletop designers know little of how the design of digital arm embodiments affects the fundamental group tabletop interaction of reaching for objects. Therefore, in this thesis, we evaluate how people coordinate their interactions over digital tabletops when using different types of embodiments. Specifically, in a series of studies, we investigate how the visual design (what they look like) and interaction design (how they work) of digital arm embodiments affects a group’s coordinative behaviours in an open- ended parallel tabletop task. We evaluated visual factors of size, transparency, and realism (through pictures and videos of physical arms), as well as interaction factors of input and augmentations (feedback of interactions), in both a co-located and distributed environment. We found that the visual design had little effect on a group’s ability to coordinate access to shared tabletop items, that embodiment augmentations are useful to support group coordinative actions, and that there are large differences when the person is not physically co-present. Our results demonstrate an initial exploration into the design of digital arm embodiments, providing design guidelines for future researchers and designers to use when designing the next generation of shared digital spaces

IC3:Information and Communication integration using VCoIP between 3 collaborating parties

This study develops a new communication and collaboration supported tool – IC3. In particular, this tool is an integration of open source video conference over internet protocol (VCoIP) and virtual network computing (VNC) projects. This integrated system supports both virtual communication and collaborated web information sharing. In addition, it aims to facilitate greater eye contact and seating arrangements. The results from a set of heuristic evaluations show that the IC3 system is an effective communication and collaboration tool, and it does improve users’ eye contact and feeling of sitting around a table.Unpublished115studio. (2006) Retrieved May 15, 2006 from www.115studio.com Baker, K., Greenberg, S., & Gutwin, C. (2001). Heuristic evaluation of groupware based on the mechanics of collaboration. In: Proceedings of the 8th IFIP Working Conference on Engineering for Human-Computer Interaction. May 11-13, Toronto, Canada. Barbour, C., & Barbour, N. (2001). Families, schools, and communities: Building partnerships for educating children. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Batchelor, J., & Goethals, G. (1972). Spatial arrangement in freely formed groups. Sociometry, 35, 270-279. Bier, E., & Freeman, S. (1991). MMM: A User Interface Architecture for Shared Editors on a Single Screen. In: Proceedings of the 4th ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, November, 79-87. Bocker, M., & Mühlbach, L. (1993). Communication Presence in Videocommunications, In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, USA. Booth, K., Fisher, B., Lin, C., & Argue, R. (2002). The “Mighty Mouse” Multi Screen Collaboration Tool. In: Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 209-212. Capilla, R., & Dueñas, J. (2002). Modelling Variability with Features in Distributed Architectures. Heidelberg: Springer Berlin. Collaborative VNC. (2006). Retrieved September 1, 2006, from http://www.benjie.org/software/linux/collaborative-vnc/ CPNMouse. (2006). Retrieved August 5, 2006, from http://cpnmouse.sourceforge.net/ Dabkowski, D. (2004). Encouraging active parent participation in IEP team meetings. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36, 34-39. Dommel, H-P., & Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. (1997). Floor control for multimedia conferencing and collaboration. Multimedia Systems, 5, 23-38. Dommel, H-P., & Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. (1999a). Efficacy of floor control protocols in distributed multimedia collaboration, Cluster Computing, 2, 17-33. Dommel, H-P., & Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. (1999b). Group coordination support for synchronous internet collaboration. IEEE Internet Computing Magazine, Special Issue on Collaboration - Internet-style, 3, 74–80. Ellis, C., & Gibbs, S. (1989). Concurrency control in groupware systems. In: Proceedings of the 1989 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data, 18, 399–407. Eills, C., Gibbs, S., & Rein, G. (1991). Groupware: some issues and experiences. Communications of the ACM, 34, 38-57. Engelbart, D., & English, W. (1968). A research center for augmenting human intellect. In: Proceedings of Fall Joint Computing Conference, 33, 395-410, AFIPS Press. Esenther, A. (2002). Instant Co-Browsing: Lightweight Real-time Collaborative Web Browsing. In: Proceedings of the 11 International WWW Conference. May, 107-114. Garau, M., Slater, M., Bee, S., & Sasse, M. (2001). The impact of eye gaze on communication using humanoid avatars. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, March 31- April 5, 309-316. Gemmell, J., Toyama, K., Zitnick, C., Kang, T., & Seitz, S. (2000). Gaze awareness for video-conferencing: A software approach. IEEE Multimedia, 7, 26-35. Giesen, M., & McClaren, H. (1976). Discussion, distance and sex: changes in impressions and attraction during small group interaction. Sociometry, 39, 60-70. Greenberg, S., & Roseman, M. (1999). Groupware toolkits for synchronous work. In Beaudouin-Lafon, M. (ed.), Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Chapter 6, 135-168. John Wiley & Sons. Gutwin, C., Greenberg. S., & Roseman, M. (1996). Workspace Awareness in Real-Time Distributed Groupware: Framework, Widgets, and Evaluation. In: Proceedings of HCI'96: Conference on Computer Human Interaction: People and Computers, 281-298. Springer-Verlag. Conference held at Imperial College, London, August 20-23. Hayne, S., Pendergast, M. & Greenberg, S. (1994) “Implementing gesturing with cursors in Group Support Systems.” Journal of Management Information Systems, 10, 43–61. Hendrick, C., Giesen, M., & Coy, S. (1974). The social ecology of free seating arrangements in a small group interaction context. Sociometry, 37, 262-274. Hopf, K., Runde, D., & Borker, M. (1994). Advanced videocommunications with stereoscopy and individual perspectives. In: Towards a Pan-European Telecommunication Service Infrastructure - IS&N '94, Kugler et al. (eds.), Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. Hourcade, J., Iyer, V., & Bederson, B. (1999). Architecture and Implementation of a Java Package for Multiple Input Devices (MID). In: Proceedings of User Interface and Software Technology (UIST 99). Kolbehdari, M., Lizotte, D., Shires, G., & Trevor, S. (2006). Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Evolution in Converge Cmmunications. Intel Technology Journal, 10, 10-19. Lauwers, C., & Lantz, K. (1990). Collaboration awareness in support of collaboration transparency: Requirements for the next generation of shared window systems. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’90 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April, 303–311. Liu, J., Beldie, I., & Wopking, M. (1995). A Computational Approach to Establish Eye-contact in Videocommunication. In: the International Workshop on Stereoscopic and Three Dimen-sional Imaging (IWS3DI), 229–234. Santorini, Greece. Nakamura, M., Ma, J., Chiba, K., Shizuka, M., & Miyosh, Y. (2003). Design and Implementation of a P2P Shared Web Browser Using JXTA. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, 111-116. Nielsen, J. (1994). Heuristic evaluation. In Nielsen, J., and Mack, R.L. (Eds.), Usability Inspection Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Nielsen, J. (2001). How to conduct a heuristic evaluation. Retrieved September 20, 2006 from http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_evaluation.html Okada, K., Maeda, F., Ichikawa, Y., & Matsushita, Y. (1994). Multiparty videoconferencing at virtual social distance: MAJIC design. In: Proceedings of CSCW’94, Chapel Hill, NC, October, 279-291. Paulson, J., Succi, G., & Eberlein, A. (2004). An empirical study of open-source and closed-source software products. Transactions on Software Engineering, 30, 2004. Phillips, W. (1999). Architectures for Synchronous Groupware, Technical Report 1999-425, Department for Computing and Information Science, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Parsons, G. (1982). Basics of Communication. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from www.cedresources.ca/docs/modules/comm.doc Richardson, T., Stafford-Fraser, Q., Wood, K., & Hopper, A. (1998). Virtual network computing. IEEE Internet Computing, 2 , 33-38. Sellen, A. (1992). Speech patterns in video mediated conversations. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’92, 5, 49-59. Takeuchi, A., & Naito, T. (1995). Situated facial displays: Towards social interaction. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI '95- Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1, 450–455. Tang, J. (1991). Findings from observational studies of collaborative work. International Journal of Man Machine Studies, 34, 143–160. Tse, E., & Greenberg, S. (2004). Rapidly prototyping single display groupware through the SDGToolkit. In: Proceedings of the Fifth Australasian User Interface Conference, volume 28 of CRPIT Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series, 101–110. Varshney, U., Snow, A., McGivern, M., & Howard, C. (2002). Voice over IP. Communications of the ACM, 1, 89-96. Weiss, M. & Hwang, J. (1998). Internet telephony or circuit switched telephony: Which is cheaper? In: Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, Washington, DC, October 1998. Wilson, H. (2004). Videoconferencing at UNISA: Synchronous real-time discussions for student support. Paper presented at e-merge 2004 conference, South Africa. Yang, R., & Zhang, Z. (2002). Eye Gaze Correction with Stereovision for Video-Teleconferencing. In: Proceedings of the Seventh European Conference on Computer Vision, 2, 479-494. Copenhagen, Denmark

IC3:Information and Communication integration using VCoIP between 3 collaborating parties

This study develops a new communication and collaboration supported tool – IC3. In particular, this tool is an integration of open source video conference over internet protocol (VCoIP) and virtual network computing (VNC) projects. This integrated system supports both virtual communication and collaborated web information sharing. In addition, it aims to facilitate greater eye contact and seating arrangements. The results from a set of heuristic evaluations show that the IC3 system is an effective communication and collaboration tool, and it does improve users’ eye contact and feeling of sitting around a table.Unpublished115studio. (2006) Retrieved May 15, 2006 from www.115studio.com Baker, K., Greenberg, S., & Gutwin, C. (2001). Heuristic evaluation of groupware based on the mechanics of collaboration. In: Proceedings of the 8th IFIP Working Conference on Engineering for Human-Computer Interaction. May 11-13, Toronto, Canada. Barbour, C., & Barbour, N. (2001). Families, schools, and communities: Building partnerships for educating children. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Batchelor, J., & Goethals, G. (1972). Spatial arrangement in freely formed groups. Sociometry, 35, 270-279. Bier, E., & Freeman, S. (1991). MMM: A User Interface Architecture for Shared Editors on a Single Screen. In: Proceedings of the 4th ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, November, 79-87. Bocker, M., & Mühlbach, L. (1993). Communication Presence in Videocommunications, In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, USA. Booth, K., Fisher, B., Lin, C., & Argue, R. (2002). The “Mighty Mouse” Multi Screen Collaboration Tool. In: Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 209-212. Capilla, R., & Dueñas, J. (2002). Modelling Variability with Features in Distributed Architectures. Heidelberg: Springer Berlin. Collaborative VNC. (2006). Retrieved September 1, 2006, from http://www.benjie.org/software/linux/collaborative-vnc/ CPNMouse. (2006). Retrieved August 5, 2006, from http://cpnmouse.sourceforge.net/ Dabkowski, D. (2004). Encouraging active parent participation in IEP team meetings. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36, 34-39. Dommel, H-P., & Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. (1997). Floor control for multimedia conferencing and collaboration. Multimedia Systems, 5, 23-38. Dommel, H-P., & Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. (1999a). Efficacy of floor control protocols in distributed multimedia collaboration, Cluster Computing, 2, 17-33. Dommel, H-P., & Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. (1999b). Group coordination support for synchronous internet collaboration. IEEE Internet Computing Magazine, Special Issue on Collaboration - Internet-style, 3, 74–80. Ellis, C., & Gibbs, S. (1989). Concurrency control in groupware systems. In: Proceedings of the 1989 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data, 18, 399–407. Eills, C., Gibbs, S., & Rein, G. (1991). Groupware: some issues and experiences. Communications of the ACM, 34, 38-57. Engelbart, D., & English, W. (1968). A research center for augmenting human intellect. In: Proceedings of Fall Joint Computing Conference, 33, 395-410, AFIPS Press. Esenther, A. (2002). Instant Co-Browsing: Lightweight Real-time Collaborative Web Browsing. In: Proceedings of the 11 International WWW Conference. May, 107-114. Garau, M., Slater, M., Bee, S., & Sasse, M. (2001). The impact of eye gaze on communication using humanoid avatars. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, March 31- April 5, 309-316. Gemmell, J., Toyama, K., Zitnick, C., Kang, T., & Seitz, S. (2000). Gaze awareness for video-conferencing: A software approach. IEEE Multimedia, 7, 26-35. Giesen, M., & McClaren, H. (1976). Discussion, distance and sex: changes in impressions and attraction during small group interaction. Sociometry, 39, 60-70. Greenberg, S., & Roseman, M. (1999). Groupware toolkits for synchronous work. In Beaudouin-Lafon, M. (ed.), Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Chapter 6, 135-168. John Wiley & Sons. Gutwin, C., Greenberg. S., & Roseman, M. (1996). Workspace Awareness in Real-Time Distributed Groupware: Framework, Widgets, and Evaluation. In: Proceedings of HCI'96: Conference on Computer Human Interaction: People and Computers, 281-298. Springer-Verlag. Conference held at Imperial College, London, August 20-23. Hayne, S., Pendergast, M. & Greenberg, S. (1994) “Implementing gesturing with cursors in Group Support Systems.” Journal of Management Information Systems, 10, 43–61. Hendrick, C., Giesen, M., & Coy, S. (1974). The social ecology of free seating arrangements in a small group interaction context. Sociometry, 37, 262-274. Hopf, K., Runde, D., & Borker, M. (1994). Advanced videocommunications with stereoscopy and individual perspectives. In: Towards a Pan-European Telecommunication Service Infrastructure - IS&N '94, Kugler et al. (eds.), Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. Hourcade, J., Iyer, V., & Bederson, B. (1999). Architecture and Implementation of a Java Package for Multiple Input Devices (MID). In: Proceedings of User Interface and Software Technology (UIST 99). Kolbehdari, M., Lizotte, D., Shires, G., & Trevor, S. (2006). Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Evolution in Converge Cmmunications. Intel Technology Journal, 10, 10-19. Lauwers, C., & Lantz, K. (1990). Collaboration awareness in support of collaboration transparency: Requirements for the next generation of shared window systems. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’90 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April, 303–311. Liu, J., Beldie, I., & Wopking, M. (1995). A Computational Approach to Establish Eye-contact in Videocommunication. In: the International Workshop on Stereoscopic and Three Dimen-sional Imaging (IWS3DI), 229–234. Santorini, Greece. Nakamura, M., Ma, J., Chiba, K., Shizuka, M., & Miyosh, Y. (2003). Design and Implementation of a P2P Shared Web Browser Using JXTA. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, 111-116. Nielsen, J. (1994). Heuristic evaluation. In Nielsen, J., and Mack, R.L. (Eds.), Usability Inspection Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Nielsen, J. (2001). How to conduct a heuristic evaluation. Retrieved September 20, 2006 from http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_evaluation.html Okada, K., Maeda, F., Ichikawa, Y., & Matsushita, Y. (1994). Multiparty videoconferencing at virtual social distance: MAJIC design. In: Proceedings of CSCW’94, Chapel Hill, NC, October, 279-291. Paulson, J., Succi, G., & Eberlein, A. (2004). An empirical study of open-source and closed-source software products. Transactions on Software Engineering, 30, 2004. Phillips, W. (1999). Architectures for Synchronous Groupware, Technical Report 1999-425, Department for Computing and Information Science, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Parsons, G. (1982). Basics of Communication. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from www.cedresources.ca/docs/modules/comm.doc Richardson, T., Stafford-Fraser, Q., Wood, K., & Hopper, A. (1998). Virtual network computing. IEEE Internet Computing, 2 , 33-38. Sellen, A. (1992). Speech patterns in video mediated conversations. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’92, 5, 49-59. Takeuchi, A., & Naito, T. (1995). Situated facial displays: Towards social interaction. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI '95- Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1, 450–455. Tang, J. (1991). Findings from observational studies of collaborative work. International Journal of Man Machine Studies, 34, 143–160. Tse, E., & Greenberg, S. (2004). Rapidly prototyping single display groupware through the SDGToolkit. In: Proceedings of the Fifth Australasian User Interface Conference, volume 28 of CRPIT Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series, 101–110. Varshney, U., Snow, A., McGivern, M., & Howard, C. (2002). Voice over IP. Communications of the ACM, 1, 89-96. Weiss, M. & Hwang, J. (1998). Internet telephony or circuit switched telephony: Which is cheaper? In: Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, Washington, DC, October 1998. Wilson, H. (2004). Videoconferencing at UNISA: Synchronous real-time discussions for student support. Paper presented at e-merge 2004 conference, South Africa. Yang, R., & Zhang, Z. (2002). Eye Gaze Correction with Stereovision for Video-Teleconferencing. In: Proceedings of the Seventh European Conference on Computer Vision, 2, 479-494. Copenhagen, Denmark