Mobility in collaboration

This paper addresses an issue that has received little attention within CSCW- the requirements to support mobility within collaboration activities. By examining three quite different settings each with differing technological support, we examine the ways in which mobility is critical to collaborative work. We suggest that taking mobility seriously, may not only contribute our understanding of current support for collaboration, but raise more general issues concerning the requirements for mobile and other technologies. Keywords mobile communications, augmented reality, object-centred interactio

Augmented paper applications: Initial user tests of a wireless pattern reader

A handheld pattern reader has been developed to read low visibility conductive patterns on paper. The patterns are formed by masking conductive paper with a non-conductive, printed lacquer. The reader was developed as part of an EU-funded project investigating methods of augmenting paper. Data read from the patterns was used to trigger events in the digital domain. Usability tests were undertaken to investigate the performance of the prototype. Results showed that at this stage of development there was significant variation in performance of the prototype from user to user. Further work is being undertaken to determine the causes of this variability

Secondary user relations in emerging mobile computing environments

Mobile technologies are enabling access to information in diverse environ.ments, and are exposing a wider group of individuals to said technology. Therefore, this paper proposes that a wider view of user relations than is usually considered in information systems research is required. Specifically, we examine the potential effects of emerging mobile technologies on end-­‐user relations with a focus on the ‘secondary user’, those who are not intended to interact directly with the technology but are intended consumers of the technology’s output. For illustration, we draw on a study of a U.K. regional Fire and Rescue Service and deconstruct mobile technology use at Fire Service incidents. Our findings provide insights, which suggest that, because of the nature of mobile technologies and their context of use, secondary user relations in such emerging mobile environments are important and need further exploration

Dealing with mobility: Understanding access anytime, anywhere

The rapid and accelerating move towards the adoption and use of mobile technologies has increasingly provided people and organisations with the ability to work away from the office and on the move. The new ways of working afforded by these technologies are often characterised in terms of access to information and people ‘anytime, anywhere’. This paper presents a study of mobile workers that highlights different facets of access to remote people and information, and different facets of anytime, anywhere. Four key factors in mobile work are identified from the study: the role of planning, working in ‘dead time’, accessing remote technological and informational resources, and monitoring the activities of remote colleagues. By reflecting on these issues, we can better understand the role of technology and artefact use in mobile work and identify the opportunities for the development of appropriate technological solutions to support mobile workers

Integrated care and the working record

By default, many discussions and specifications of electronic health records or integrated care records often conceptualize the record as a passive information repository. This article presents data from a case study of work in a medical unit in a major metropolitan hospital. It shows how the clinicians tailored, re-presented and augmented clinical information to support their own roles in the delivery of care for individual patients. This is referred to as the working record: a set of complexly interrelated clinician-centred documents that are locally evolved, maintained and used to support delivery of care in conjunction with the more patient-centred chart that will be stored in the medical records department on the patient’s discharge. Implications are drawn for how an integrated care record could support the local tailorability and flexibility that underpin this working record and hence underpin practice

Social aspects of place experience in nomadic work/life practices

This chapter examines the importance of “where” mobile work/life practices occur. By discussing excerpts of data collected through in-depth interviews with mobile professionals, we focus on the importance of place for mobility, and highlight the social character of place and the intrinsically social motivations of workers when making decisions regarding where to move. In order to show how the experience of mobility is grounded within place as a socially significant con- struct, we concentrate on three analytical themes: place as an essential component of social/collaborative work, place as expressive of organizational needs and characteristics, and place as facilitating a blending of work/life strategies and relationships

Managing Critical Incidents in the Fine-Paper Supply Chain through Mobile Collaborative System

Most of the CSCW innovations related to mobile technologies are at the research stage and have been launched commercially, as they are developed within labs and lack direct practical relevance. This paper reports the findings of a case study on real-world companies operating in the fine-paper supply chain and places emphasis on the requirements for supporting mobility within specific collaborative settings. A mobile web-based system for managing customer complaints in a collaborative group work environment is described, which we have designed and developed for the fine-paper industrial setting. The benefits - including stronger customer relationships, lower operating costs and better use of human resources - are available to any complex customer care activity that follows activity-centered collaboration and seizes the initiative via a web-based system with mobile access

Virtually connected, practically mobile

This is the post-print version of the Chapter. The official published version can be accessed from the links below - Copyright @ 2006 SpringerThis chapter addresses a central issue in studies of mobile work and mobile technology – what is the work of mobile workers, and how do they use the resources that they have to undertake this work (i.e. the work they have to do in order to do their work)? In contrast to many of the other papers in this collection, the objective of this chapter is to examine individual mobile work, and not teamwork and co-operation other than where it impacts on the work of individuals. We present data from a study of mobile workers, examining a range of mobile workers to produce a rich picture of their work. Our analysis reveals insights into how mobile workers mix their mobility with their work, home and social lives, their use of mobile technology, the problems – technological and otherwise – inherent in being mobile, and the strategies that they use to manage their work, time, other resources and availability. Our findings demonstrate important issues in understanding mobile work, including the maintenance of communities of practice, the role and management of interpersonal awareness and co-ordination, how environmental resources affect activity, the impact of mobility on family/social relationships and the crossover between the mobile workers’ private and working lives, how preplanning is employed prior to travel, and how mobile workers perform activity multitasking, for example through making use of ‘dead time’. Finally, we turn to the implications of this data for the design and deployment of mobile virtual work (MVW) technologies for individuals and a broader organisational context

Enhanced Mobility - Augmented Possibility? Developments in Co-operative Work

This paper enlightens enhanced mobility and the ongoing changes in collaboration forms. It reports on studies of communication and co-ordination in a work setting, including discussing the implications of the observations for enhancing mobility in co-operational work. In the analysis this paper use a framework developed by Lyytinen and Yoo (2001), in order to analyse a heterogeneous interconnected technological and organisational environment, which enables both physical and social mobility of computing and communication services between and across organisational actors. In response to earlier ignoration, the issues of large-scale design and integration to the existing installed base of services and infrastructures, both technical and social, are here put into focus. The framework consists at the fundamental level of three technological trends that drive the developments in mobile technology: mobility, convergence and mass scale. These factors influence in turn the developments in infrastructure and services, which encompass both technical and social elements. The empirical study took place in an IT-organisation, in one of the world’s leading Internet consulting companies. In the networked organisation the work practice is dependent on the co-workers ability to co-operate from various, constantly shifting, locations. This paper suggests that utilise Web-based Information Systems as communication media could initially provide necessary means to support mobility in their co-operational work. Our conclusions are that mobility is a fast-growing phenomenon, which will considerably change the terms and developments in co-operative work. Further, that the organisational culture will have deep impact on how the technology features are accepted and incorporated in the work practice. There is diversity in the use of the concept mobility, in relation to research. To meet this, the authors suggest a general Framework of Interaction Patterns model. The overall organisation of the framework is build around a dichotomy of variables, and it can be used normative in a design context or for descriptive purposes