Constructing a gazebo: supporting teamwork in a tightly coupled, distributed task in virtual reality

Many tasks require teamwork. Team members may work concurrently, but there must be some occasions of coming together. Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) allow distributed teams to come together across distance to share a task. Studies of CVE systems have tended to focus on the sense of presence or copresence with other people. They have avoided studying close interaction between us-ers, such as the shared manipulation of objects, because CVEs suffer from inherent network delays and often have cumbersome user interfaces. Little is known about the ef-fectiveness of collaboration in tasks requiring various forms of object sharing and, in particular, the concurrent manipu-lation of objects. This paper investigates the effectiveness of supporting teamwork among a geographically distributed group in a task that requires the shared manipulation of objects. To complete the task, users must share objects through con-current manipulation of both the same and distinct at-tributes. The effectiveness of teamwork is measured in terms of time taken to achieve each step, as well as the impression of users. The effect of interface is examined by comparing various combinations of walk-in cubic immersive projection technology (IPT) displays and desktop devices

Rules of Engagement: design attributes for social interactions

We present a taxonomy for the design of workplace “break” spaces. The taxonomy can be used to identify aspects of current spaces that are either successful or problematic. From this analysis, we demonstrate how the taxonomy can be used to identify opportunities for computer mediated augmentation of spaces, and how such designs can be validated against this taxonomy

The mystery of the writing that isn’t on the wall: differences in public representations in traditional and agile software development

This paper considers the use of public displays, such as whiteboards and papers pinned to walls, by different software development teams, based on evidence from a number of empirical studies. This paper outlines differences in use observed between traditional and agile teams and begins to identify the implications that they may have for software development

Supporting a Closely Coupled Task between a Distributed Team: Using Immersive Virtual Reality Technology

Collaboration and teamwork is important in many areas of our lives. People come together to share and discuss ideas, split and distribute work or help and support each other. The sharing of information and artefacts is a central part of collaboration. This often involves the manipulation of shared objects, both sequentially as well as concurrently. For coordinating an efficient collaboration, communication between the team members is necessary. This can happen verbally in form of speech or text and non-verbally through gesturing, pointing, gaze or facial expressions and the referencing and manipulation of shared objects. Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) allow remote users to come together and interact with each other and virtual objects within a computer simulated environment. Immersive display interfaces, such as a walk-in display (e.g. CAVE), that place a human physically into the synthetic environment, lend themselves well to support a natural manipulation of objects as well a set of natural non-verbal human communication, as they can both capture and display human movement. Communication of tracking data, however, can saturate the network and result in delay or loss of messages vital to the manipulation of shared objects. This paper investigates the reality of shared object manipulation between remote users collaborating through linked walk-in displays and extends our research in [27]. Various forms of shared interaction are examined through a set of structured sub tasks within a representative construction task. We report on extensive user-trials between three walk-in displays in the UK and Austria linked over the Internet using a CVE, and demonstrate such effects on a naive implementation of a benchmark application, the Gazebo building task. We then present and evaluate application-level workarounds and conclude by suggesting solutions that may be implemented within next-generation CVE infrastructures

Seamful interweaving: heterogeneity in the theory and design of interactive systems

Design experience and theoretical discussion suggest that a narrow design focus on one tool or medium as primary may clash with the way that everyday activity involves the interweaving and combination of many heterogeneous media. Interaction may become seamless and unproblematic, even if the differences, boundaries and 'seams' in media are objectively perceivable. People accommodate and take advantage of seams and heterogeneity, in and through the process of interaction. We use an experiment with a mixed reality system to ground and detail our discussion of seamful design, which takes account of this process, and theory that reflects and informs such design. We critique the 'disappearance' mentioned by Weiser as a goal for ubicomp, and Dourish's 'embodied interaction' approach to HCI, suggesting that these design ideals may be unachievable or incomplete because they underemphasise the interdependence of 'invisible' non-rationalising interaction and focused rationalising interaction within ongoing activity

A video life-world approach to consultation practice: The relevance of a socio-phenomenological approach

This article discusses the [development and] use of a video life-world schema to explore alternative orientations to the shared health consultation. It is anticipated that this schema can be used by practitioners and consumers alike to understand the dynamics of videoed health consultations, the role of the participants within it and the potential to consciously alter the outcome by altering behaviour during the process of interaction. The study examines health consultation participation and develops an interpretative method of analysis that includes image elicitation (via videos), phenomenology (to identify the components of the analytic framework), narrative (to depict the stories of interactions) and a reflexive mode (to develop shared meaning through a conceptual framework for analysis). The analytic framework is derived from a life-world conception of human mutual shared interaction which is presented here as a novel approach to understanding patient-centred care. The video materials used in this study were derived from consultations in a Walk-in Centre (WiC) in East London. The conceptual framework produced through the process of video analysis is comprised of different combinations of movement, knowledge and emotional conversations that are used to classify objective or engaged WiC health care interactions. The videoed interactions organise along an active or passive, facilitative or directive typical situation continuum illustrating different kinds of textual approaches to practice that are in tension or harmony. The schema demonstrates how practitioners and consumers interact to produce these outcomes and indicates the potential for both consumers and practitioners to be educated to develop practice dynamics that support patient-centred care and impact on health outcomes

Production of pace as collaborative activity

In this paper we investigate the concept of pace development and management among groups of people. We explore and compare groups visiting museums, and groups virtually co-located in a mixed reality system for a museum. In considering pace, and how to design to support it, we have to consider more than the speed or location of information display. We have to also take into consideration the social formation of pace through features such as the visitors' awareness of each other's location and attention. By considering aspects of collaboratively produced pace such as presenting engagement and disengagement, we offer suggestions as to how social handling of pace might be better supported by technology

Mirrors of the World - Supporting Situational Awareness with Computer Screens

In this paper we develop a notion of support for social and situational awareness. Our initial ideas are based on the metaphor of using a mirror to see what you are not looking at. We provide two studies that, for different contexts, apply the metaphor to develop design ideas that fit the context of use