The World Wide Web is More Than An Information Repository

It is tempting to think of the World-Wide Web (WWW) as a place where individuals and organizations post information. Although web sites are repositories, that view limits our ability to understand the different uses that individuals and organizations have found for the WWW. Many different kinds of collectives are using the WWW to support their needs. Identifying these different kinds of collaboration helps us to understand how new technologies shape social practices while simultaneously the technology is being shaped by those practice

Practical Strategies for Integrating a Conversation Analyst in an Iterative Design Process

We present a case study of an iterative design process that includes a conversation analyst. We discuss potential benefits of conversation analysis for design, and we describe our strategies for integrating the conversation analyst in the design process. Since the analyst on our team had no previous exposure to design or engineering, and none of the other members of our team had any experience with conversation analysis, we needed to build a foundation for our interaction. One of our key strategies was to pair the conversation analyst with a designer in a highly interactive collaboration. Our tactics have been effective on our project, leading to valuable results that we believe we could not have obtained using another method. We hope that this paper can serve as a practical guide to those interested in establishing a productive and efficient working relationship between a conversation analyst and the other members of a design team.Comment: 11 page

Sotto Voce: Exploring the Interplay of Conversation and Mobile Audio Spaces

In addition to providing information to individual visitors, electronic guidebooks have the potential to facilitate social interaction between visitors and their companions. However, many systems impede visitor interaction. By contrast, our electronic guidebook, Sotto Voce, has social interaction as a primary design goal. The system enables visitors to share audio information - specifically, they can hear each other's guidebook activity using a technologically mediated audio eavesdropping mechanism. We conducted a study of visitors using Sotto Voce while touring a historic house. The results indicate that visitors are able to use the system effectively, both as a conversational resource and as an information appliance. More surprisingly, our results suggest that the technologically mediated audio often cohered the visitors' conversation and activity to a far greater degree than audio delivered through the open air.Comment: 8 page

Description of Computer Science Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Initial Explorations

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are in need of technology innovators who are equipped to leverage technologies in locally relevant domains such as health, government and education. To create skilled graduates who can build and shape locally relevant technologies, higher education institutes in Africa must have Computer Science (CS) education programs that meet local needs, for example, to satisfy the demand for entrepreneurs to build industry and strengthen an economy. This paper characterizes the current state of CS education in SSA in order to identify opportunities for addressing education challenges and to make suggestions that may improve the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in this region. We present the results of a survey of CS educators in SSA institutions of higher education, which was aimed at exploring the issues they face. In addition to the continued chronic under-funding of SSA education, we found that universities in SSA have smaller departments, less focus on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and offer a variety of courses aside from undergraduate Bachelors degrees. We discuss directions to improve CS curricula through investing in locally tailored courses and changing perceptions of the value of SSA CS higher education programs, standards and educators. Further, we reflect on the challenges of conducting research on SSA. We conclude that further research in this area is needed to build on the ideas we offer here to continue to strengthen CS higher education in SSA