collaborative

It is generally accepted that it is important to involve the end users of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in all stages of its design and development. However, traditional GUI development tools typically do not support collaborative design. TelePICTIVE is an experimental software prototype designed to allow computer-naive users to collaborate with experts at possibly remote locations in designing GUIs.

TelePICTIVE is based on the PICTIVE participatory design methodology, and has been prototyped using the RENDEZVOUS system. In this paper we describe TelePICTIVE, and show how it is designed to support collaboration among a group of GUI designers with diverse levels of expertise. We also explore some of the issue that have come up during development and initial usability testing, such as how to coordinate simultaneous access to a shared design surface, and how to engage in the participatory design of GUIs using a Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) system.

Recent advances in sensing technology have enabled a new generation of tabletop displays that can sense multiple points of input from several users simultaneously. However, apart from a few demonstration techniques [17], current user interfaces do not take advantage of this increased input bandwidth. We present a variety of multifinger and whole hand gestural interaction techniques for these displays that leverage and extend the types of actions that people perform when interacting on real physical tabletops. Apart from gestural input techniques, we also explore interaction and visualization techniques for supporting shared spaces, awareness, and privacy. These techniques are demonstrated within a prototype room furniture layout application, called RoomPlanner.

A technique for creating a touch-sensitive input device is proposed which allows multiple, simultaneous users to interact in an intuitive fashion. Touch location information is determined independently for each user, allowing each touch on a common surface to be associated with a particular user. The surface generates location dependent, modulated electric fields which are capacitively coupled through the users to receivers installed in the work environment. We describe the design of these systems and their applications. Finally, we present results we have obtained with a small prototype device.

Studies of search habits reveal that people engage in many search tasks involving collaboration with others, such as travel planning, organizing social events, or working on a homework assignment. However, current Web search tools are designed for a single user, working alone. We introduce SearchTogether, a prototype that enables groups of remote users to synchronously or asynchronously collaborate when searching the Web. We describe an example usage scenario, and discuss the ways SearchTogether facilitates collaboration by supporting awareness, division of labor, and persistence. We then discuss the findings of our evaluation of SearchTogether, analyzing which aspects of its design enabled successful collaboration among study participants.

This paper explores interfaces to virtual environments supporting multiple users. An interface to an environment allowing interaction with virtual artefacts is constructed, drawing on previous proposals for 'desktop' virtual environments. These include the use of Peripheral Lenses to support peripheral awareness in collaboration; and extending the ways in which users' actions are represented for each other. Through a qualitative analysis of a design task, the effect of the proposals is outlined. Observations indicate that, whilst these designs go some way to re-constructing physical co-presence in terms of awareness and interaction through the environment, some issues remain. Notably, peripheral distortion in supporting awareness may cause problematic interactions with and through the virtual world; and extended representations of actions may still allow problems in re-assembling the composition of others' actions. We discuss the potential for: designing representations for distorted peripheral perception; and explicitly displaying the course of action in object-focused interaction.