collective search - a prototype
DESCRIPTION
An example of a system that could support a group of people carrying out a search....TRANSCRIPT
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A Social Proxy for Collective Search
Thomas EricksonIBM T. J. Watson Research Center
CSCW 2010 Collective Information Search WorkshopFebruary 7, 2010
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
About me
Tom Erickson• Where: Social Computing Group, IBM Research
• Expertise: Qualitative Social Science + Interaction Design
• Interests: CSCW, CMC, Social Computation, Urban Informatics, Visualization
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
Key Points
How might we design to support Collaborative Information Search?• Claim 1: Support self-organization and coordination by providing
a shared visualization of the presence and activities of participants
• Claim 2: Think in terms of an interaction ecology• how to draw people in• how to show them what can be done• how to coax them into more involved interactions
To see how this works, lets revisit the design sketch in my paper…
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
A scenario• Our protagonist is Tim
• Tim has been trying to install an application called “Cocoon,” but the install keeps failing
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Tim goes to the main Search Party page where there’s a list of current searches• He can scan down the list,
and if curious he can take a peek
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
He takes a closer look at one by clicking on the triangle
• If he wished, he could join the search, but it doesn’t seem that relevant
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
So Tim starts a new search• He calls it “Cocoon Install Failure”
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
A search window appears• On the left is a visualization
• On the right is a chat-and-search pane
The dot represents Tim
The circle represents the chat-and-search pane
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Tim starts the search• In the chat he enters his query:
“Install Cocoon on Websphere”
• The visualization shows the query and the result set it has produced
• Tim clicks on the small square to see the results in a new window
The line represents the query
The square represents the search results (which Tim can look at in his web browser)
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
MEANWHILE,back in the overview window, ‘Red’ notices Tim’s search
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Red peeks at the search, and decides to join it
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Red joins Tim’s search, and her presence is reflected in the visualization (as a dot) • Now Tim knows he has company Because Red is only watching,
she’s shown on the periphery
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Tim reports on the results• Seeing that someone is watching,
Tim reports on the current set of results: “No good! Over 700 hits”
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Red makes a suggestion about how to refine the query
When Red types a chat utterance, her dot moves into the chat-and-search room, showing that she’s more involved
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Tim refines the query and executes a new search
The new search iteration generates
a new line segment (for the query)and a new square (for the results)
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
MEANWHILE, other onlookers show up. Tim is motivated by their apparent interest
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Tim inspects the new results and reports back
Tim goes to his browser to look at the results ... and reports back in the chat
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
Another onlooker contributes• Jil makes a suggestion...
When Jil ‘talks’ in the chat,
her dot moves inward
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
A three minute demo
And then does a search herself
…and so on…
When Jil does the search, she moves inward again
Thomas Erickson, Social Computing Group, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center.
Recap of key points
Making the presence and activity of others visible through the social proxy and the content of the chat window
Using the visible activity to entice people into participating by providing a ladder of progressively more engaged activities