messyboard: improving collaboration by decreasing costs and increasing enjoyment

MessyBoard: Improving Collaboration by Decreasing Costs and Increasing Enjoyment

Adam M. FassPh.D. Thesis Proposal

August 6th, 2003

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Projects Demand Multiple People

http://www.ianadamsphotography.com/gallery/rural/pages/page10.htm

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Communication Has A Cost

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Workplace Communication is not Enjoyable

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People Do Not Communicate Enough• Kraut et al. 1990 Informal Communication in

Organizations

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/May/05302003/friday/friday.asp

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Research Goals

• Decrease the cost of communication– More work-related communication

• Making communication enjoyable– More work-related communication– More casual communication– All else being equal, more enjoyment is

good

• Small groups of workers (<30)

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Approach• Build a software communication medium

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Approach• Build a software communication medium

• Embed specific solutions to common problems

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Approach

• Integrate the medium into people’s lives

• Build a software communication medium


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Approach

• Integrate the medium into people’s lives

• Build a software communication medium


• Evaluate

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Thesis StatementA communication medium based on the metaphor of a bulletin board with freeform layout of text and pictures can lower the cost of communication and make it more enjoyable.

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Integrated special-purpose solutions to common communication problems, such as scheduling a meeting, will encourage people to use the medium.

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Projecting the medium on the wall, displaying it as a screen saver, or otherwise integrating it into people's lives so that they see it often and without much effort will further decrease the cost of communication and make it more enjoyable.

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Projecting the medium on the wall, displaying it as a screen saver, or otherwise integrating it into people's lives so that they see it often and without much effort will further decrease the cost of communication and make it more enjoyable.

A combination of iterative software design and testing, ethnographic observations, surveys and activity logs will provide evidence to support these claims and suggest design guidelines for similar communication media.

MessyBoard Demo

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MessyBoard Architecture

Client

Server

Client

Internet

Client

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The Medium: MessyBoard

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Reducing Costs Of Communication:2D Space, Freeform Layout

• Referring to an object• Grounding a conversation

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Making Communication More Enjoyable:2D Space, Freeform Layout

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Reducing Costs of Communication:Freeform Drawing

Could we make this window bigger and this window smaller?

MessyBoard

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Reducing Costs of Communication:Freeform Drawing

Could we make this window bigger and this window smaller?

MessyBoard

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Reducing Costs Of Communication:Strict WYSIWIS, Finite Space

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Making Communication More Enjoyable:Visual Appeal

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Reducing Costs of Communication:Content History

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Scheduling a Meeting

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We are moving today’s meeting to 4:00

Sending an Announcement

AdamBenDesneyAndrew

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Integrating the Medium into People’s LivesReducing Costs

E-mail

Go to office to talk

Telephone

Instant Message

Voice Mail

Scheduled Meeting

Interruption Setting Aside Time

X

X

X

X

X

X

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Integrating the Medium into People’s Lives: Projection

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Integrating the Medium into People’s Lives: Screen Saver

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Integrating the Medium into People’s Lives

Making Communication More Enjoyable

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Other Ways to Integrate the Medium into People’s Lives

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Reducing Startup Cost

Stage3 MessyBoard

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Related Work

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Evaluation

• Is MessyBoard reducing the cost of communication?

• Is MessyBoard making communication more enjoyable?

• Do projection and screen savers lower the cost of communication?

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Ethnographic Observation

• Study a few carefully selected groups• Observe groups beforehand to

establish a baseline• Log activity• Interviews with logs and screenshots

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Activity Logs

• Wide distribution: at least 20 groups

• Logs of every event• Manual coding may be necessary• Augmented with surveys

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Ethnographic Manipulation and Measurement

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+

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+

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Concrete Measurements

• Notes per unit time• Usage Patterns: time of day• Number of people who use it• Accuracy on recall quiz• Response time• Kinds of communication• Linguistic Analysis• Qualitative measures

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Additional Research Questions

• What are the best ways to reduce the startup cost, and how does this affect adoption and long-term use?

• Can concrete communication problems be solved with special-purpose objects embedded in a freeform medium?

• What sorts of groups will benefit from MessyBoard the most?

• What kinds of activities does MB best support?

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Research Plan Dependencies

Deploy MB 1

Initial Exploration

Build And Test MB 2

Design MB User Interface

Complete MB 2 Architecture

Deploy MB 2

Contextual Inquiry

Deploy MB 1

Initial Exploration

Build And Test MB 2

Design MB User Interface

Complete MB 2 Architecture

Deploy MB 2

Contextual Inquiry

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Research Plan Timeline

Deploy MB 1

Build And Test MB 2

Design User Interface

Complete Architecture

DeployMB 2

Contextual Inquiry

Write Thesis Document

May 2003 Sept. 2003 Jan 2003 May 2004

Initial Exploration

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Contributions• A Novel Software System

– Screen Saver– History

• Converging evidence for the utility of the system

• Design Guidelines for 2D Collaborative Spaces

• Solutions to Common Communication Problems

• Design knowledge for integration into people’s lives

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Summary• Goals

– Reduce costs of communication– Make communication more enjoyable

• Approach– Bulletin-board medium– Solutions to specific problems– Integrate into people’s lives

• Research Strategy– Build and distribute MessyBoard– Ethnographic observations– Activity logs

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Acknowledgements

• My Committee• Belinda Chang, Dennis Cosgrove, Jason Pratt• Tiffany Pomarico and Mike Darga• Andrew Faulring• Cedar Reiner and Evan Rapoport• Peter Scupelli• The Stage3 Research Group• The Proffitt Perception Lab• John Stasko• Saul Greenberg• Elaine Huang

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Medium

Integration:Projection,

Screen Saver

Reduce Cost? More Enjoyable?

Aspects

Questions

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Measuring Reduced Costs of Communication

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Laboratory Study: Medium Reduces Cost of Communication

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Laboratory Study: Medium Reduces Cost of Communication

Control Experimental

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Laboratory Study: Medium Makes Communication More Enjoyable

Task A Task B Task C Task D

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Laboratory Study: Medium Makes Communication More Enjoyable

Task A Task B Task C Task D

messyboard: improving collaboration by decreasing costs and increasing enjoyment

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