Erik C. Hofer School of Information University of Michigan

1. The Connection Project: Supporting Collaboration at The University of Michigan with High Quality Video Links Erik C. Hofer School of Information University of Michigan

2. http://www.nees.org/research/facilities/index.php

4. http://fusiongrid.org http://www.psfc.mit.edu/research/alcator/intro/info.html http://nbirn.net

5. Problem: My work looks nothing like this.

6. http://doc.cern.ch//archive/electronic/cern/others/PHO/photo-ge/0102032.jpeghttp://doc.cern.ch//archive/electronic/cern/others/PHO/photo-ge/0102032.jpeg

7. Common collaborations • Work very closely with a small number of people • While the composition may change over time, the location of collaborations stays pretty constant • Between two departments • Between two research groups at different universities

8. The Connection Project • A project to leverage cyberinfrastructure in supporting the real-time collaboration needs of groups • Emphasis on high-quality, high-bandwidth technologies • Emphasis on connecting established sites together

9. Today’s talk • Who needs this kind of stuff? • Why a new solution? • What we’ve done • How did it work? • Where are we going next

10. The School of Information is a natural laboratory for collaborative technology experimentation.

11. SI North I, II West Hall

12. Source: Allen, T.J. (1977). Managing the flow of technology in organizations. MIT Press. Source:Festinger, L, Schachter, S. and Back, K.W.. (1950). Social pressures in informal groups: a study of human factors in housing. Stanford University Press. Source: Galegher,Kraut, & Egido (1990). Intellectual teamwork: Social and technological foundations of cooperative work, p. 160. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

13. Personnel distribution

14. Solutions • Transportation • University, public and personal • Collocation of groups • Hotel space • Commodity video conferencing facilities

15. Room use • Meeting rooms used primarily for formal meetings • More used by faculty than by staff • Staff opted to travel • When not connected to remote sites, rooms frequently used for long work sessions

16. Do we need new solution? • Is video quality sufficient to support large groups of people? • Are the ergonomics correct in existing setups? • Are training materials sufficient to encourage use?

17. Do we need new solution? • Is video quality sufficient to support large groups of people? • Are the ergonomics correct in existing setups? • Are training materials sufficient to encourage use? • (Answers: Yes, No, No, No)

18. Video quality - is 384k enough? Clips from Video Quality Experts Group, www.vqeg.org

19. Video quality - is 384k enough? Clips from Video Quality Experts Group, www.vqeg.org

20. Ergonomics West Hall SI North

21. User support • As in many facilities, users were left with a set of instructions on the table to operate the system • The instructions were good, but generally weren’t read • Administrative assistants became the first line of support because they were closest

22. We wanted to do better.

23. Design Goals • Improve video and audio quality • Leverage investments in campus infrastructure • Support high interactivity between sites • Natural interaction • High degree of gaze awareness • Improve usability of the rooms • Also wanted to understand the impact of the system upgrades

24. Facility Upgrade • Dual 50” NEC Plasma Displays • Polycom VSX 7000 • DVTS (beta trials) • NCast Telepresenter G2 • Table replacement

25. West Hall SI North

26. Documentation and training • Documentation process centered around user testing • Many iterations with technical and non-technical users • Produced full-color print documentation • Produced a training video • Conducted training sessions with key faculty and staff members

27. Some findings • Users report that the improved audio and video quality makes the rooms a viable alternative to travel between sites. • Users report that DVTS feels more “live” and the additional quality makes the experience more compelling

28. Some findings • Despite a nearly equal split of personnel between sites, meetings typically don’t include an equal number of people at each site • Design implications for future facilities

29. Some challenges ahead • Organizational challenges still play a major role • Scheduling / character of use • Access issues • While bandwidth is over-provisioned now, it’s unclear how much we can scale up use of DVTS in the future as other high bandwidth technologies come online

31. Work in progress • Production integration of DVTS • HD Experimentation • Integration with network monitoring technologies to support quality prediction and a dynamic capability set • Social network analysis of organizational impact • Controlled studies of video quality

32. Acknowledgements • Project Director: Tom Finholt • Graduate Students: Emilee Rader, Rasika Ramesh • UROP Students: Turquoise Archie, Pritpaul Mahal, Jason Lin • This project is funded by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost

33. More info at: www.connectionproject.org