Supporting Awareness in Heterogeneous Collaboration Environments

1. Supporting Awareness in HeterogeneousCollaboration Environments Doctoral Consortium Enterprise Information Systems ICEIS 2005 May 25th, 2005 Vijayanand Bharadwaj Lane Dept. of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering West Virginia University Morgantown W.V. 26505vijay@csee.wvu.edu

2. Nature of Collaboration Introduction Essential to every domain of work Collaboration Occurs with various tools, electronic and non-electronic. Occurs over Heterogeneous Environments

3. Collaboration Computation Information Communication Coordination Collaboration: IC3 Introduction • Coordination:Essential for success. • Lack of proper coordination can result in delays, waste and overall inefficiency due to • Misplaced Efforts • Redundancy • Improper Allocation of Resources • Well Coordinated group efforts can minimize inefficiency both during and even before projects begin. • Requirements for Effective Coordination • Knowledge of all aspects of the group’s collaborative effort, relevant to one’s sphere of activity • Communication

4. Awareness in Collaboration Introduction • The knowledge of all the relevant aspects of group collaboration can be termed as AWARENESS ! • Definition: “An understanding of the activities of others which provides a context for your own activity” – Dourish & Belloti • Who…What…Where…When…How..Why

5. Awareness Types Introduction • Types of Awareness: Some easy to facilitate, some very difficult. No standard terminology. • Workspace Awareness • Group Awareness • Project Awareness • Location Awareness • Social Awareness • Historical Awareness • Context-Awareness: • All the above can be termed as providing some Context to the consumer from the Context that others work in.

6. Awareness Mechanisms Introduction • The type of awareness facilitated depends on the system • Example Types: WYSIWIS(Collaborative Shared Editors), Wikis, Messaging Systems (Email & Chat), Workflow applications • Example Applications: Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, MSN and Yahoo Instant Messenger etc. • Groupware systems are designed to support awareness • The Reality • Tools versus Groupware: People Use Tools not designed with group awareness in mind!!! Example: Word Processors (& Email). • Mixture of Groupware !! Wiki and Hotmail • Heterogeneous Environments !! • Users Mobile !! • Changes occur: Objectives, Details, Policies, Personnel, Locations, Resources, Constraints !! (Bharadwaj et al. [4]) • Unanticipated Requirements, Constraints and Situations Arise during Collaboration!!!

7. This Dissertation Introduction • Awareness propagation is not trivial ! • This leads us to ask, • “How can we effectively support awareness in collaborating groups using a variety of applications and systems?” Supporting Awareness inHeterogeneous Collaboration Environments

8. Overview • Introduction (Motivation for Research) • Research Problem and Objectives (Brief Background to put the Research in Context) • Methodology (Research Methods being used) • Contribution (Research Model) • Related Work • Preliminary Results and /or expected Results, benefits • Next Steps: Validation and Implementation • References

9. “Quality Factors” of Awareness: Research Problem • Effective Awareness Propagation • Relevancy • Do I need to know about this ? • Information Overload • How much do I need to know ? • Obtrusiveness • How can I know with minimum unnecessary Distraction ! • Privacy • How can I establish who knows what and how much ? • Enhanced awareness • How do I know that you know ? • How do you know that I know ?

10. Nature of Collaboration Research Problem Essential to every domain of work Collaboration Occurs with various tools, electronic and non-electronic. Occurs over Heterogeneous Environments

11. This Research Effort… Research Problem Research Problem Effective Awareness Propagation is essential for successful coordination. However there is a deep impact of Heterogeneous Environments on Effective Awareness Propagation Research Objectives • Characterize the impact of Heterogeneity • Propose mechanisms to enable effective awareness propagation

12. Steps Taken Research Methodology • Ascertain the Impact of Heterogeneity on effective awareness propagation. • Identify Requirements for effective awareness propagation taking into account the impact. • Devise Mechanisms based on the requirements.

13. Characterizing the Impact Research Methodology • Relationship: Quality of Awareness and its Sources & Medium • Quality factors: Evaluated from the consumer’s perspective so subjective • Awareness Information Characteristics are absolute. • Perceived Quality of Awareness is dependent on the Awareness Characteristics which are dictated by the Source and Medium.

14. Characterizing the Impact (2) Research Methodology • Awareness Information Characteristics • Type: What am I aware of ? (Activity, location, Changes to an artifact, Message Transcript, Video Images or a combination of all ) • Form: Is it Text, Audio, Visual, Coordinates ? • Volume: How much of it am I aware of ? (Every email exchanged, large recording) • Frequency: How often do I get the information? (Every line in a chat session or a digest) • Source: Which is the element generating Awareness Information of interest? • Email and IM messages, actions on an artifact, sensors, user’s keystrokes, • Source characteristics dictate the Type, Form, Volume and Frequency • Medium: How do I obtain Awareness from the Source? • Medium characteristics dictate the Form, Volume and Frequency • Wired & Wireless networks, telephone (landlines, cellular), etc. Higher bandwidth n/w can provide a higher quality streaming video.

15. Requirements for Awareness Propagation Research Methodology • Physical Integration of Awareness Information Sources and Media • Mechanisms to tie sources of awareness information together. • Must work in heterogeneous environments • In spite of different Paradigms: Client-Server, P2P • Over various Substrates: WWW and Internet, Intranet, Wireless Networks, Telephone N/W • Over various Capabilities: Bandwidth, Processing Power, Storage Capacity • Integrating Information

16. Awareness Frameworks: Physical Integration Research Methodology • Sources and Media Integrated using Middleware:

17. Awareness Frameworks: Physical Integration Research Methodology • Sources Integrated using Middleware • Provide ability to communicate information generated • Event Notification middleware, Common Databases, • Works over WWW, Intranets, P2P, Wireless n/w etc. • Related Work done in Awareness Frameworks. • Java Context-Awareness Framework JCAF (Bardram et al.[2]) • GroupDesk (Fuchs et al.) • NESSIE (Prinz [13]) • ENI & HIPPIE (Gross & Specht [8]) • iScent (Anderson & Bouvin [1]) • Awareness Frameworks are Not Sufficient !

18. Integrating Information Research Methodology • Each source • Different Characteristics, Specific Nomenclature, Formats, No Direct Relationship Examples: Email, Instant Messaging, Streaming Video, Sensor coordinates, Streaming video • Require: • Information: Needs Transformation • Context: Project Context versus Source Context • Integration Process: Straightforward • Awareness Characteristics: Must be Expressed to tailor Quality Factors !!! • Enhanced Awareness: Agents and Intersubjectivity • Inaccessible Information: Meta-Information must be available • User Interface: Enable Searching and or Browsing • Historical Awareness: Support • Much more than creating databases !!

19. Awareness Model: Integrating Information Contribution • Logical Framework for awareness sources at the “Information Level” • Users see a unified picture of Awareness Information Sources. • Meta-Information describes Sources and Media: • Essential to allow users to choose not only what they need to be aware of but tailor the qualities of the information they wish to receive. • Adaptable • To accommodate addition of new Sources and Media as well changes to existing ones • Adaptable to changes in Collaboration. • Simplified Integration Process • The process of integration must be simple • An Awareness Model must meet the above requirements • Part of an Awareness Framework

20. Awareness Model Elements Contribution • Related Work in Awareness Model • Spatial Metaphor Model: • Awareness, Medium, Aura, Nimbus,Focus, Adapter (Benford et al. [3]) • Awareness through Interaction: • Shared space made up of objects (Rodden [14]) • Reaction-Diffusion Metaphor: • Effects of Awareness (Simone et al. [15]) • Other Models • Presence Awareness:Location, Presentity, Watcher, Vicinity(Christein [6]) • 3-Ontology Framework:Events, Places, Communities (Leiva-Lobos [11]) • Our Awareness Model: • Focus of Attention (Focus) • Source • Medium

21. Awareness Model Elements Contribution • Focus • A unified view of all active Sources (& Media) as well as corresponding events, interaction occurring. For example: • A threaded discussion is a Source and so is the Wiki used by the group • A user’s Focus of messages in a threaded discussion as well as the Wiki. Changes to material on the Wiki is discussed on the board. • Can shift over time i.e. The number and type of Source and Media can change • Source • Consists of Meta-Information about the Information Content that the Source generates. • Type: About the information • Form: Audio, Video, Text Stream, • Total Volume: How much Information has been generated so far • Frequency: How often is the source generating information • Content: Actual information generated • Medium • Meta-Information about the Medium Specific Characteristics • Extensible Model: Attributes can be added as necessary to the model

22. Awareness Model: Integrating Information Contribution

23. Awareness Model in a Framework Contribution

24. Awareness Map: View of The Awareness Model Contribution • Concept inspired by Gross et al [10]. • Facilitates Choice • Levels of Awareness • Users have multiple Foci • Each Focusconsists ofmultipleActive Source and Mediumwith Meta-Information descriptions • Access Controlmade possible through Source Superset • Source Superset consists of all possible Source and Medium pairs that the user is allowed to access

25. Illustration Contribution • Managing Collaborative Editing Sessions

26. Validation and Next Steps • Validation through Simulations • Scenarios • Collaboration scenarios: Realistic involving humans accomplishing specific goals. • Elements will model behavior of elements in a Heterogeneous Environments • Objectives: The objectives would be to ascertain the usefulness of the Awareness Model in such scenarios in providing effective awareness • Metrics: To be developed that measure the Improvement of a process with and without the Awareness Model. • Choice of Simulation Environments • BRAHMS used by NASA [16], CAST (Univ. of Penn [17]) specifically designed. • They model and simulate Work Practice

27. Validation and Next Steps • Awareness Map Implementation • Proof-of-Concept Implementation and Evaluation • Not tied to a particular technology, toolset, platform. • Meta-Information element formats must be portable e.g. Use of XML • Essential Components: Program to Collect and Disseminate information from the model example: event handler, configurable agents, interface to database • Interfaces: Enable Individual Applications and Tools to be integrated. • Applications must implement the Interfaces.

28. References 1. Anderson, K. M., Bouvin, N. O.: Supporting Project Awareness on the WWW with the iScent Framework. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Awareness and the WWW, Part of the 2000 ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Philadelphia, PA, USA. (December 2-6, 2000) 2. Bardram, J. E., Hansen, T.R.: The AWARE architecture: supporting context-mediated social awareness in mobile cooperation. In Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative, CSCW’04, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (November 6-10, 2004) 192-201 3. Benford, S.D. and Fahlén, L.E.: A Spatial Model of Interaction in Large Virtual Environments. In: De Michelis, G., Simone, C. and Schmidt, K. (eds.): Proceeding of the 3rd European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work ECSCW’93. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Milano, Italy (1993) 109-124 4. Bharadwaj, V., Reddy, Y.V.R., Kankanahalli, S., Reddy, S., Selliah, S., Yu, J: Evaluating Adaptability in Frameworks that Support Morphing Collaboration Patterns. In Proceedings of the 13th IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE'04), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy (June 14 - 16, 2004) 186-191 5. Blandford, A., Wong, B.L.W.: Situation awareness in emergency medical dispatch. In Intnational Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Volume 61, Issue 4, (2004) 421–452 6. Christein, H., Schulthess, P.: A General Purpose Model for Presence Awareness. In: Plaice J. et al. (eds.): Distributed Communities on the Web: 4th International Workshop, DCW 2002, Sydney, Australia, April 3-5, 2002. Revised Papers. LNCS Volume 2468, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (2002) 22-34 7.Domingos, H.J., Preguica, N., Martins, J.L.: Coordination and Awareness Support for Adaptive CSCW Sessions. In Proceedings of Fourth International Workshop on Groupware, CRIWG’98, Búzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (September 9-11, 1998) 21-37

29. References 8. Gross, T., Specht, M.: Awareness in Context-Aware Information Systems. In: Oberquelle, H., Oppermann, R. and Krause, J. (eds.): Mensch & Computer - 1. Fachuebergreifende Konferenz (Mar. 5-8, Bad Honnef, Germany), Teubner. (2001) 173-182. 9. Gross, T., Stary, C., Totter, A.: User-Centered Awareness in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work-Systems: Structured Embedding of Findings from Social Sciences. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (to appear) http://www.uni-weimar.de/~gross/publ/IJHCI_gross_et_al_awareness.pdf (February 2005) 10. Gross, T., Wirsam, W., Graether, W.: AwarenessMaps: visualizing awareness in shared workspaces. In Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI’03, extended abstract. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, (2003) 784-785 11. Leiva-Lobos, E. P., Covarrubias, E.: The 3-Ontology: A Framework to Place Cooperative Awareness. In: Haake, J.M. and Pino, J.A. (eds.): Groupware: Design, Implementation and Use: 8th International Workshop, CRIWG 2002, La Serena, Chile, September 1-4, 2002. Proceedings, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 2440, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (January 2002) 189-199 12. Nutter, D., Boldyreff, C.: Historical Awareness Support and Its Evaluation in Collaborative Software Engineering. In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE’03), Linz, Austria. (June 09 - 11, 2003) 171-176 13. Prinz, W. NESSIE: An Awareness Environment for Cooperative Settings. In Proceedings of the Sixth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work - ECSCW'99 (Sept. 12-16, Copenhagen, Denmark). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dortrecht, NL, (1999) 391-410. 14. Rodden, T.: Populating the Application: A Model of Awareness for Cooperative Applications. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work CSCW’96. ACM Press, Boston (1996) 87-96 15. Simone, C., Bandini, S.: Compositional features for promoting awareness within and across cooperative applications. In Proceedings of the International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work: The Integration Challenge, GROUP’97, Phoenix, Arizona, United States (1997), 358 - 367

30. References 16.BRAHMS Business Redesign Agent-based Holistic Modeling System http://www.agentisolutions.com/brahms.htm 17. CAST Collaborative Agents for Simulating Teamwork http://ist.psu.edu/yen/Lab/1-CAST.htm 8. Thank You. vijay@csee.wvu.edu