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Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University Irina Kireyev Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Prinz, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Lakemeyer. Introduction Related work Demo Concept description Implementation description Evaluation
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Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University Irina Kireyev Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Prinz, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Lakemeyer • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 1/33
CSCW • History • CSCW exists since 1980s • Main focus - synchronous collaboration • Today • Outsourcing practices – different time zones • Collaborators concentrate better in an isolated mode • Need from time to time coordinate activities • Solution • Asynchronous collaboration • Supporting both asynchronous and synchronous modes • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 2/33
Awareness • Key issue • Providing awareness : “understanding of the activities of others, that provide a context for your own activity” • In asynchronous system: • Providing change awareness: “the ability to track the changes made to a collaborative artifact by other participants overtime” • Current awareness support types: • Informational • Subscription-based • Peripheral • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 3/33
Research Question • Problem identified – providing negative awareness • Awareness only of events that occur • No awareness of what was supposed to occur, but did not • Our solution • A mechanism to specify an expectation • a mental picture of what events should take place in a workspace within certain time limits • Notification of fulfilment or non-fulfilment • Objectives • Development of a concept for expectation awareness • Implementation in broadly used groupware system • BSCW – Basic Support for Collaborative Work • Evaluation of practicability • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 4/33
Use Case Example • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 5/33
6 Info Elements of Change • James Tam and Saul Greenberg • Where ? – location of a change • Who ? – author of a change • What? –content of a change • When? – time of a change • How?–actions that lead to a change • Why? – reason for the change • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 6/33
Asynch. Awareness Mechanisms • A. J. Bernheim-Brush, D. Bargeron, J. Grudin, A.Gupta • Informational • activities shown, can be queried from the workspace • e.g. highlighting, annotations and markups, playback, storing and retrieving versions • Subscription-based • to receive notifications on events in a workspace • Peripheral • alerts on changes when user was offline as soon as online • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 7/33
In BSCW • Informational • Event icons • Object history • Event history • Subscription-based • Daily workspace activity report • Direct email event notification after each event • RSS news feeds • Peripheral • JMonitor user and event views • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 8/33
Summary • Existing tools - cognitive support for past or present events • No tool • Specify expected future actions • Automatically verify • Summarized notify also when the action did not occur • Six information elementsfor change awareness • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 9/33
Demo • Creating expectation http://www.foldr.org/~irina/master_thesis/demo/#create • Checking status http://www.foldr.org/~irina/master_thesis/#status • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 10/33
Scope Definitions • Asynchronous collaborative software (groupware) • sharing of objects • non simultaneous work mode • Workspace • user working area • collection of objects user has access to • Object (artifact) • the data structures upon which the users operate • attributes with values • Participate (member) w.r.t. an object • user who has access to this object • Activity (action, operation) • transformation that act on an object • parameters with values • Operational semantics of an object for a participant • possible operations on the object for the participant • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 11/33
Expectation Model • Mental picture of future events • Components (attributes of Expectation object) • Creator • Artifact • Single artifact • Set of artifacts • Expected Activity • Operational semantics of an object • Participants • Single member • Set of members • Start time • End time • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 12/33
Activity based on Artifact • Document • Read • Edit • Rate • Create Note with type: Note, Pro, Con, Angry, Important, Idea • Folder • all activities of single artifacts • Create with type: Document, Discussion, URL, Poll • Note • Read • Create Reply Note with type: Note, Pro, Con, Angry, Important, Idea • URL • Rate • Poll • Vote • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 13/33
Expectation Model (cont.) • Actions (operations) • Create • Member with access rights to modify • View • Creator, Participants? • Edit • Creator • Destroy • Creator • View Result • Creator, Participants? • Fulfillment Check between exp. start time and end time • After each action • Each time result is viewed • Periodically • Automatically at exp. end time • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 14/33
States • Status of expectationfulfillment w.r.t. end date • Basic • Initial • Fulfilled • Not fulfilled • Optional states • Ongoing: not fulfilled, partly fulfilled, fully fulfilled • Final: not fulfilled, partly fulfilled, fully fulfilled • Fulfilled after deadline • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 15/33
Expectation Model (cont.) • Optional components and actions • Send notification at end time • Show expectation to participants • Restart • Extend end date • Contact participants that fulfilled / did not fulfill • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 16/33
Expectation Activity Diagram • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 17/33
Expectation versus Task • Level of necessity and authority • Task: duty • Expectation: looking forward to a certain action • might be fulfilled or not fulfilled • Intention • Task: specifies sequence of instructions for a work unit • Expectation: providies better awareness • automatic summary of events that should have taken place • currently can be only manually obtained • Agreement • Task: collaborator must agree • Expectation : collaborator might not even know • showing expectation is up to expectation creator • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 18/33
Summary • In workspace for sharing objects and asynch. work mode • Mental picture • Object in workspace • Basic components • Creator, Artifact, Activity, Participants, Start time, End time • Basic actions • Create, View, Edit, Destroy, View Result, Fulfillment Check • State: initial, fulfilled, not fulfilled • Ongoing: • not fulfilled, partly fulfilled, fully fulfilled • Final: • not fulfilled, partly fulfilled, fully fulfilled • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 19/33
BSCW • Python CGI extension of web server • Clients are unmodified browsers • 3 layers: • Request handling • Operation handling • Persistent storage • Interplay between layers • Action in UI by user • http request to BSCW server by browser • Identific. of op. handler and request obj. by request handl. layer • Communic. with persistent storage and response obj. using xhtml templates by operation handl. layer • http response by request handl. layer • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 20/33
X-BSCW API versus Package • X-BSCW API • Java • No changes in BSCW kernel itself => modularity • API provides access to all the necessary information ? • Standalone program => locate, download, install effort • Package – our choice • Python • Connected to baseline objects • No changes to kernel itself • Part of BSCW user interface • Can be turned on/off • User level configurable: beginner, medium, advanced • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 21/33
Package Structure • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 22/33
Status Indication • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 23/33
Classes and Operation Handlers • Classes • cl_exp.py • Expectation class definitions • cl_action.py • Mappings between actions in UI and operation handlers • Operation handlers • op_editexp.py • Adding or editing an expectation • op_listexp.py • Allows also to delete an expectation from the list • op_expstatus.py • Configuration files • bs_config.py, bs_event_details.py, bs_explog.py, bs_iconconfig.py, bs_menuconfig.py, config_html_ui.py • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 24/33
Class Diagram • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 25/33
Set Up • 10 participants • From target group – BSCW users • Research Participants Request document in BSCW • Separately one at a time and facilitator of the test • Briefing • Simple example task • Different from the test tasks • 12 test tasks • Real life situation • More and more evolved with time • Covered all functionality • Included • Creation of expectation according to given scenario • Understanding exp. result: fulfilled, partly fulfilled, not fulfilled • Fulfilling a given expectation • Semi structured interview • Expressing opinion on UI, usefulness, improvements, solutions • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 26/33
Set Up (cont.) • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 27/33
Results • Difficulties during tasks • Understood the task text, solved incorrectly • Could not proceed with a task without a question • Was uncomfortable with some part of UI – made remark • Our observations • Answers to questions in semi structured interviews • Usefulness • Usability • Possible uses • Suggestions of improvements • Solutions to difficulties • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 28/33
Difficulties • Members selection at exp. creation • 8 out 10: at least one member/ for all members ? • 6: selected members one by one instead using a role • 2: how to switch to groups/roles in selection ? • 2: forgot to press on “Select Members” • 1: showing expectation to involved members ? • Navigation to expectation actions • 4: did not like to click twice to get to result page • 4: why no “Expectation” in Action menu ? • 2: did not find expectation on a folder inside the folder • 2: set expectation on a wrong artifact • Icons • 2: did not change the date at expectation end time • 1: could not distinguish between red and yellow icons • No difficulties with reading expectation result • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 29/33
Suggestions • Icon • Separate icons for • Partly fulfilled icon • Exp. set on me and by me • Blinking when new relevant events or short before / after end time • On folder – icon also inside the folder • Expectation creation form • exp. end time – hour is blank by default, date is enough • listing in result what is missing for fulfillment • More intuitive navigation • Result page directly after icon click • In “Action menu” list of exp. and available actions for each exp. • Tool tip with exp. details • Email notification • long email with result details / short email with result page link • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 30/33
Conclusions • Benefits of expectations • More flexible, user controllable and non-obtrusive awareness (only one notification per expectation) • Concept and implementation for negative awareness • A reminder of a certain deadline • Showing to involved collaborators what is expected • All test participants stated • Useful concept especially for large workspaces • Easy to understand • Result simple to read • Responsive • Consistent with BSCW user interface • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 31/33
Future Work • Improving the user interface based on suggestions • Members selection • Navigation to expectation actions • Icon carrying more information • Raising responsiveness after exp. fulfillment • Exp. fulfillment test from operation event • Increasing efficiency • Not checking the entire history of events between start and end time • Expectation on multiple artifacts • Testing expectation in other domains: • Management of software development • Collaborative architectural design • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 32/33
The End Thank you for your attention Are there any questions ? • Introduction • Related work • Demo • Concept description • Implementation description • Evaluation • Conclusions • Future work Asynchronous Collaboration Awareness: Expectation Fulfillment Notification Master Thesis 23/02/2007 WS 2006/2007 RWTH Aachen University 33/33