challenges and opportunities jonathan grudin microsoft research [email protected]

Challenges and Challenges and OpportunitiesOpportunities

Jonathan GrudinJonathan GrudinMicrosoft ResearchMicrosoft Research

[email protected]@microsoft.com

http://research.microsoft.com/http://research.microsoft.com/~jgrudin ~jgrudin

Effective Collaboration Effective Collaboration Support Has Been Slow To Support Has Been Slow To

ArriveArrive

Early Days For Distributed Early Days For Distributed Collaboration?Collaboration?

• ARPANET ARPANET InternetInternetBack then, a node required:Back then, a node required:– Major incentiveMajor incentive– Significant hardwareSignificant hardware– Software developmentSoftware development– Maintenance personnelMaintenance personnel

Now, node creation & maintenance are trivialNow, node creation & maintenance are trivial• COLLABORATORY COLLABORATORY CollaborationCollaboration

Now, a site requires:Now, a site requires:– Major incentiveMajor incentive– Significant hardwareSignificant hardware– Software developmentSoftware development– Maintenance personnelMaintenance personnel

Tomorrow, distributed collaboration will be Tomorrow, distributed collaboration will be trivial…trivial…

Contexts of Development & Contexts of Development & ResearchResearch

1199770011996600 11998800IICC LLSSII VVLLSSII

GGOOVVEERRNNMMEENNTT CCOONNTTRRAACCTTSS

BBUUSSIINNEESSSS SSYYSSTTEEMMSS

OOFFFFIICCEE SSYYSSTTEEMMSS

PPCCss

11995500 11999900

NNEETTWWOORRKKSS

22000000

WWWWWW

CCSSCCWW''8866CCHHII''8833

CCOOIISS''8822

IICCIISS''8800IICCSSEE''7744

WWW'94WWW'94

MMI “Operators”

1950 1975 2000

NON-DISCRETIONARY&

DISCRETIONARY USE

HCI “U

sers”

Human Organizational Human Organizational StructuresStructures

Group or Team:Group or Team: People collected to work togetherPeople collected to work together

Organization:Organization: A number of persons or groups A number of persons or groups having specific responsibilities and having specific responsibilities and united for a specific purposeunited for a specific purpose

Community:Community: A group or class having common interestsA group or class having common interests

Human Nature & Social Human Nature & Social OrganizationOrganization

Human nature does not changeHuman nature does not change

• Groups: Groups: Millions of yearsMillions of years

• Organizations: Organizations: A few thousand yearsA few thousand years• Communities: Communities: A few thousand years or lessA few thousand years or less

Collaboration Technology Collaboration Technology Features & CategoriesFeatures & Categories

CommunicationCommunication

Information sharingInformation sharing

CoordinationCoordination

Real timeReal time AsynchronousAsynchronous

• AV conferencingAV conferencing• TelephoneTelephone• Chat, messagingChat, messaging• Broadcast videoBroadcast video

• WhiteboardsWhiteboards• Application sharingApplication sharing• Meeting facilitationMeeting facilitation• MUDs and CVEsMUDs and CVEs

• Floor controlFloor control• Session managementSession management

• E-mailE-mail• Voice mailVoice mail• FAXFAX

• Document managementDocument management• Threaded discussionsThreaded discussions• HypertextHypertext• Team workspacesTeam workspaces

• Workflow managementWorkflow management• Case toolsCase tools• Project managementProject management• Calendar & schedulingCalendar & scheduling

TeamsTeams











TeamsTeams

OrganizationsOrganizations











TeamsTeams OrganizationsOrganizations

CommunitiesCommunities

Communication

Information sharing

Coordination

Real time Asynchronous

• AV conferencing• Telephone• Chat, messaging• Broadcast video

• Whiteboards• Application sharing• Meeting facilitation• MUDs and CVEs

• Floor control• Session management

• E-mail• Voice mail• FAX

• Document management• Threaded discussions• Hypertext• Team workspaces

• Workflow management• Case tools• Project management• Calendar & scheduling

Teams Organizations Communities


Team:Team: A group organized to work togetherA group organized to work together



Group Functions (McGrath)Group Functions (McGrath)

ProductioProductionn

Well-Well-BeingBeing

Member Member SupportSupport

InceptionInceptionProduction Production demand and demand and opportunityopportunity

Interaction Interaction demand and demand and opportunityopportunity

Inclusion Inclusion demand and demand and opportunityopportunity

Problem-Problem-SolvingSolving

Technical Technical problem-problem-solvingsolving

Role Role network network definitiondefinition

Position and Position and status status attainmentsattainments

Conflict Conflict ResolutioResolutionn

Policy Policy resolutionresolution

Power and Power and payoff payoff distributiondistribution

Contribution Contribution and payoff and payoff distributiondistribution

ExecutionExecution PerformancPerformancee InteractionInteraction ParticipatioParticipatio

nn

Technical & Behavioral Technical & Behavioral Issues: VideoconferencingIssues: Videoconferencing

We are highly skilled at meetings

How will videoconferencing affect meeting dynamics?

Adding Camera, Monitor & Adding Camera, Monitor & MicrophoneMicrophone

Center of attention shifts

Person at head of table seems smaller, peripheral figures are more noticeable

Camera height makes everyone in the room less imposing

Normal lighting and networking can make people look ill, jerky

Voice rises “to be heard across room,” peripheral figures may be inaudible

People less animated when addressing a talking head on a monitor

Even one-second transmission delays can cause considerable confusion

Adding Camera, Monitor & Adding Camera, Monitor & MicrophoneMicrophone

MSR Distributed Meetings MSR Distributed Meetings ResearchResearch

Ring camera (1st prototype) Early interface studies



Organization:Organization: A number of persons or groups having A number of persons or groups having specific responsibilities and united for a specific responsibilities and united for a specific purposespecific purpose


Two Ways to Partition An Two Ways to Partition An OrganizationOrganization

• VerticalVertical– Computer Science Department, History Computer Science Department, History

Department, Philosophy Department, Spanish Department, Philosophy Department, Spanish Department…Department…

– Marketing Division, Engineering Division, Human Marketing Division, Engineering Division, Human Resources Division, International Sales Division…Resources Division, International Sales Division…

• HorizontalHorizontal– Students, Faculty, Administrators…Students, Faculty, Administrators…– Individual contributors, Managers, Executives…Individual contributors, Managers, Executives…

Which sets of people in an organization interact and have a shared sense of efficient work practices?

Organizations (from Organizations (from Mintzberg)Mintzberg)

Strategic Apex

Middle Line

Operating Core

Widely Used ApplicationsWidely Used Applications

• EmailEmail

• BrowsersBrowsers

• Shared calendarsShared calendars

• Desktop videoDesktop video

• Shared workspacesShared workspaces

• Application sharing (NetMeeting)Application sharing (NetMeeting)

• Lotus Notes applicationsLotus Notes applications

Communities of PracticeCommunities of Practice

• Communities focused on a domain of knowledge and Communities focused on a domain of knowledge and accumulation of knowledge and expertise over timeaccumulation of knowledge and expertise over time

• Etienne Wenger’s market analysis:Etienne Wenger’s market analysis:

Knowledge Knowledge worker’s worker’s desktopdesktop

Knowledge Knowledge basesbases

Access to Access to expertiseexpertise

E-learning E-learning spacesspaces Synchronous Synchronous

interactionsinteractions

Discussion Discussion groupsgroups

Web site Web site communitiescommunities

Project Project spacesspaces

Integrating work & knowledgeIntegrating work & knowledge Work

Work

Social

Social

Stru

ctures

Stru

ctures

Con

vers

atio

n

Con

vers

atio

n

Fleeting interactionsFleeting interactions

Instruction

Instruction

Kn

owle

dge

K

now

led

ge

exch

ange

exch

ange

Doc

umen

ts

Doc

umen

ts

Behavioral Challenges To Behavioral Challenges To Successful Design and Successful Design and

UseUse

• Effort/benefit disparitiesEffort/benefit disparities• Critical Mass Critical Mass • The Tragedy of the CommonsThe Tragedy of the Commons• The Prisoner’s DilemmaThe Prisoner’s Dilemma• Other social and motivational factorsOther social and motivational factors• Limits to informed intuitionLimits to informed intuition• Low-frequency eventsLow-frequency events• Exception handlingException handling

Technology and ValuesTechnology and Values

– privacyprivacy– trusttrust– reciprocityreciprocity– autonomyautonomy– securitysecurity

– lack of lack of adoptionadoption

– abuseabuse

– democracydemocracy– accountabilityaccountability– responsibilityresponsibility– efficiencyefficiency

Human Values IssuesHuman Values Issues

Consequences of inattentionConsequences of inattention

NSF Value-sensitive design projectsNSF Value-sensitive design projects

Disconnect from ‘Here and Disconnect from ‘Here and Now’Now’

Behavioral Challenges To Behavioral Challenges To Successful Design and Successful Design and

UseUse

• Effort/benefit disparitiesEffort/benefit disparities• Critical Mass Critical Mass • The Tragedy of the CommonsThe Tragedy of the Commons• The Prisoner’s DilemmaThe Prisoner’s Dilemma• Other social and motivational factorsOther social and motivational factors• Limits to informed intuitionLimits to informed intuition• Low-frequency eventsLow-frequency events• Exception handlingException handling

Social Factors In Social Factors In CollaboratoriesCollaboratories

• Incentives for building, sharing, adopting, interactingIncentives for building, sharing, adopting, interacting– Domain-savvy developers need respect and identityDomain-savvy developers need respect and identity– Publication rules shift to reward collaboratory effortPublication rules shift to reward collaboratory effort– Rules needed for ownership and use of shared dataRules needed for ownership and use of shared data– Loss of control or prestige in using other’s facility?Loss of control or prestige in using other’s facility?– Scaling and growth: expand or clone? Add features?Scaling and growth: expand or clone? Add features?

• Technology requirements based on behavioral factorsTechnology requirements based on behavioral factors– Vendors to take on middleware dev & maintenance Vendors to take on middleware dev & maintenance – Cross-platform solutions needed to reach playersCross-platform solutions needed to reach players– Integration of support for spontaneous & planned Integration of support for spontaneous & planned

real-time, notification, and range of asynchronous real-time, notification, and range of asynchronous – Help in identifying the contexts of data and activityHelp in identifying the contexts of data and activity

» Terminology, reliability, pre-processing…Terminology, reliability, pre-processing…

The Greatest Source Of The Greatest Source Of FailureFailure

The greatest source of failure is the The greatest source of failure is the failure to collect data on failuresfailure to collect data on failures

• Only a small percentage of efforts succeedOnly a small percentage of efforts succeed• It’s not fun to dwell on what didn’t workIt’s not fun to dwell on what didn’t work• You don’t get funding by reporting blind alleys You don’t get funding by reporting blind alleys

traversedtraversed

Best practices are not methodically collectedBest practices are not methodically collected

Could need independent funding, Could need independent funding, participation incentives, confidential participation incentives, confidential handling of datahandling of data

Challenges and Challenges and OpportunitiesOpportunities

Jonathan GrudinJonathan GrudinMicrosoft ResearchMicrosoft Research

[email protected]@microsoft.com

http://research.microsoft.com/http://research.microsoft.com/~jgrudin ~jgrudin

challenges and opportunities jonathan grudin microsoft research [email protected]

Documents

trivial slide

jgrudin slide

distributed collaboration

years communities

millions of years groups

node creation maintenance

specific responsibilities

specific purpose community