Introduction to Collaborative Computing: this explores the basics for the fields of computer-supported collaboration and social computing to provide a framework for understanding the field. (slides .pdf)

• Baecker, R., Grudin, J., Buxton, W., and Greenberg, S. Chapter 11: Groupware and Computer Supported Cooperative Work, in Readings in Human Computer Interaction: Towards the Year 2000, 2nd Edition, Morgan-Kaufmann, 741-754. (.pdf)

The Week's Goal: Understand the ways in which people participate and interact in groups. Understand the theory of collaboration, awareness, and interaction.

• Carl Gutwin and Saul Greenberg. 2002. A Descriptive Framework of Workspace Awareness for Real-Time Groupware. Comput. Supported Coop. Work 11, 3 (November 2002), 411-446. DOI=10.1023/A:1021271517844 (.pdf)
• Kimberly Tee, A.J. Bernheim Brush, and Kori M. Inkpen. 2009. Exploring communication and sharing between extended families. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 67, 2 (February 2009), 128-138. DOI=10.1016/j.ijhcs.2008.09.007 (.pdf)
• Steve Whittaker, David Frohlich, and Owen Daly-Jones. 1994. Informal workplace communication: what is it like and how might we support it?. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '94), Beth Adelson, Susan Dumais, and Judith Olson (Eds.). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 131-137. DOI=10.1145/191666.191726 (.pdf)

Sample Activity: Discuss the papers for this week. Then do a design exercise where as small groups you create a new classroom setting to improve learning. The setting should include a variety of single display groupware displays and systems.

The Week's Goal: Understand the various ways that single display groupware has been used in classroom and work settings. Understand the technical and social challenges for the design of single display groupware. Apply single display groupware concepts to the design of new systems.

Discuss how to write project proposals (due next week). Everyone should have taken one of the methods classes already so this should be a recap of how to introduce a research methodology, research problem/question, and research method to address it or study it. We will look at this example.

Discuss the participatory design protocol located here that illustrates how to draft up a study plan and what to say to participants.

• Stewart, J., Bederson, B., and Druin, A. Single display groupware: a model for co-present collaboration, Proceedings of CHI, ACM Press (1999). (.pdf)
• Lanir, J., Booth, K. and Findlater, L (2008). Observing presenters' use of visual aids to inform the design of classroom presentation software. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '08). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 695-704. (.pdf)
• Scott, S.D., Grant, K, & Mandryk, R. (2003). System Guidelines for Co-located, Collaborative Work on a Tabletop Display. In Proceedings of ECSCW, (.pdf)

Optional:

• Tse, E. and Greenberg, S. Rapidly prototyping Single Display Groupware through the SDG Toolkit, Proceedings of AUIC, Australian Computing Society (2004). (.pdf)

Discussion/Activity leaders: Ray and Sunny

The leaders must come to class with a short summary presentation that highlights the key takeaways from the readers. They will then lead an activity with the class, starting with discussion followed by a hands-on activity. They should consult with the instructor a week beforehand to plan.

Sample Activity: Discuss the papers for this week. Then do a design exercise where as small groups you solve a design challenge for video-mediated communication and present your design ideas to the rest of the groups. For example, each group designs a new video chat system for a specific demographic (grandparents-grandkids, teenagers, long distance couples).

The Week's Goal: Understand technical constraints of different video environments. Apply concepts from the readings in new situations. Understand the differences between workplace media spaces and those designed for families.

Discuss how to write the first half of the course paper. You can find a sample paper here.

• Neustaedter, C., Pang, C., Forghani, A., Oduor, E., Hillman, S., Judge, T. K., Massimi, M. & Greenberg, S. (2015) Sharing Domestic Life through Long-Term Video Connections. IN Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, X.31. (.pdf)
• Greenberg, S., and Neustaedter, C. Shared Living, Experiences, and Intimacy over Video Chat in Long Distance Relationships, in Connecting Families: The Impact of New Communication Technologies on Domestic Life, Neustaedter, C., Harrison, S., and Sellen, A. (eds), Springer (2012), 37-53. (.pdf at library)
• Inkpen, K., Kids & Video: Playing with Friends at a Distance, in Connecting Families: The Impact of New Communication Technologies on Domestic Life, Neustaedter, C., Harrison, S., and Sellen, A. (eds), Springer (2012), 95-123. (.pdf at library)

Discussion/Activity leaders: Yasamin and Stephanie

Sample Activity: Discuss the papers for this week. Then do a design exercise where as individuals you think about how you would construct your own avatar for participation in a VW like Second Life for educational or work situations. Construct your avatar in SL and then show it to the class and explain the rationale behind your choices.

The Week's Goal: Understand how one think's about identity in VWs and how VWs can be used in a variety of situations for both work and education. Apply knowledge from the papers to avatar construction and design activities.

• Erickson, T., Shami, S., Kellogg, W., and Levine, D. Synchronous interaction among hundreds: an evaluation of a conference in an avatar-based virtual environment, Proc. CHI 2011, ACM Press, 503-512. (.pdf)
• Jeffers, D. Is There a Second Life in Your Future?, Proc. SIGUCCS, ACM Press. (.pdf)
• Wong, N. and Gutwin, C.. 2014. Support for deictic pointing in CVEs: still fragmented after all these years'. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing (CSCW '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1377-1387. (.pdf)

Discussion/Activity leaders: Weina and Servet

Sample Activity: Discuss this week's readings while in SL. Replicate the Neustaedter and Fedorovskaya study where you travel in Second Life and ask people about their identity, avatar construction, and social relationships in Second Life. As a class, we will discuss our findings together.

The Week's Goal: Understand how to participate in SL for group discussions and personal social life. Learn about the social and technical challenges of virtual environments. Tour various areas and learn how to navigate. Learn how to conduct studies within virtual environments.

• Neustaedter, C. and Fedorovskaya, E. Capturing and Sharing Memories in a Virtual World, Proceedings of CHI, ACM Press (2009). (.pdf)
• Neustaedter, C. and Fedorovskaya, E. Presenting Identity in a Virtual World through Avatar Appearances, Proceedings of Graphics Interface, ACM Press (2009). (.pdf)
• Turkle, S. Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in Virtual Reality: Playing in the MUDs, Mind, Culture, Activity, Vol. 1(3), (1994). (web)

The first half of your final paper is due in class. This includes the first four sections (Abstract, Intro, Related Work, Method/Design Principles/Design Process) plus reference list. You will revise it based on comments as part of your final deliverable.

You must also submit all materials for your study, if you plan to run one. This will be reviewed to ensure it adheres to ethical practices. If you are designing a system, you should hand-in a detailed system design plan that includes sketches, scenarios, diagrams, etc to illustrate what you will create.

Discussion/Activity leaders: Samarth and Tim

Carman is Away at CSCW

Discussion Topics:

• what were the social challenges of the technology?
• what were the technical challenges with creating the technology?
• how were the challenges overcome?
• what tasks did the system support or not?
• how did users learn to use the system?
• did the system mimic collocated situations or not?
• how can we design a study to look in to the system or situation?
• how can we design a new system to help solve or explore the challenges?

The Week's Goal: Understand the benefits of media spaces along with the social and technical issues of media space design and usage. Understand, assess, and analyze different types of collaboration that occur over media spaces.

• Bly, S., Harrison, S., and Irwin, S. Media Spaces: bringing people together in a video, audio, and computing environment, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 36(1), ACM Press (1993), 28-46. (.pdf)
• Mantei, M., Baecker, R., Sellen, A., Buxton, W., Miligan, T., and Wellman, B. Experiences in the use of a media space, Proceedings of CHI, ACM Press (1991). (.pdf)
• Harrison, S. A Brief History of Media Space Research and Mediated Life, in Media Space 20+ Years of Mediated Life, Springer (2009). (.pdf at library)

Sample Activity: Discuss the papers for this week. Replicate the Voida studies in several games and compare findings between your own play experiences and those found in the papers. Game possibilities: New Super Mario Bros Wii (supports up to four players playing simultaneously), Wii Fit, etc. See the Shared Google Spreadsheet here.

The Week's Goal: Understand how single display groupware concepts emerge in non-work settings for the play of games and fostering family or friend connections. Apply methods to study single display groupware environments.

• Voida, A., Carpendale, S., and Greenberg, S. The Individual and Group in Console Gaming, Proceedings of CSCW, ACM Press (2010). (.pdf)
• Voida, A. and Greenberg, S. Wii all play: the console game as a computational meeting place, Proceedings of CHI, ACM Press (2009). (.pdf)

Discussion/Activity leaders: Yuhang and Yuyao

Location-Based Games: this explores how players participate in a group or community-organized location based games, how these games are orchestrated and monitored, and what challenges exist in doing so. The emphasis will be on understanding how players learn the bounds of the game and participate with others through content finding or creation.(.pdf)

The Week's Goal: Understand the variety of location-based games that have been created and the varying social and technical goals. Apply location-based game concepts in new situations of both a serious and fun nature.

• Benford, S., Crabtree, A., Reeves, S., Flintham, M., Drozd, A., Sheridan, J., and Dix, A. The Frame of the Game: Blurring the Boundary between Fiction and Reality, Proc. CHI 2006, ACM Press (2006), 427–436. (.pdf)
• Neustaedter, C., Tang, A., and Judge, T., The Role of Community and Groupware in Geocache Creation and Maintenance, Proceedings of CHI 2010, ACM Press. (.pdf)
• O’Hara, K. Understanding Geocaching Practices and Motivations, Proc. CHI 2008, ACM Press (2008). (.pdf)

Discussion/Activity leaders: Katerina and Jordon

Instructions for installing and creating a WoW character.

Sample Activity: Discuss the papers for this week. Do a MMO Game Design Activity in class.

Discuss how to write final papers. Everyone should have taken one of the methods classes already so this should be a recap of how to write a basic research paper. I will go through sample papers to show you how to layout the content.

The Week's Goal: Understand the different ways play emerges in MMORPGs and how people learn about play in these game environments. Understand the ways in which identity and avatars are constructed in MMORPGs and how this compares to virtual worlds like SL. Apply an understanding of MMORPGs to new situations and designs.

• Achterbosch, L., Pierce, R. and Simmons, G.Massively multiplayer online role-playing games: the past, present, and future. Comput. Entertain. 5, 4, Article 9 (March 2008), 33 pages. (.pdf)
• Nardi, B., Ly, S., and Harris, J. Learning Conversations in World of Warcraft, Proceedings of HICSS, (2007). (.pdf)
• Ducheneaut, N., Wen, M., Yee, N., and Wadley, G. Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds, Proceedings of CHI, ACM Press (2009). (.pdf)

Discussion/Activity leaders: Gokhan + Fatemeh

Presentation Order:

1. Weina
2. Tim
3. Rainy
4. Servet
5. Summer
6. Stephanie
7. Ray

1. Jordon
2. Samarth
3. Sunny
4. Gokhan
5. Fatemeh
6. Yasamin