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This paper introduces a novel shared drawing medium called ClearBomd. It realizes (1) a seamless shared drawing space and (2) eye contact to support realtime and remote collaboration by two users. We devised the key merdphor: “talking through and drawing on a transparent glass window ” to design ClearBoard. A prototype of ClearBoard is implemented based on the “Drafter-Mirror ” architecture. This paper first reviews previous work on shared drawing support to clarify the design goats. We then examine three metaphors that fulfill these goals. The design requirements and the two possible system architectures of ClearBoard are described. Finally, some findings gained through the experimental use of the prototype, including the feature of “gaze awareness”, are discussed.

This paper describes DOLPHIN, a fully group aware application designed to provide computer support for different types of meetings: face--to--face meetings with a large interactive electronic whiteboard with or without networked computers provided to the participants, extensions of these meetings with remote participants at their desktop computers connected via computer and audio/video networks and/ or participants in a second meeting room also provided with an electronic whiteboard and networked computers. DOLPHIN supports the creation and manipulation of informal structures (e.g. free hand drawings, handwritten scribbles) as well as formal structures (e.g. hypermedia documents with typed nodes and links) and their coexistence and transformation.

Before the advent of the personal workstation, office work practice revolved around the paper document. Today the electronic medium offers a number of advantages over paper, but it has not eradicated paper from the office. A growing problem for those who work primarily with paper is lack of direct access to the wide variety of interactive functions available on personal workstations. This paper describes a desk with a computer-controlled projector and camera above it. The result is a system that enables people to interact with ordinary paper documents in ways normally possible only with electronic documents on workstation screens. After discussing the motivation for this work, this paper describes the system and two sample applications that can benefit from this style of interaction: a desk calculator and a French to English translation system. We describe the design and implementation of the system, report on some user tests, and conclude with some general reflections on interacting w...

. Floor control allows users of networked multimedia applications to utilize and share resources such as remote devices, distributed data sets, telepointers, or continuous media such as video and audio without access conflicts. Floors are temporary permissions granted dynamically to collaborating users in order to mitigate race conditions and guarantee mutually exclusive resource usage. A general framework for floor control is presented. Collaborative environments are characterized and the requirements for realization of floor control will be identified. The differences to session control, as well as concurrency control and access control are elicited. Based upon a brief taxonomy of collaboration-relevant parameters, system design issues for floor control are discussed. Floor control mechanisms are discerned from service policies and principal architectures of collaborative systems are compared. The structure of control packets and an application programmer's interface are proposed and...

Advances in network technology and research in real-time packet-switched networks have prompted the emergence of internet conferencing. While audio and video conferencing tools are readily available, shared workspaces and drawing tools have been slower to emerge. We present a design for a network conferencing whiteboard that differs in notable respects from other shared workspace prototypes. We describe its transport layer, based on IP multicasting and application level framing, and its object oriented imaging model, based on persistent PostScript graphics operations. We then propose a user interface, and finally, describe a C++ implementation based on the InterViews structured graphics library. 1 Introduction In the early days of the Internet, experiments with packet voice proved that computer networks could be used for integrated services [5]. However, the technological limitations of the time made such use impractical. This is now changing. Dramatic advances in network bandwidth an...

We present EMMIE (Environment Management for Multiuser Information Environments), a prototype experimental user interface to a collaborative augmented environment. Users share a 3D virtual space and manipulate virtual objects that represent information to be discussed. We refer to EMMIE as a hybrid user interface because it combines a variety of different technologies and techniques, including virtual elements such as 3D widgets, and physical objects such as tracked displays and input devices. See-through headworn displays overlay the virtual environment on the physical environment, visualizing the pervasive “virtual ether” within which all interaction occurs. Our prototype includes additional 2D and 3D displays, ranging from palm-sized to wall-sized, allowing the most appropriate one to be used for any task. Objects can be moved among displays (including across dimensionalities) through drag & drop. In analogy to 2D window managers, we describe a prototype implementation of a shared 3D environment manager that is distributed across displays, machines, and operating systems. We also discuss two methods we are exploring for handling information privacy in such an environment. 1.

: A transport protocol that supports real-time communication of audio/video frames across campus-area packet switched networks is presented. It is a "best effort" protocol that attempts to ameliorate the effect of jitter, load variation, and packet loss, to provide low latency, synchronized audio and video communications. This goal is realized through four transport and display mechanisms, and a real-time implementation of these mechanisms that integrates operating system services (e.g., scheduling and resource allocation, and device management) with network communication services (e.g., transport protocols), and with application code (e.g., display routines). The four mechanisms are: a facility for varying the synchronization between audio and video to achieve continuous audio in the face of jitter, a network congestion monitoring mechanism that is used to control audio/video latency, a queueing mechanism at the sender that is used to maximize frame throughput without unnecessarily in...

Hand drawn diagrams are essential tools for thinking and communicating in the early phases of design, yet computer based drawing tools support diagramming and sketching only poorly. Key components of computational support for early design include recognition, interpretation, and management of diagrams The paper describes the motivation for, implementation of, and initial experience with the "computer as cocktail napkin " project, a design environment based on diagrams. It explains low level recognition of glyphs, construction of higher-level recognizers, and routines for managing diagrams in the cocktail napkin prototype. 1.

“Collaborative work is the core of our society, wrought with difficulties and benefits. It is clear that technology can change group work, and there is a good possibility that it can result in major enhancements to productivity.