Abstract

This paper reviews models and theoretical frameworks of collaborative awareness in the use of real-time groupware systems. The review is used to motivate and guide an investigation of distortion-oriented mechanisms for supporting collaborators' fluid and dynamic awareness requirements. We describe our development and evaluation of Dome, a distortion-oriented multi-user editor. Although we designed Dome to provide a realistic and useful platform for the investigation of awareness concepts, our evaluation revealed major flaws in its support for distortion-oriented awareness. We analyse the cause of these errors, some of which have been undetected in prior work, and provide precise formulations that will overcome them. Keywords: Groupware, collaborative workspace awareness, distortion-oriented visualisation 1 Introduction When working with others on physical media such as white-boards and desktops, collaborators maintain a continual awareness of their colleagues. This awarenes...

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