How are technologies are designed and used tactically by activists? As the HCI community starts to contend with social inequalities, there has been debate about how HCI researchers should address approach this type of research. However, there is little research examining practitioners such as social justice activists who confront social problems, and are using technology, such as mobile phones, blogging, and social media to do so. In this dissertation, I build on this knowledge within the context of a social movement organization working to stop street harassment (harassment towards women and minorities in public) called Hollaback (ihollaback.org). I position myself as an action researcher doing research and building technologies such as mobile apps and a blogging platform to collect stories of harassment and to support activists. The organization has collected over 3000 stories and represents 50 different locales in 17 countries. Through a series of studies, I examined how technology impacts the organization, activists, and those who contribute stories of harassment. I found evidence that the storytelling platform helps participants fundamentally shift their cognitive and emotional orientation towards their experience and informs what activists do on the ground. My results suggest that doing activism using technology can help remove some barriers to participation but can also lower expectations for the amount of work required. I also looked at how different social media tactics can increase the number of followers and how traditional media plays a role in these tactics. My work contributes theoretically to the HCI community by building on social movement theory, feminist HCI, and action research methodology. My investigation also sheds light empirically on how technology plays a role in a social movement organization, and how it impacts those who participate.

Reality-based interfaces bring new design opportunities to social games. These novel game interfaces, exemplified by Wii, Kinect, and Smart phones, leverage players' existing physics, bodily, environmental, and social skills. Moreover, they enable a shared hybrid physical-digital space in which the players' co-presence can be enhanced by their physical and digital co-location. However, many digital social games occupy players' attention with the digital display and content, reducing their attention spent on one another and limiting the synchronization of actions and emotions among players. How do we design technologies that do not interfere with social play but enhance and innovate it? In this thesis work, I focus on one particular kind of reality-based interfaces, Handheld Augmented Reality (HAR), to extend players' interaction from the small mobile devices to the shared hybrid space around a computationally trackable surface. This thesis explores how to encourage social play with HAR interfaces, which brings in challenges of designing with the affordances and constraints of the HAR interface, understanding the complicated phenomenon of social play, and integrating these understandings in multiplayer HAR game design. Adopting Research-through Design as the overarching research method, I collaborate with multiple teams, design and study three multiplayer HAR game prototypes. I present four main contributions. First, this work yields design artifacts and examples of social games with HAR interfaces. I communicate to the game design and Augmented Reality communities through these prototypes, including BragFish, ARt of Defense, and NerdHerder. Second, I provide empirical findings on social play in a shared hybrid space. Through lab-based user studies, observation, video analysis, interviews, and surveys, I collect and analyze interpersonal play behaviors and emotions in the shared hybrid space enabled by the HAR interface. Third, I adopt and adapt sociological theories to the domain of social games. I generate a list of theory-based design guidelines for co-located social games, especially HAR games. I prove its usefulness through the user study on an HAR game that embodies a subset of these design guidelines. Fourth, this thesis work is a case study that bridges Human Computer Interaction knowledge and methods with game design practices. It shows the outcome and benefits of multidisciplinary research, calling for more effort in integrating reality-based interfaces, as playful and experimental design materials, into different phases of game design process.

This thesis researches the potential for using Virtual Worlds as an advanced environment for interaction and simulation besides observation. Tables, matrices and scenarios have been developed to illustrate upfront, the route that can be taken to develop an advanced virtual environment. The paper attempts to build a dialogue for designers, to gauge the requirements of a client and thereby propose a schedule of deliverable, time and cost, in a pre-project phase.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the style of a user interface (i.e., its look and feel) has an effect on the usability of a synchronous computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) environment for delivering Internet-based collaborative content. The problem motivating this study is that people who are located in different places need to be able to communicate with one another. One way to do this is by using complex computer tools that allow users to share information, documents, programs, etc. As an increasing number of business organizations require workers to use these types of complex communication tools, it is important to determine how users regard these types of tools and whether they are perceived to be useful. If a tool, or interface, is not perceived to be useful then it is often not used, or used ineffectively. As organizations strive to improve communication with and among users by providing more Internet-based collaborative environments, the users' experience in this form of delivery may be tied to a style of user interface look and feel that could negatively affect their overall acceptance and satisfaction of the collaborative environment. The significance of this study is that it applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a tool for evaluating style of user interface look and feel in a collaborative environment, and attempts to predict which factors of that model, perceived ease of use and/or perceived usefulness, could lead to better acceptance of collaborative tools within an organization.

Online creative collaboration is challenging our basic assumptions about how people can create together. Volunteers from around the world who meet and communicate over the Internet have written the world's largest encyclopedia, developed market-leading software products, solved important open problems in mathematics, and produced award-winning films, among many examples. A growing body of research refutes the popular myth that these projects succeed through "self-organization" and instead points to the critical importance of effective leadership. Yet, we know little about what these leaders actually do, the challenges they must manage, and how technology supports or hinders their efforts. In this dissertation, I investigated the role of leadership in online creative collaboration. I first conducted two empirical studies of existing leadership practices, focusing on the domain of online, collaborative animation projects called "collabs." In the first study, I identified the major challenges faced by collab leaders. In the second study, I identified leader traits and behaviors correlated with success. These initial findings suggested that many collab leaders, overburdened and lacking adequate technological support, respond by attempting less ambitious projects and adopting centralized leadership styles. Despite these efforts, leaders frequently become overburdened, and more than 80% of collabs fail. To ease the burden on leaders and encourage more complex, successful projects, I led the development of a web-based, open-source software tool called Pipeline. Pipeline can support leadership by reinforcing a traditional, top-down approach, or transform leadership by redistributing it across many members of a group. This latter approach relies on social processes, rather than technical constraints, to guide behavior. I evaluated Pipeline's ability to effectively support and transform leadership through a detailed case study of Holiday Flood, a six-week collaboration involving nearly 30 artists from around the world. The case study showed that formal leaders remained influential and Pipeline supported their traditional, centralized approach. However, there was also evidence that Pipeline transformed some leadership behaviors, such as clarifying, informing, and monitoring, by redistributing them beyond the project's formal leaders. The result was a significantly more ambitious project which attained its goals and earned high praise from the community. The main contributions of this dissertation include: (1) a rich description of existing leadership practices in online creative collaboration; (2) the development of redistributed leadership as a theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between leadership and technological support; (3) design implications for supporting and transform leadership; (4) a case study illustrating how technology can support and transform leadership in the real world; and (5) the Pipeline collaboration tool itself, released as open-source software.

Des verrous technologiques et sociaux importants sont identifiés lors du soutien de la collaboration entre acteurs d’une crise : en particulier, souvent la conception de systèmes informatiques dans ce but ne répond pas aux besoins des utilisateurs et les systèmes trop rigides ne permettent pas de supporter des situations dynamiques où les évènements sont imprévus et font appel à des mesures émergentes. Pour s’affranchir de ces verrous, notre travail se positionne dans le domaine du travail collaboratif assisté par ordinateur (TCAO) focalisé sur les systèmes sociotechniques. Cette recherche s’inscrit dans la problématique d’un système flexible d’information et de communication qui supporte l’awareness informationnelle dans un contexte précis : la collaboration inter-organisationnelle dans des situations émergentes et complexes. Celles-ci ajoutent au travail collaboratif plusieurs contraintes, notamment le stress, l’imprévision, la multitude des acteurs et les frontières organisationnelles. Dans ce contexte, les différentes organisations – SAMU, pompiers, gendarmerie et autres - doivent acquérir et percevoir les informations qui leur sont utiles pour accomplir leurs activités inter-organisationnelles. Certes, les acteurs rencontrent des problèmes qui entravent l’atteinte de leurs objectifs. Avec l’aide des sciences sociales, cette étude apporte une contribution de recherche en informatique ouverte sur l’interdisciplinarité. Un apport important en est l’étude de l’aspect organisationnel et de l’aspect informationnel à partir des pratiques réelles des utilisateurs / In order to overcome the technological and social locks that are identified in supporting collaboration - for instance, the computer systems design problems that do not meet the needs of users and/or systems that are rigid and do not allow to deal with dynamic situations where events are unexpected and appeal to emerging measures - our work is positioned in the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) characterized by the dualistic social and technical aspects.This research proposes flexible information and communication system that supports the information awareness in the inter-agency collaboration in emerging and complex situations as crisis. These situations add to a collaborative work several constraints such as stress, lack of foresight, the multitude of actors and organizational boundaries. In crisis management, the various organizations – emergency medical service, firefighters, police and others - need to perceive useful information to them to complete their inter-agency activities. However, actors encounter problems that prevent them to reach their goals. This study brings to its scale, a contribution in computer sciences opened to interdisciplinary with the help of social sciences which rely on study of current practices to understand and analyze the users, their activities and the work environment

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Collaborative helping via social networking conversation threads can pose serious challenges in emergency situations. Interfaces that support complex group interaction and sense-making can help. This research applies human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), and collaboration engineering in developing an interactive design, the Mega-Collaboration Tool (MCT). The goal is to reduce the cognitive load of a group’s growing mental model, thus increasing the general public’s ability to organize spontaneous collaborative helping. The specific aims of this research include understanding the dynamics of mental model negotiation and determining whether MCT can assist the group’s sense-making ability without increasing net cognitive load. The proposed HCI theory is that interfaces supporting collaborative cognition motivate contribution and reduce information bias, thus increasing the information shared. These research questions are addressed: 1. Does MCT support better collaborative cognition? 2. Does increasing the size of the shared data repository increase the amount of information shared? 3. Does this happen because group members experience 1) a greater sense of strategic commitment to the knowledge structure, 2) increased intrinsic motivation to contribute, and 3) reduced resistance to sharing information? These questions were affirmed to varying degrees, giving insight into the collaborative process. Greater content did not motive group members directly; instead, half of their motivation came from awareness of their contribution’s relevance. Greater content and organization improved this awareness, and also encouraged sharing through increased enthusiasm and reduced bias. Increased commitment was a result of this process, rather than a cause. Also, MCT increased collaborative cognition but was significantly hampered by Internet performance. This challenge indicates MCT’s system components should be redesigned to allow asynchronous interaction. These results should contribute to the development of MCT, other collaboration engineering applications, and HCI and information science theory.

The purpose of the research is to propose and evaluate a methodology for implementing EDI to assist organisations in reaping the anticipated benefits. The research involved the systematic analysis of the state of the art of EDI and paradigms of methodologies, to define a model for the EDI implementation methodology, and to define criteria for evaluating such a model. The methodology was developed and modelled utilising the software process model, as adopted by Boehm (1988) and later duPlessis and van der Walt (1992), as a framework. Next a synthesis of the assimilated knowledge and brainstorming of project teams involved in EDI pilot projects, was used to systematically develop an EDI implementation methodology. The methodology was evaluated by utilising it in the implementation of EDI between two organisations, Computer Equipment Brokers (PTY) and Marksec (PTY). It was concluded that the methodology was efficient for implementing EDI. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

The purpose of the research is to propose and evaluate a methodology for implementing EDI to assist organisations in reaping the anticipated benefits. The research involved the systematic analysis of the state of the art of EDI and paradigms of methodologies, to define a model for the EDI implementation methodology, and to define criteria for evaluating such a model. The methodology was developed and modelled utilising the software process model, as adopted by Boehm (1988) and later duPlessis and van der Walt (1992), as a framework. Next a synthesis of the assimilated knowledge and brainstorming of project teams involved in EDI pilot projects, was used to systematically develop an EDI implementation methodology. The methodology was evaluated by utilising it in the implementation of EDI between two organisations, Computer Equipment Brokers (PTY) and Marksec (PTY). It was concluded that the methodology was efficient for implementing EDI. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)