Parametric visual effects such as texture generation and shape grammars can be controlled to produce visually perceptible variation. This variation can be rendered on avatars in groupware systems in real time to represent user information in online environments. This type of extra information has been shown to enrich recognition and characterization, but has previously been limited to iconic representations. Modern, highly graphical virtual worlds require more naturalistic and stylistically consistent techniques to represent information.<p> A number of different parametric texture generation techniques are considered and a set of texture characteristics are developed. The variations of these texture characteristics are examined in a study to determine how well users can recognize the visual changes in each. Another study is done to determine how much screen space is required for users to recognize these visual changes in a subset of these texture characteristics.<p> Additionally, an example shape generation system is developed as an example of how shape grammars and L-systems can be used to represent information using a space ship metaphor.<p> These different parametric visual effects are implemented in an example prototype system using space ships. This prototype is a complete functioning groupware application developed in XNA that utilizes many parametric texture and shape effects.

Coordination is important in groupware because it helps users collaborate efficiently. However, groupware systems in which activities occur at a faster pace need faster coordination in order to keep up with the speed of the activity. Faster coordination is especially needed when actions are dependent on one another (i.e., they are tightly-coupled) and when each user can see and interact with other users actions as they occur (i.e., real time). There is little information available about this type of fast coordination (also named high-speed coordination or HSC) in groupware. In this thesis, I addressed this problem by providing a body of principles and information about high-speed coordination. This solution was achieved by creating a groupware game called RTChess and then conducting an exploratory evaluation in which high-speed coordination was investigated. The results of this evaluation show that there were small amounts of high-speed coordination in the game and that high-speed coordination was difficult to achieve. In addition, HSC was affected by five main characteristics of the groupware environment: user experience, level of awareness of the partners interactions, communication between partners, number of dependencies that affect the users interactions, and pace of activities in the system.

TOUCHE (Task-Oriented and User-Centered process model for developing interfaces for Human-Computer-Human Environments) is a process model for software development created to develop groupware. The creation of TOUCHE is part of a research project carried out at three Spanish universities. The aim of the project is to create a complete process model for the development of usable groupware. This thesis is part of this project and aims to further advance the TOUCHE process model so that it fulfills its aim on developing for usability. The thesis is based on research from the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) and CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) fields. In the thesis a new version of TOUCHE is created which has a strong focus on developing for usability.This is done by selecting four principles from the HCI field, incorporating what is considered to be most important when developing for usability. The principles are a strong focus on, and the involvement of users throughout the whole process, an iterative process, multidisciplinary design, and aim for groupware usability. TOUCHE is analyzed from these principles and missing elements are identified. The difficulties of integrating these elements into TOUCHE are discussed and finally elements are chosen to be integrated into TOUCHE. These elements include a usability guide, evaluation cycles, prototyping, pre-documentation and a multidisciplinary team.

Coordination is important in groupware because it helps users collaborate efficiently. However, groupware systems in which activities occur at a faster pace need faster coordination in order to keep up with the speed of the activity. Faster coordination is especially needed when actions are dependent on one another (i.e., they are tightly-coupled) and when each user can see and interact with other users actions as they occur (i.e., real time). There is little information available about this type of fast coordination (also named high-speed coordination or HSC) in groupware. In this thesis, I addressed this problem by providing a body of principles and information about high-speed coordination. This solution was achieved by creating a groupware game called RTChess and then conducting an exploratory evaluation in which high-speed coordination was investigated. The results of this evaluation show that there were small amounts of high-speed coordination in the game and that high-speed coordination was difficult to achieve. In addition, HSC was affected by five main characteristics of the groupware environment: user experience, level of awareness of the partners interactions, communication between partners, number of dependencies that affect the users interactions, and pace of activities in the system.

Parametric visual effects such as texture generation and shape grammars can be controlled to produce visually perceptible variation. This variation can be rendered on avatars in groupware systems in real time to represent user information in online environments. This type of extra information has been shown to enrich recognition and characterization, but has previously been limited to iconic representations. Modern, highly graphical virtual worlds require more naturalistic and stylistically consistent techniques to represent information.<p> A number of different parametric texture generation techniques are considered and a set of texture characteristics are developed. The variations of these texture characteristics are examined in a study to determine how well users can recognize the visual changes in each. Another study is done to determine how much screen space is required for users to recognize these visual changes in a subset of these texture characteristics.<p> Additionally, an example shape generation system is developed as an example of how shape grammars and L-systems can be used to represent information using a space ship metaphor.<p> These different parametric visual effects are implemented in an example prototype system using space ships. This prototype is a complete functioning groupware application developed in XNA that utilizes many parametric texture and shape effects.

Current shared file systems (NFS and SAMBA) are based on the local area network model. To these file systems, performance is the major issue. However, as the Internet grows, so does the distance between users and the Local Area Network. With this increase in distance, the latency increases as well. This creates a problem when multiple users attempt to work in a shared environment. Traditionally, the only way to collaborate over the Internet required the use of locks. These requirements motivated the creation of the State Difference Transformation algorithm that allows users non-blocking and unconstrained interaction across the Internet on a tree based structure. Fine Grain Locking, on the other hand, allows a user the ability to set a lock on a character or range of characters while using a form of the transformation algorithm listed above. This thesis proposes an implementation that integrates these two technologies as well as demonstrating the effectiveness and flexibility of State Difference Transformation. The implementation includes two applications that can be used to further research in both the transformation and locking communities. The first application allows users to create tests for SDT and Fine Grain Locking and verify the correctness of the algorithms in any given situation. The second application then furthers this research by creating a real-world groupware interface to a shared file system based on a clientserver architecture. This implementation demonstrates the usability and robustness of these algorithms in real world situations.

<p>Detta arbete behandlar en undersökning rörande grupprogrammens funktioner och användningsområden. Fyra grupprogram har analyserat och en kartläggning har gjorts över vilka funktioner som kan räknas som standardfunktioner. Dess standardfunktioner har sedan utgjort det ramverk som använts för att undersöka hur grupprogrammen används ute i företagen. Ett antal företag från olika branscher valdes ut för att ingå i undersökningen. Informationen har samlats in med hjälp av guidade enkäter. Syftet med undersökningen var att avgöra om grupprogrammens kapacitet används fullt ut eller om bara vissa delar utnyttjas.</p><p>Arbetet visade på att endast ett fåtal av grupprogrammens funktioner användes aktivt. Undersökningens slutsats är att det beror på avsaknad av förundersökning, dålig förankring av införandet och att personalen fått bristfällig utbildning på programmet. Undersökningen indikerar att grupprogrammen fått en stor spridning bland företagen men att det fortfarande är en bit kvar tills de används fullt ut på det sätt som det är tänkt.</p>

<p>This thesis aimed to study the interaction between an educational technology system and its users and give suggestions for design improvements. The technology system is called EDIT (Educational Development through Information Technology) and has been developed and applied at Linköping University’s Faculty of Health Science. EDIT supports Problem Based Learning and enables scenarios to be presented through the World Wide Web. </p><p>The study was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of a qualitative study with the objective to describe the interaction between the students and EDIT. Students from the faculty’s medical-, nursing- and social care programs were interviewed and observed using the system. The study showed that EDIT was not fully designed to support multiple user interaction. EDIT could only be operated by one user at a time which in turn resulted in an interaction reliant on the operators technical knowledge and ability to handle the system. The second part consisted of a redesign of EDIT. The design goal was to create a groupware that could be operated by multiple users. The design solutions were presented as lofi prototypes to three EDIT users. The users approved of the ideas but stressed the danger of using too advanced and unfamiliar technology.</p>

La coopération des acteurs disséminés géographiquement est un facteur clé de la performance du développement de produits nouveaux (DPN). Dans les dernières années, des solutions groupware ont été introduites dans le processus de DPN dans l'industrie. La littérature montre que seulement un pourcentage réduit de ces solutions ont une intégration réussie. Ceci est dû aux défauts de spécification des besoins collectifs et au manque d'attention aux facteurs organisationnels et humains de l'intégration des groupwares. Pour remédier à ces problèmes nous proposons une approché basée sur deux mécanismes: le mécanisme d'explicitation participative des besoins et le mécanisme d'accrochage. Nous suggérons que notre premier mécanisme permet la clarification progressive des besoins (en termes de coordination, de communication et de partage d'informations) à travers un diagnostic enrichi grâce à une série de représentations intermédiaires du groupware. Deuxièmement, le mécanisme d'accrochage devrait favoriser l'adoption du groupware par une formation-échange ciblée permettant l'accrochage à un sous-module fonctionnel de l'outil. Puis, nous affirmons que les relations d'interface et de connaissance entre les sous-modules permettront l'accrochage progressif aux différents sous-modules de l'outil. Pour tester nos mécanismes, nous avons mené deux expérimentations dans le contexte du DPN de Saint-Gobain Glass, entreprise leader de l'industrie du verre plat. Notre première expérimentation a consisté à la conception participative de deux modules groupware à l'aide du premier mécanisme. La deuxième expérimentation a consisté à l'intégration d'un des modules groupware avec le mécanisme d'accrochage. Nos indicateurs montrent que le premier mécanisme a favorisé la compatibilité avec les besoins collectifs. Les principales améliorations en comparaison avec les outils préexistants sont la compatibilité avec d'autres outils de DPN et la compatibilité avec les processus décisionnels en place. La deuxième expérimentation montre que la formation-échange ciblée a favorisé l'accrochage progressif aux différents sous-modules de l'outil. Le niveau d'accrochage aux sous-modules non inclus dans la formation ciblée est en relation directe avec le nombre de liens entre sous-modules.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Stasko, John; Committee Member: Bartram, Lyn; Committee Member: Catrambone, Richard; Committee Member: Guzdial, Mark; Committee Member: Mynatt, Elizabeth. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.