Abstract
Recent research observations of small group meetings have identified
factors critical to the design of computer tools supporting real time
collaborative design. In particular, group activity revolves as much
around the design process--sketching, annotating, listing ideas, and
gesturing around a communal work surface--as it does around the resulting
drawing artifact. A workstation-based tool called GroupSketch has
been developed that allows a small geographically-distributed group to list,
draw, and gesture simultaneously in a communal work surface, supporting
interactions similar to those occurring in the face-to-face process.
GroupSketch facilitates collaboration by: a) allowing gestural
expression through large unique cursors visible on all displays; b)
minimizing overhead encountered in storing information; c) conveying the
process of expressing ideas by transmitting small granular changes of
user activity with minimum time delay; d) intermixing gestural, textual,
and graphical expression modelessly; and e) providing simultaneous access
to a common view of the work surface area. Observations drawn from actual
design sessions indicate that people use GroupSketch in much the
same way they use face to face communal sketchpads.
Notes
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