JUDGING PEOPLE'S AVAILABILITY FOR INTERACTION FROM VIDEO SNAPSHOTS
Date
1998-03-01
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Abstract
Several groupware systems support casual real time interaction over distance
by providing periodically updated snapshots of other people's offices. People
then monitor these snapshots to determine how available others are for
communication. In this research, we try to isolate what information people
use from these snapshots to help them infer another's availability. Research
participants examined video snapshots of people posed in typical office
situations, and judged how available those people were for interaction. Our
first result suggests that people have difficulty extracting information from
these images unless their resolution was at least 128x128 pixels. Our second
result indicates that people interpret stereotypic situations as indicating
varying degrees of availability. In general, people are judged as less
available when they are seen to be absent from their office, or in
conversation with others. People are judged more available when they are in
transition (e.g., entering or leaving a room), and when they are not working.
People at work seem to portray a more ambiguous situation. However, all
situations had a minority of people who interpreted the image quite
differently.
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Computer Science