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Development of New Methodologies for Assessing the Effectiveness of Collaborative Environments

This is a completed project.

Description

This project focuses on the development of metrics and experimental methodologies for researchers and practitioners to use to evaluate different types of collaborative environments, such as large-format surface computing systems or multi-display systems. In particular, we are focusing on metrics and experimental methodologies for assessing the effectiveness of a collaborative environment to facilitate information sharing among co-located groups.

Through a series of mixed-methods laboratory studies of different collaborative activities in multi-display groupware (MDG) environments, including environments with multiple laptops and a shared wall display, and with multiple tablets and a shared tabletop display, we developed metrics for understanding the teamwork and taskwork impacts of particular MDG designs. These methods have been published in the associated papers, as well as James (Jim) Wallace’s PhD disseration.

Images

Display configurations used in multi-display study: 
status display configuration (left); replicated content configuration (right)
Equipment setup for this multi-display study