Supporting Awareness in Heterogeneous Collaboration Environments

1
Supporting Awareness in HeterogeneousCollaboratio
n Environments

• Doctoral Consortium Enterprise Information
  Systems
• ICEIS 2005
• May 25th, 2005
• Vijayanand Bharadwaj
• Lane Dept. of Computer Science and Electrical
  Engineering
• West Virginia University
• Morgantown W.V. 26505vijay_at_csee.wvu.edu

2
Nature of Collaboration
Introduction
Essential to every domain of work
Collaboration
Occurs with various tools, electronic and
non-electronic.
Occurs over Heterogeneous Environments
3
Collaboration IC3
Introduction

• Coordination Essential for success.
• Lack of proper coordination can result in delays,
  waste and overall inefficiency due to
• Misplaced Efforts
• Redundancy
• Improper Allocation of Resources
• Well Coordinated group efforts can minimize
  inefficiency both during and even before projects
  begin.
• Requirements for Effective Coordination
• Knowledge of all aspects of the groups
  collaborative effort, relevant to ones sphere of
  activity
• Communication

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Awareness in Collaboration
Introduction

• The knowledge of all the relevant aspects of
  group collaboration can be termed as AWARENESS !

• Definition An understanding of the activities
  of others which provides a context for your own
  activity Dourish Belloti
• WhoWhatWhereWhenHow..Why

5
Awareness Types
Introduction

• Types of Awareness Some easy to facilitate, some
  very difficult. No standard terminology.
• Workspace Awareness
• Group Awareness
• Project Awareness
• Location Awareness
• Social Awareness
• Historical Awareness
• Context-Awareness
• All the above can be termed as providing some
  Context to the consumer from the Context that
  others work in.

6
Awareness Mechanisms
Introduction

• The type of awareness facilitated depends on the
  system
• Example Types WYSIWIS(Collaborative Shared
  Editors), Wikis, Messaging Systems (Email
  Chat), Workflow applications
• Example Applications Microsoft Exchange, Lotus
  Notes, MSN and Yahoo Instant Messenger etc.
• Groupware systems are designed to support
  awareness
• The Reality
• Tools versus Groupware People Use Tools not
  designed with group awareness in mind!!!
  Example Word Processors ( Email).
• Mixture of Groupware !! Wiki and Hotmail
• Heterogeneous Environments !!
• Users Mobile !!
• Changes occur Objectives, Details, Policies,
  Personnel, Locations, Resources, Constraints !!
  (Bharadwaj et al. 4)
• Unanticipated Requirements, Constraints and
  Situations Arise during Collaboration!!!

7
This Dissertation
Introduction

• Awareness propagation is not trivial !
• This leads us to ask,
• How can we effectively support awareness in
  collaborating groups using a variety of
  applications and systems?

Supporting Awareness inHeterogeneous
Collaboration Environments
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Overview

• Introduction (Motivation for Research)
• Research Problem and Objectives (Brief Background
  to put the Research in Context)
• Methodology (Research Methods being used)
• Contribution (Research Model)
• Related Work
• Preliminary Results and /or expected Results,
  benefits
• Next Steps Validation and Implementation
• References

9
Quality Factors of Awareness
Research Problem

• Effective Awareness Propagation
• Relevancy
• Do I need to know about this ?
• Information Overload
• How much do I need to know ?
• Obtrusiveness
• How can I know with minimum unnecessary
  Distraction !
• Privacy
• How can I establish who knows what and how much ?
• Enhanced awareness
• How do I know that you know ?
• How do you know that I know ?

10
Nature of Collaboration
Research Problem
Essential to every domain of work
Collaboration
Occurs with various tools, electronic and
non-electronic.
Occurs over Heterogeneous Environments
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This Research Effort
Research Problem
Research Problem Effective Awareness Propagation
is essential for successful coordination. However
there is a deep impact of Heterogeneous
Environments on Effective Awareness Propagation

• Research Objectives
• Characterize the impact of Heterogeneity
• Propose mechanisms to enable effective awareness
  propagation

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Steps Taken
Research Methodology

• Ascertain the Impact of Heterogeneity on
  effective awareness propagation.
• Identify Requirements for effective awareness
  propagation taking into account the impact.
• Devise Mechanisms based on the requirements.

13
Characterizing the Impact
Research Methodology

• Relationship Quality of Awareness and its
  Sources Medium
• Quality factors Evaluated from the consumers
  perspective so subjective
• Awareness Information Characteristics are
  absolute.
• Perceived Quality of Awareness is dependent on
  the Awareness Characteristics which are dictated
  by the Source and Medium.

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Characterizing the Impact (2)
Research Methodology

• Awareness Information Characteristics
• Type What am I aware of ? (Activity, location,
  Changes to an artifact, Message Transcript, Video
  Images or a combination of all )
• Form Is it Text, Audio, Visual, Coordinates ?
• Volume How much of it am I aware of ? (Every
  email exchanged, large recording)
• Frequency How often do I get the information?
  (Every line in a chat session or a digest)
• Source Which is the element generating Awareness
  Information of interest?
• Email and IM messages, actions on an artifact,
  sensors, users keystrokes,
• Source characteristics dictate the Type, Form,
  Volume and Frequency
• Medium How do I obtain Awareness from the
  Source?
• Medium characteristics dictate the Form, Volume
  and Frequency
• Wired Wireless networks, telephone (landlines,
  cellular), etc. Higher bandwidth n/w can provide
  a higher quality streaming video.

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Requirements for Awareness Propagation
Research Methodology

• Physical Integration of Awareness Information
  Sources and Media
• Mechanisms to tie sources of awareness
  information together.
• Must work in heterogeneous environments
• In spite of different Paradigms Client-Server,
  P2P
• Over various Substrates WWW and Internet,
  Intranet, Wireless Networks, Telephone N/W
• Over various Capabilities Bandwidth, Processing
  Power, Storage Capacity
• Integrating Information

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Awareness Frameworks Physical Integration
Research Methodology

• Sources and Media Integrated using Middleware

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Awareness Frameworks Physical Integration
Research Methodology

• Sources Integrated using Middleware
• Provide ability to communicate information
  generated
• Event Notification middleware, Common Databases,
• Works over WWW, Intranets, P2P, Wireless n/w etc.
• Related Work done in Awareness Frameworks.
• Java Context-Awareness Framework JCAF (Bardram et
  al.2)
• GroupDesk (Fuchs et al.)
• NESSIE (Prinz 13)
• ENI HIPPIE (Gross Specht 8)
• iScent (Anderson Bouvin 1)
• Awareness Frameworks are Not Sufficient !

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Integrating Information
Research Methodology

• Each source
• Different Characteristics, Specific Nomenclature,
  Formats, No Direct Relationship Examples Email,
  Instant Messaging, Streaming Video, Sensor
  coordinates, Streaming video
• Require
• Information Needs Transformation
• Context Project Context versus Source Context
• Integration Process Straightforward
• Awareness Characteristics Must be Expressed to
  tailor Quality Factors !!!
• Enhanced Awareness Agents and Intersubjectivity
• Inaccessible Information Meta-Information must
  be available
• User Interface Enable Searching and or Browsing
• Historical Awareness Support
• Much more than creating databases !!

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Awareness Model Integrating Information
Contribution

• Logical Framework for awareness sources at the
  Information Level
• Users see a unified picture of Awareness
  Information Sources.
• Meta-Information describes Sources and Media
• Essential to allow users to choose not only what
  they need to be aware of but tailor the qualities
  of the information they wish to receive.
• Adaptable
• To accommodate addition of new Sources and Media
  as well changes to existing ones
• Adaptable to changes in Collaboration.
• Simplified Integration Process
• The process of integration must be simple
• An Awareness Model must meet the above
  requirements
• Part of an Awareness Framework

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Awareness Model Elements
Contribution

• Related Work in Awareness Model
• Spatial Metaphor Model
• Awareness, Medium, Aura, Nimbus,Focus, Adapter
  (Benford et al. 3)
• Awareness through Interaction
• Shared space made up of objects (Rodden 14)
• Reaction-Diffusion Metaphor
• Effects of Awareness (Simone et al. 15)
• Other Models
• Presence Awareness Location, Presentity,
  Watcher, Vicinity(Christein 6)
• 3-Ontology Framework Events, Places, Communities
  (Leiva-Lobos 11)
• Our Awareness Model
• Focus of Attention (Focus)
• Source
• Medium

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Awareness Model Elements
Contribution

• Focus
• A unified view of all active Sources ( Media) as
  well as corresponding events, interaction
  occurring. For example
• A threaded discussion is a Source and so is the
  Wiki used by the group
• A users Focus of messages in a threaded
  discussion as well as the Wiki. Changes to
  material on the Wiki is discussed on the board.
• Can shift over time i.e. The number and type of
  Source and Media can change
• Source
• Consists of Meta-Information about the
  Information Content that the Source generates.
• Type About the information
• Form Audio, Video, Text Stream,
• Total Volume How much Information has been
  generated so far
• Frequency How often is the source generating
  information
• Content Actual information generated
• Medium
• Meta-Information about the Medium Specific
  Characteristics
• Extensible Model Attributes can be added as
  necessary to the model

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Awareness Model Integrating Information
Contribution
23
Awareness Model in a Framework
Contribution
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Awareness Map View of The Awareness Model
Contribution

• Concept inspired by Gross et al 10.
• Facilitates Choice
• Levels of Awareness

• Users have multiple Foci
• Each Focus consists ofmultiple Active Source and
  Medium with Meta-Information descriptions
• Access Control made possible through Source
  Superset
• Source Superset consists of all possible Source
  and Medium pairs that the user is allowed to
  access

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Illustration
Contribution

• Managing Collaborative Editing Sessions

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Validation and Next Steps

• Validation through Simulations
• Scenarios
• Collaboration scenarios Realistic involving
  humans accomplishing specific goals.
• Elements will model behavior of elements in a
  Heterogeneous Environments
• Objectives The objectives would be to ascertain
  the usefulness of the Awareness Model in such
  scenarios in providing effective awareness
• Metrics To be developed that measure the
  Improvement of a process with and without the
  Awareness Model.
• Choice of Simulation Environments
• BRAHMS used by NASA 16, CAST (Univ. of Penn
  17) specifically designed.
• They model and simulate Work Practice

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Validation and Next Steps

• Awareness Map Implementation
• Proof-of-Concept Implementation and Evaluation
• Not tied to a particular technology, toolset,
  platform.
• Meta-Information element formats must be portable
  e.g. Use of XML
• Essential Components Program to Collect and
  Disseminate information from the model example
  event handler, configurable agents, interface to
  database
• Interfaces Enable Individual Applications and
  Tools to be integrated.
• Applications must implement the Interfaces.

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References

• 1. Anderson, K. M., Bouvin, N. O. Supporting
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References

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References

• 16.BRAHMS Business Redesign Agent-based Holistic
  Modeling System http//www.agentisolutions.com/bra
  hms.htm
• 17. CAST Collaborative Agents for Simulating
  Teamwork http//ist.psu.edu/yen/Lab/1-CAST.htm
• 8.

Thank You. vijay_at_csee.wvu.edu