Computer Support of Team Work on Mobile Devices
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Computer Support of Team Work on Mobile Devices Hilko Donker1 and Malte Blumberg2 1 Dresden University of Technology, Faculty of Computer Science, Noethnitzer Str. 46, 01187 Dresden 2 CoreMedia, Ludwig-Erhard-Str. 18, 20459 Hamburg [email protected], [email protected] Abstract. In this paper we present a general concept of a mobile access to a groupware. The central aspect is how to bridge the gap between Mobile Com- puting and Collaborative Software. Mobile devices have limited capabilities, and therefore only few user interactions are desired. Conversely, groupware re- quires numerous interactions in order to make virtual collaborative work effec- tive. First, we examine existing approaches and define our specific goal. Then, we present background on our research on user requirements. Afterwards, the general aspects of a prototype we developed are shown, including exemplary examples. After having given information about the first evaluation results, we end with a short conclusion stating our future work. Keywords: Mobile Groupware, UI Design for mobile devices. 1 Introduction Groupware systems are usually conceptualized as applications that enable computer supported cooperative work [4]. These systems support (small) groups of people who are involved in a common task and who work on common goals. Small group collabo- ration requires members coordinating their activities, recognizing the activities of other group members, and who are able to communicate with each other. Groupware systems have to provide a kind of “group feeling”, called collaboration awareness [1] [3]. The participants have to be aware of other users involved in the collaborative task. Today, users increasingly work in environments with varying resource constraints or where mobility is required. Mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), smart phones and cell phones have become a standard equipment of employees working at different locations or on the move. With the massive introduction of web-enabled mobile devices, users of this kind of devices are able to access a Groupware system from almost everywhere. Mobile devices are an appropriate medium for the delivery of important and just-in-time information. The use of such mobile devices leads to a new generation of Groupware systems, called mobile Groupware systems [11]. Extending stationary Groupware concepts to mobile devices offers great potential. However, too straightforward approaches, e.g. simply using desktop Groupware systems on mobile devices, fail due to the different nature of mobile devices and networks [14]. Obviously, J.A. Jacko (Ed.): Human-Computer Interaction, Part III, HCII 2011, LNCS 6763, pp. 38–47, 2011. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 Computer Support of Team Work on Mobile Devices 39 a system cannot deliver the same (amount of) information to a mobile device that it delivers to a desktop device. It has to adapt to the users’ context and deliver a reduced and adapted experience. Groupware systems significantly differ from single-user appli- cations. Many users provide input (often simultaneously); output has to be processed for many users and shared data have to be kept consistent. This level of interaction is par- ticularly challenging to support using mobile technologies when synchrony and timeli- ness of information is an issue [13]. In this paper our focus will not be on the support of loosely coupled group members, but on people with a high interdependence, so called teams. 1.1 User Interface Design of Applications on Mobile Devices The market for cell phones, smart phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) is one of the most dynamic and competitive markets in the consumer devices industry. The input and output capabilities of cell phones are different from laptops or desktop PCs. In spite of rapid developments (e.g. iPhone), mobile devices still have more restrictions than the stationary equivalents. The term “handheld” implies that screen space is a limiting resource for interface development on such devices. Mobile inter- action design has been recently addressed in a large number of publications (e.g. [7][9][17]). Zhang et al. [18] give an overview of the literature available on UI design, usability and related topics for mobile devices, in particular for cell phones and, to a smaller extent, for PDAs. They discuss that mobile devices have unique features which pose a number of significant challenges for examining usability, such as mobile context, connectivity, small screen size and restrictive data entry methods. Considering the characteristics of mobile devices especially their pervasive and ubiquitous nature, the small size factor and the unique interaction modalities (e.g., touch screens, stylus, fingers, and combinations of the previous), a new range of us- age paradigms has emerged [15]. As a consequence new usability guidelines have been established in order to provide users with applications that enhance their tasks and activities. Therefore, we put high effort on finding out the requirements for the mobile access to the Groupware. 1.2 Mobile Groupware Roth et al. argue that although several Groupware systems are available, they can hardly be adapted to handheld devices [13]. Straightforward approaches, such as sim- ply cross-compiling existing applications, fail owing to the specific properties of handheld devices and the connecting network: Handheld devices have low computa- tional power, small memory and usually no mass storage devices. Handheld operating systems do not offer the same variety of services as desktop operating systems. Hand- held applications follow a different usage paradigm. Network connections are still a problem. Litiu et al. point out that Groupware systems will dedicatedly need to be developed to work in such environments [12]. The variability occurs along several dimensions: user and application demands, user mobility and intermittent connec- tivity, hardware and network variability. From our point of view mobile collaboration creates the possibility for users to be connected to their work environment while they are on the move. Some of the 40 H. Donker and M. Blumberg improvements are: informal meetings between meetings and working on spontaneous thoughts or urgent issues. Conclusively the attempt of not distinguishing between mobile scenarios and conventional situations is wrong. Mobile collaboration will not be possible in any given situation. It is necessary to evaluate the nature of mobile scenarios in order to decide, which situations are capable for mobile collaboration. 1.3 Work in Teams Our objective is to realize a mobile computer support of the work in virtual teams. It is important to reflect on the different organizational roles in teams and on the user tasks in these teams. These roles are comparable in teams and virtual teams. It is es- sential to distinguish between different roles in collaborative software [16]. There are many different approaches when analyzing roles in teams [10]. We have limited our distinction to roles considering work positions and not tasks. The 3 roles we analyzed are: team member, team leader and customer or supervisor. We believe that a team leader will derive much benefit from a mobile access to a Groupware. It is crucial for him to know the current state of the team’s project so that he can react appropriately. He is involved in almost all essential decisions regarding the team’s process. Therefore, he or she needs to be able to coordinate, communicate and collaborate promptly when urgent issues come up. A mobile access will also create advantages for team members. The effectiveness of a team will increase, if team members have the opportunity to stay constantly in contact with each other. A mobile access will therefore help to create a strong togeth- erness in the team. Furthermore, team members can use a mobile access to react to urgent issues on short notice. 2 Requirements Analysis We put high effort in finding out the requirements for the mobile access to the desk- top Groupware JoinedForcedGroups. We based our assumptions for building the mobile application on 4 steps, finding out what needed to be supported and what did not. First, we needed to find out where and when a mobile access is needed. Working on mobile devices is only desired in certain situations. So, we had to do a substantial scenario analysis. Second the stakeholders needed to be identified, finding out who needed to be supported by a mobile access, who would benefit and who would not. Third after finding out who uses the mobile access, we had to examine the tasks of all identified stakeholders. Fourth and last we could conceptualize how the users’ tasks needed to be supported. This step faced actual user actions, and therefore the actual development of the prototype could found on these results. 2.1 Scenarios of Mobile Work A mobile access to software needs to fit useful mobile situations. The influencing factors describing such a mobile situation are: − User Position (e.g. “in a train”, “walking”, “in a coffee bar”), − Amount of distraction (e.g. “driving a car”, “attending a meeting”), Computer Support of Team Work on Mobile Devices 41 − Importance (e.g. “crucial project issue”, “customer request”), − Available mobile device (e.g. “cell phone”, “laptop”), − Connection, (e.g. “3G”, “WIFI”). When a situation is examined, every factor has to be evaluated. As a result, the neces- sity for mobile work can be determined for every factor. A scenario is useful for mo- bile collaboration when no resulting necessity of a factor has been rated “not given”. 2.2 User Tasks We needed to find out, what kind of tasks needed to be supported when conceptualiz- ing the mobile collaboration access. We followed a three-step process: First we identified the general tasks coming up in a team’s lifecycle. Second we built a matrix combining these tasks with the functions a groupware offers to support collaboration. Third and last we examined which tasks were useful to support in a mobile scope.