Collective Information Seeking Supporting Search with Low-Cost Activity Sharing and Collaboration JOHN HAS DIFFICULTY FINDING THE RIGHT HOTEL Which is the right one?!
JOHN’S FRIENDS HAVE ALREADY BOOKED THEIR HOTELS EARLIER…
It sure is nice to have that off my todo list!
COLLABORATION IS MOST OFTEN INFORMAL In collocated situations, informal collaboration on information seeking is easy.
WITHOUT HELP, JOHN LACKS THE APPROPRIATE INFO I wonder if somebody else has already done this?
I need help, but I don’t want to bother anybody.
I think Jim booked a hotel already, but it will take too much time to send an email.
Seeing that Jim is available, John simply asks him about hotels in Vancouver.
Informal Collaboration Opportunistic - arises as opportunities present themselves.
Discretionary - collaboration does not need to occur at all, as tasks can be completed individually.
Grounded in Awareness
I am tired of looking… this one will do.
- knowledge of the activities of other people and what they might be able to provide guidance on.
SOLUTION: SHARING WEB ACTIVITIES FOR LOW-COST COLLABORATION vancouver hotel – was searched by Jim – 6 hours ago vancouver fairmont – was searched by Jill – 2 days ago vancouver howard johnson – was searched by Dan – 1 year ago
Recent Activity of your Connections • Jill visited this page 2 days ago Jill spent 15 mins. (7 pages) at fairmount.com Jill completed 2 forms on this domain. • Jim visited this page 3 days ago. Jim spent 23 mins. (14 pages) at fairmount.com Jim completed 2 forms on this domain.
Search Wear (details on past related searches) Seeing that both Jim and Jill have already searched for hotels, John thinks they may have booked their hotels already. He also notices a third friend, Dan, searched for a hotel in Vancouver last year. John decides to try searching, but if he gets stuck he now knows that he has three people he can ask about hotels in Vancouver, and Dan can probably tell him.
Link Wear (indicator and details on past activities) John sees an activity annotation beside the Farimount hotel result. He hovers on the result, and see both Jill and John have recently visited this site and both completed two forms. John infers this must be where they booked their hotel rooms. He doesn’t need to send an email to ask them about it; he decides it is a safe bet and books the Fairmont, too.
Such activity sharing tools… Activity Ticker: Jill just visited Vancouver Canucks tickets (ticketmaster.com) – 1 min. ago.
Provide Awareness: knowledge about what other people are currently doing and can provide advice on.
Activity Ticker (indicator and quick details on present activities) John notices on the activity ticker that Jill is currently visiting a site to book NHL tickets. Knowing that she is a fan, he decides he would like to join her. He also knows that since she is currently visiting the site that it will be OK to interrupt her at home. He quickly calls Jill on the phone and asks her to buy a ticket for him, too.
Enable Implicit Collaboration: traces can be used to collaborate implicitly, relieving need for high cost explicit collaboration.
Facilitate Direct Collaboration: an up-to-date and contextual awareness of others’ activities can provide cues and opportunities to enter into direct collaboration.
Scott Bateman, Carl Gutwin, Gordon McCalla
Ryen White
University of Saskatchewan
@usask.ca
Microsoft Research [email protected]
