BT_Christoph_Beckmann

CoLocScribe: Technological Concepts and User Observation of Information Disclosure in a Mediaspace

Abstract

Mediaspaces, since their first prototypes in the research field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), aim at mediating communication and providing assistance for collaboration of people working together at distributed places. Mediaspaces make of audio and video connections in order to facilitate the process of working together. However, it is still a challenge to provide an appropriate support for the absent natural communication in a mediaspace. Gesticulation, mimic, or paralanguage are self-evident in face-to-face situations, but such natural communication aspects are lacking in a mediaspace.

Additional information, provided in a mediaspace about peoples´ current working context or on working artefacts enormously contribute to the process of work in the sense of reducing the geographically affected distance and compensate for the lack of information that otherwise would be available in face-to-face settings. This provides a common understanding and the feeling of being aware of working together in a group.

This is strongly connected with information disclosure, which refers to the precise sharing of information among people. Because people want to embody themselves towards others, they want to disclose information selectively. Research on information disclosure stands for the analysis of circumstances of disclosing information to others.

This thesis presents a qualitative study for analysing information disclosure under the circumstance of co-present others in a mediaspace. Therefore a mediaspace on the base of an event-based infrastructure was built. The mediaspace, supporting video connections and providing awareness information was used by the participants of the study. Subsequently, a semi-structured interview was done and three different user types, handling information disclosure differently, were conceptualised. The three Ps as a concept will lead to further implications for further disclosure designs in mediaspaces.

Progress

October 2007 - November 2007:

• Doing related work
• Development of mediaspace-prototypes; especially the camera connection makes some difficulties

December 2007:

• Mediaspaces connects the two laboratories (B11 & H7)
• Created the interview guide, that contains five sections and 51 questions to obtain the generial social behaviour and in special the privacy behaviours of users (stundents in both laboratories).

January 2008:

• Evalulation with observation and interviews done
• Analyse and interpret the gained data from the interviews in the sense of an qualitative evaluation alongside the 4 phasis analysis model as described by [Lamnek 1993 a;b]

Feburary 2008:

• Finalise the analysis-phase and write the thesis.

March 2008:

• Complete writing the thesis; final date: 26 March 2008

Defence

• 16 April 2008 ~ 7.00 p.m.

Supervisors

Prof. Tom Gross
Prof. Andreas Ziemann

Bachelor candidate

Christoph Beckmann

Selection of References

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