Purpose
- To understand some concepts from Chapter 4 in practice by applying
them to the analysis of a collaborative or communication technology.
- Even more writing practice!
What To Do
This assignment
is similar to the assignment on page 136 of the text, but with
some modifications, so please read the following carefully:
Choose a CMC
Choose any computer media for distance communication, whether
synchronous or asynchronous. (For example, threaded discussion,
listserv, chat, unix talk, voice over IP (e.g., Skype), voice over cell phones,
videoconferencing (webcam, Access Grid), instant messaging (e.g., AOL on
computers), text messaging (over cell phone), blogging, podcasting ...
Read Additional Readings
Two articles have been posted to the Bibliography (a new wiki page in the
workspace):
- Monk (2003) describing Clark's grounding theory: Read the basics in section
4 and about the grounding constraints in section 5.1. You may also be interested
in the critique of Colab in 5.3.
- Hollan and Stornetta (1992): attend especially to the
"Beyond Being There" theme of how we can go beyond copying face to face
interaction.
(Notice how these articles are somewhat at odds with each other. Is face-to-face
interaction the ultimate gold standard, or can we do better?) Analyze the CMC
Analyze the properties of the CMC using the concepts from the chatper on
Collaboration and communication. See below for what you are looking for.
Present Your Analysis
Write up a discussion of your analysis, as if you are trying to explain to
someone the implications of using the technology. The discussion should address
these questions, but may also discuss other aspects of the technology that
you found interesting:
- What is the purpose of the collaborative environment or communication
tool?
- Which grounding constraints are available and which are not? (See
my lecture for discussion of Clark's grounding constraints, and the review
article by Monk for a more detailed description.)
- What kinds of conversation, coordination and awareness mechanisms
are provided? (See the textbook for discusssion of these
mechanisms.)
- How are social protocols and conventions (if any) reflected in
the design of the tool? (That is, how does the design
assume, encourage or help implement social or cultural conventions
for communication?)
- Does the CMC go “Beyond Being There,” or try to replicate
some aspect of face-to-face interaction? (See my lecture
for comments on "beyond being there" and the
original article by Hollan and Stornetta.)
- Discuss interaction design issues and solutions you identify.
(The intent is the same as the text’s
part (b) and (c), but you may choose to discuss other
issues. All I want you to do is identify some possible
problem with the design, or at least a tradeoff or design
choice that could have been different, and then say something
about how you might improve on the design or why you
might make a different choice.)
What to Turn In
As usual, make a web-viewable document that includes your discussion
and, if possible and needed, an image of the interface of the technology
being analyzed. Then post it as a new thread in the assignment
3 discussion by midnight of 2/17. (Gave you a little extra time
due to late posting and the extra readings.)
Due |