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Supporting Distributed Groups with a
Montage of Lightweight Interactions
John C. Tang,
Ellen A. Isaacs, and
Monica Rua
SunSoft, Inc., 2550 Garcia Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
john.tang@sun.com;
ellen.isaacs@sun.com;
monicarua@aol.com
Reference: Tang, J.C., Isaacs, E.A., & Rua, M. (1994). Supporting Distributed Groups
with a Montage of Lightweight Interactions, Proceedings of the
Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
Chapel Hill, NC: ACM Press, 23-34.
(c) 1994 Association for Computing Machinery
Note: This is a digitized copy derived from an ACM copyrighted
work. ACM did not prepare this copy and does not guarantee that it is
an accurate copy of the author's original work.
- A PostScript version of this paper is available.
Abstract
The Montage prototype provides lightweight audio-video glances among
distributed collaborators and integrates other applications for coordinating
future contact. We studied a distributed group across three conditions: before
installing Montage, with Montage, and after removing Montage. We collected
quantitative measures of usage as well as videotape and user perception data.
We found that the group used Montage glances for short, lightweight
interactions that were like face-to-face conversations in many respects. Yet
like the phone, Montage offered convenient access to other people without
leaving the office. Most glances revealed that the person was not available,
so it was important to integrate other tools for coordinating future
interaction. Montage did not appear to displace the use of e-mail, voice-mail,
or scheduled meetings.
Keywords: awareness, media space, informal communication, video, remote
collaboration.
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