Whittaker, S., Jones, Q., Nardi, B. et al. (4 more authors) (2004) ContactMap: organizing communication in a social desktop. ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction, 11 (4). pp. 445-471. ISSN 1073-0516
Abstract
Modern work is a highly social process, offering many cues for people to organize communication and access information. Shared physical workplaces provide natural support for tasks such as (a) <i>social reminding</i> about communication commitments and keeping track of collaborators and friends, and (b) <i>social data mining</i> of local expertise for advice and information. However, many people now collaborate remotely using tools such as email and voicemail. Our field studies show that these tools do not provide the social cues needed for group work processes. In part, this is because the tools are organized around <i>messages</i>, rather than <i>people</i>. In response to this problem, we created ContactMap, a system that makes <i>people</i> the primary unit of interaction. ContactMap provides a structured social desktop representation of users' important contacts that directly supports social reminding and social data mining. We conducted an empirical evaluation of ContactMap, comparing it with traditional email systems, on tasks suggested by our fieldwork. Users performed better with ContactMap and preferred ContactMap for the majority of these tasks. We discuss future enhancements of our system and the implications of these results for future communication interfaces and for theories of mediated communication.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Information Studies |
Date Deposited: | 24 Mar 2009 12:41 |
Last Modified: | 19 May 2009 16:53 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1035575.1035580 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Association for Computing Machinery Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1145/1035575.1035580 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:8152 |