Making Contact:Getting the Group Communicating with GroupwareAndrew Cockburn Saul GreenbergDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of Canterbury University of CalgaryChristchurch, New Zealand Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4agc @cosc.Canterbury.ac.nzsaul @?cpsc.ucalgary.ca+64-3-364-2774 +1 -403-220-6087ABSTRACTWhile groupware is readily available, people on wide areanetworks—such as the Internet—have considerable troublecontacting each other and setting up groupware connections.To pinpoint why this occurs, this paper identifies humanfactors critical to getting a group communicating throughgroupware. It addresses how people find suitable partners,and how people choose appropriate communicationmediums. These factors are discussed in detail, and form adesign foundation for systems that promote social presenceand that integrate communication.Existing systems are critically reviewed and shown to beinadequate for general use over a wide area net, for theyeither do not meet some basic design criteria, or they requirea very high technological entry level that is beyond thereach of most computer users. As an alternative, the paperpresents the design considerations behind TELEFREEK, aflexible, extensible, and customizable platform forcollaboration. Drawing on resources freely available to theInternet community, TELEFREEK assists people makingcontact with others, and integrates access to commoncommunication facilities.KEYWORDScontact facilitation, casual interaction, coordination,computer supported cooperative work, groupware.INTRODUCTIONGroupware developers are creating special purpose systemssupporting communication, coordination, and collaborativework. We now have sophisticated mailing systems,coordination-based tools, video and media space s ,brainstorming tools, collaborative drawing and authoringsystems, and so on. Enthusiasts notice and applaud theF’ermissionto copy without fee all or part of this material is grantedprovided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercialadvantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publicationand its date appear, and notice k given thatcopying is by permissionof the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or torepublish, requires a fee and/or specific permission.CO OCS’93 - 1 IJ931CA,USA91993 ACM 0-89791 -627 -119310 010 . ..+1 .5031many small-scale groupware successes, even though mostare restricted to either local installations or tightly-connected distant sites. The truth is that we still have along way to go before a large community connected by awide area net can be served effectively by groupware. Thetwo issues this paper concentrates on are that people havetrouble getting in touch with one another, and that it is hardfor them to choose and establish an appropriatecommunication or groupware channel.As with physical interactions, an essential prerequisite forgeographically dispersed groups is that people must be incontact with one another. Relationships must beestablished, and many interactions—including informalones—may be required for people to find partners [22,31].Yet the bottleneck to rich spontaneous interactions isdistance [22], and users of wide area networks will be at adisadvantage unless a prosthesis that overcomes distancebarriers is available. Many mundane factors interfere withmaking contact. People must know electronic addresses andeven machine names. People must ready software,equipment, and each other well in advance for real-timeremote con ferencing. With video con ferencing and mediaspaces, people must be in the (usually few) rooms that havethe media equipment available. For informal interaction,people must find each other with minimal effort.People must also select one or more of the manycommunication channels and applications that may beavailable to the group. This can be a difficult task. From atechnical perspective, sites may not have the same software;workstations may not support the necessary media (suc h asdigital audio); specialized equipment may not be available(such as video cameras and microphones); low bandwidthand high latency may limit interactions, and so on. From ahuman perspective,the communication channel orgroupware must match a group’s task (e.g. real time textediting), and accommodate how people are available (e.g.asynchronous vs. real-time). If people cannot make contactthrough an appropriate medium, then groupware systems—no matter how manyare-cannot be used.are available or how eloquent theyWhile few groupware applications facilitate making contact,technology does have potential to bring distance-separatedpeople together. Thk paper examines three general issues incommunication:● how people find suitable partners● how people establish contact● how people select their communication channels.In particular, we focus on relatively low bandwidthnetworks that are heavily populated, such as the Internet.Because people on these networks have fairly limited accessto resources, we want to build on facilities that already existon the network. We also want to show that a fairly simplesystem can meet many of the requirements now handledonly by high bandwidth and technology-intensive systems.The paper begins by listing critical human factors forsystems that help people contact one another. We believethat the factors raised form the minimum design foundationfor any infrastructure supporting groupware. The nextsection reviews current systems that facilitate socialbrowsing and directed encounters, and discusses why theyare not yet suitable for the Internet and its community.Finally, we will describe the design premises and currentimplementation status of our “work in progress” system.TELEFREEK is an integrated communication and socialpresence assistant that draws on resources freely available tothe Internet community.DETERMINING THE WHO AND HOW INCOMMUNICATIONSeveral factors commonly affect the efficiency ofcooperative work. The first problem is getting in touchwith the right people. Specific needs of communicationinitiators are thwarted by inadequate knowledge of suitablerecipients. They often need to know who is around, howthey can be contacted (synchronously and asynchronously),who is pertinent, whether they are available forinterruption, and whether the social status of the recipient isappropriate for communication to occur.This section describes the major human factors affecting theuser’s decision in selecting