Papers
	Communications of the ACM December 1991 1991 ACM 8.5MB Toward An Open Shared Workspace: Computer and Video Fusion Approach of TeamWorkStation Hiroshi Ishii and Naomi Miyake* NTT Human Interface Laboratories *Department of Cognitive Science, Chukyo University ishii@media.mit.edu ABSTRACT People do a lot of their work alone, without computers, or using different tools on different computer systems, and have developed their own work practices for these situations. In order to get new groupware accepted, continuity with existing individual work environments is the key issue because users work in either individual or collaborative modes and frequently move back and forth. Groupware that asks them to abandon their familiar tools, methods, and even computer hardware and software, and to learn a new system, just to gain some benefits in communication or coordination, is likely to encounter strong resistance. Many case studies have shown that if the tools force users to change the way they work, then the tools are generally rejected. Even in a heavily computerized individual work-place, users often work both with computers and on the physical desktop, and frequently move back and forth. Neither of them can replace the other. For example, printed materials such as books and magazines are still an indispensable source of information. Therefore, when designing realtime shared workspaces, depending on the task and the media of the information to be shared (paper or computer file), coworkers should be able to choose either computers or desktops, and to switch between them freely. This choice should be independent of the other members' choices. Group members should be able to use a variety of heterogeneous set of tools (computer-based and manual tools) in the shared workspace simultaneously. We call such a space the "open shared workspace". One important feature of face-to-face collaborations is the role of the "shared drawing space" such as a white board. Bly, Tang, Leifer and Minneman pointed out that it plays a very crucial role not only in storing information and conveying ideas, but also in developing ideas and mediating interaction, especially in design sessions. The open shared workspace should incorporate this shared drawing space concept and extend it by allowing the simultaneous use of both computer and manual tools. The shared workspace must support direct interaction among coworkers by allowing any member to directly point to and draw on other members' workspaces in real-time. Current groupware has not effectively supported this concept of "openness" in shared workspaces. "TeamWorkStation" (TWS) solves this problem for realtime distributed collaboration. We chose video as the basic media of TWS because it is the most powerful media for fusing a variety of traditionally incompatible visual media such as papers and computer files. This paper introduces TeamWorkStation, which is designed to establish an open shared workspace by fusing distributed group members' workspaces, including both computers and desktops. First, the seams in the current CSCW environment are discussed, and previous approaches to realtime shared workspace design are reviewed. Then the new fusion technique and architecture of TWS are introduced. Experience in the use of TWS for design and calligraphy sessions, and the results of an experiment in the remote teaching of machine operation are discussed. We identify the role of open shared workspace in the support of a broad range of dynamic collaboration activities that can not be supported consistently by existing task-specific highly-structured groupware.