[C] AfriCHI2016: Workspace Awareness in Collaborative Audio-Only Interaction with Diagrams

Abstract: Using an audio-only diagraming tool, sixteen pairs of sighted individuals collaborated in a workspace where they used sound as the only means to communicate with each other and to access and edit shared entity-relationship diagrams. We examined the effects of the means for delivering audio to such a workspace, headphones or speakers, on pairs’ workspace awareness. Results showed that patterns of workspace awareness information exchange changed when both the means for delivering audio and collaborators’ choice of working style changed. The results highlighted the need to accommodate different working styles when designing awareness support in collaborative diagramming tools, and identified the types of awareness information that should be communicated to collaborators to match the dynamics of their interactions with and through diagrams.