University of Sussex
Browse
yuillrogersfinal.pdf (704.3 kB)

Mechanisms for collaboration: a design and evaluation framework for multi-user interfaces

Download (704.3 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 11:23 authored by Nicola YuillNicola Yuill, Yvonne Rogers
Multi-user interfaces are said to provide “natural” interaction in supporting collaboration, compared to individual and noncolocated technologies. We identify three mechanisms accounting for the success of such interfaces: high awareness of others' actions and intentions, high control over the interface, and high availability of background information. We challenge the idea that interaction over such interfaces is necessarily “natural” and argue that everyday interaction involves constraints on awareness, control, and availability. These constraints help people interact more smoothly. We draw from social developmental psychology to characterize the design of multi-user interfaces in terms of how constraints on these mechanisms can be best used to promote collaboration. We use this framework of mechanisms and constraints to explain the successes and failures of existing designs, then apply it to three case studies of design, and finally derive from them a set of questions to consider when designing and analysing multi-user interfaces for collaboration.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction

ISSN

1073-0516

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

Issue

1

Volume

19

Page range

1-25

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-05-09

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-11-04

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-11-04

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC