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| WikiConversation: Capturing Info Between Meetings |
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Team Members
Phong: phong[at]colorado[dot]edu
Scotty: scott.allen[at]colorado[dot]edu
Project Summary
We would like to create an initial prototype of a wiki that would allow "conversations" between contributors to a wiki document. Specifically we would like to look at how tools such as discussion (threaded or not) and annotation tools (contextualized by users) would help to capture not only the information generated during a meeting but also some of the interaction context that would help those not at a meeting to interpret the information. Our intent is to use the EDC as specific context of our investigation into asynchronous interaction approach. We intent to incorporate what we learned into other systems and context where applicable.
Progress To Date
We have started using a user and task centered design process by identifying and interviewing users that have used a wiki in the past for collaborative projects. To date we have completed two interviews and planned at least two more to get a better sense of potential users and the tasks they need to accomplish in the context of creating a collaborative document using a wiki. We have also produced an initial mockup that incorporate an inline commenting capability that will be refined and tested with potential users (the mockup can be accessed here).
Based upon these interviews, we will produce abstract user profiles, representative user tasks, and a list of design priorities that we need to address in our prototypes.
A preliminary review of the two interviews we have conducted so far reveals the following common themes (some of which will be a part of our design priorities):
- a desire for a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) approach to markup: Both users mentioned that in the context of taking notes during a meeting where they have been appointed as the note taker, or in situations where multiple folks have been appointed note takers, and where the swiki have been used to take note, both interviewees expressed frustration at having to switch to an edit mode to take note and then having to press the save button to both save content to the swiki and to view the resulting document. This additional step of pressing the save button often temporarily removed them from the ongoing discussion and the lag time often required explicit catch up that sometime disrupted the discussion flow. In addtion, these interviewees also noted that most of the applications they currently use, whether web-based or not, have adopted a WYSIWIG approach and that is their preferred method of markup.
- document creation workflow mismatch: Both interviewees indicate that when they collaborate with each other to create a document, they often default to using Microsoft Word even though it offers limited collaboration feature because Microsoft Word as become the common platform for document production. As a result, users often use Word at the expense of the swiki to jointly produce document. However, when they use Word, users find that it does not support some of the desired collaboration features. For example, documents can only be viewed and commented upon serially; thus, users need to open and review multiple versions of same document to consider the feeback of the entire review team.
- social awareness cues: When creating or editing document with other people, users would like to see comments localized to a sentence in a document and would like to know the identity of the user who generated the comment and when they generated it.
- comment filtering: users would also like to be able to filter the display of the comments (such as display only the comments made by Arachnia since Tuesday).
Future Activities
We plan on conducting at least two more interviews with folks who have observed users interacting in a collaborative planning exercise get a better sense of additional user task and needs. Based on these interview we will further refine the mock up, test them with the same folks that we interviewed, and will implement a high fidelity prototype using MediaWiki.
          
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