[game_edu] Group-Awareness in Online Work, Learning & Games: Workshop within the HCI-2010 BCS Conference

[Susan Gold]

Begin forwarded message:


> From: Bill Kapralos <Bill.Kapralos at uoit.ca>

> Date: July 16, 2010 5:17:07 PM EDT

> To: "'icec at listserver.tue.nl'" <icec at listserver.tue.nl>

> Subject: [IFIP-EC-NEWS] Group-Awareness in Online Work, Learning &  

> Games: Workshop within the  HCI-2010 BCS Conference

>

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> Hello,

>

> Below is a workshop announcement which may be of interest:

>

> Group-Awareness in Online Work, Learning & Games Workshop

> Workshop within the  HCI-2010 BCS Conference

> September 7 2010, 10:00 to 16:00

> University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland

>

> ABSTRACT

> With the rapid advance of Web 2.0 technologies online group  

> collaboration has become increasingly popular. Groupware  

> applications and technologies are now accessible to all branches of  

> academia and industry with leaders and visionaries embracing them in  

> diverse fields including work, learning and games. Group  

> collaboration and awareness offer the opportunity and challenge for  

> shared experience, creation and discovery.

>

> 1. INTRODUCTION

> Group collaboration in online settings has been studied in  

> particular situations including work, learning and games. In on-line  

> collaboration the electronic shared space becomes a frame of  

> reference for team work and joint creation and/or discovery.  

> Accordingly interfaces to the shared space are of extreme importance  

> not only in relation to groupware but also to group-aware. Emphasis  

> is attached to both the awareness of the individual’s role within  

> the group as well as awareness of the group per se.

> Cooperation and collaboration are two terms used interchangeably in  

> the literature. Cooperation is related to the process of joint  

> activity. Two or more individuals bring complementary skills and  

> knowledge to a task. Each contributes their particular skill to the  

> common purpose. Accordingly an individual can depart once their  

> contribution has been made.

>

> Collaboration is related to the process of joint creation. Two or  

> more individuals bring overlapping skills and knowledge to a task.  

> Ideally each contributes equitably, if not equally, to the common  

> purpose. Accordingly an individual remains engaged until the task  

> has been completed.

> The confused understanding of the distinction between these two  

> terms extends beyond the literature to the participants themselves.  

> An individual may be both cooperating and collaborating at a task,  

> and be unaware of their contributions.

> Hence on-line shared spaces have to be supported by tools and  

> interfaces that make the participants more group-aware. The  

> intention of this workshop is to explore other dimensions of group- 

> awareness and how tools and interfaces can be engineered to support  

> this.

>

> 2. GROUP COLLABORATION IN ONLINE WORK, LEARNING & GAMES

> Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) offered the promise of  

> working together towards a collective goal and problem solving. It  

> further promised to increase productivity and enjoyment.

>

> The nature of the electronic on-line shared space was essential in  

> the support of CSCW effectiveness. For example, understanding an  

> organisation’s culture can provide requirements for the groupware  

> design in order to enhance collaboration. CSCW engineering  

> emphasized the use of context-based methods such as ethnography to  

> extract implications for design based on its situated context. The  

> overarching context of the first generation of CSCW online  

> environments was commercial and industrial. When CSCW concepts and  

> tools were extended first to learning and latterly to games this  

> implicit context, and its design realization, came with it.

> Group-awareness within CSCW environments refers to understanding of  

> the activities of others, which provides the background of one’s own  

> activity [1]. In other words knowledge of who is present on the  

> interface, what has happened and how, supports the control of the  

> pace of group work as well as individuals’ initiatives [2].  

> Therefore, CSCW group-awareness needs to support organisation of  

> shared activities on individual and group level.

>

> CSCW was morphed within learning contexts into Computer Supported  

> Collaborative Learning (CSCL). It appeared as a distinct approach in  

> early 1990s based upon the Vygotskian and Piagetian belief that  

> social interactions not only facilitate but also accelerate  

> learning. Accordingly on-line learning is essentially collaborative,  

> rather than cooperative, in nature as the participants are all  

> equally engaged in what has become known as the negotiation of  

> shared meaning. Hence collaborative learning is inherently  

> constructivist.

> Learning activities are characterised by a mix of pedagogical  

> approaches within digital and physical spaces in which the tutor  

> orchestrates multiple activities with multiple tools [3].

> Group-awareness within CSCL environments refers to both social and  

> cognitive processes occurred within shared learning activities [4].  

> Other than awareness of activities organisation, as with CSCW, CSCL  

> is also concerned with learner’s knowledge awareness and group  

> knowledge convergence [5]. Therefore, CSCL group-awareness needs to  

> support individual’s learning and the quality of interaction  

> patterns towards their shared construction of knowledge.

> Games research started with games theory and CSCW while the major  

> areas of HCI concern seemed to neglect it [6]. However, the enabling  

> nature of networked multiplayer games for rich interaction attracted  

> researchers from different disciplines to describe, understand and  

> analyse group collaboration. This is because these games contain a  

> degree of teamwork, either forced by the plot and interface or  

> voluntary arranged.

>

> Group-awareness within online games refers to the creation of the  

> gamers’ sense of space, presence, time, ways to play, motivation and  

> enjoyment [7] and exploration of gamers’ social dynamics [8].  

> Therefore, online games group-awareness needs to support gamer’s  

> sense of space, enjoyment and satisfaction, organisation of their  

> activities and the types of interactions needed to enhance them.

>

> To conclude, it appears that Computer Supported Cooperative Work  

> (CSCW) triggered researchers to consider the use of online tools in  

> order to facilitate and enhance group collaboration and awareness.  

> As the technology was developed and users’ experiences were enriched  

> distinct research fields appeared such as CSCW, Computer Supported  

> Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and multiplayer online games.

>

> Nowadays these fields are coming together in a more conscious and  

> ubiquitous way as emerging hybrid environments. The challenge is to  

> incorporate fun and imagination to the benefit of innovative ways to  

> organise and run online group collaboration and group-awareness.

>

> 3. AIMS OF THE WORKSHOP

> This workshop will bring together designers, practitioners, users,  

> researchers and industry leaders who are actively exploring the  

> application of awareness of the individual’s role with the group and  

> awareness of the group per se. It also aims to devise commonalities,  

> characteristics and tools to enhance group-awareness.

>

> 4. PLAN FOR THE WORKSHOP

> There will be 2 invited speakers (to be announced), position paper  

> presentations, discussions and design activities. All participants  

> must be registered for the HCI workshop day. Position papers are  

> requested (a maximum 1000 words including references). These will be  

> reviewed by the two workshop organisers assessing the significance  

> of the contribution and its relevance to the workshop theme.  

> However, applications will be accepted from attendees who wish only  

> to explore the topic.

> Position papers will be accepted up to 2 weeks before the dates of  

> the workshop or until sufficient papers have been accepted.

>

> The workshop will be one full day (on 7th September, 10:00 to 16:00)  

> with one hour break for lunch and 2 short coffee breaks. The  

> presentations will be 30 minutes for the 2 keynotes and 15 minutes  

> for the other 6 participants. There will be 2 discussions, one  

> before lunch (12:30 to 13:00) and one at the end of workshop (15:00  

> to 16:00) including a short 5 minutes break at the beginning of the  

> second discussion. Other than the issues raised at the workshop,  

> there will be a pedagogical ergonomics questionnaire-based  

> evaluation of the EU funded project EuroCAT (http://www.cat- 

> cscl.eu/) in the second discussion. At the end of the workshop, the  

> presenters will synthesize the contributions which will be  

> disseminated by the production of a poster.

>

> 5. REFERENCES

> [1] Dourish, P. & Bellotti, V. (1992). Awareness and Coordination in  

> Shared Workspaces. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer- 

> Supported Cooperative Work CSCW'92 (Toronto, Ontario), 107-114. New  

> York: ACM.

> [2] Dix, A. (1997). Challenges for Cooperative Work on the Web: An  

> analytical approach. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: The  

> Journal of Collaborative Computing, 6 pp. 135-156.

> [3] Dillenbourg, P., Järvelä, S., & Fischer, F. (2009). The  

> evolution of research on computer-supported collaborative learning.  

> In Technology-Enhanced Learning. Principles and products (p. 3-19).  

> Edited by N. Balacheff, S. Ludvigsen, T. de Jong, T., A. Lazonder &  

> S. Barnes. Springer.

> [4] Phielix, C., Prins, F. J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010). Awareness  

> of Group Performance in a CSCL Environment: Effects of Peer Feedback  

> and Reflection. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, pp. 151-161.

> [5] Engelmann, T., Dehler, J., Bodemer, D., & Buder, J. (2009).  

> Knowledge awareness in CSCL: a psychological perspective. Computers  

> in Human Behavior, 25 (4), 949-960.

> [6] Manninen T. (2001) Virtual Team Interactions in Networked  

> Multimedia Games - Case: “Counter-Strike” – Multi-player 3D Action  

> Game. In Proceedings of PRESENCE2001 Conference, May 21-23,  

> Philadelphia, USA.

> [7] Singhal, S., & Zyda, M. (1999). Networked Virtual Environments:  

> Design and Implementation. NY: ACM Press.

> [8] Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E. & Moore, R.J. (2006).  

> "Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively  

> multiplayer online games. In CHI '06: Proceedings of the SIGCHI  

> conference on Human Factors in computing systems, pages 407{416, New  

> York, NY, USA, 2006. ACM.

>

> -------------------------------------------------------------------

> Bill Kapralos, Ph.D

> Assistant Professor

> Faculty of Business and Information Technology

> University of Ontario Institute of Technology

> 2000 Simcoe Street North

> Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. L1H 7K4

> Phone: 905-721-8668 x2882

> Fax: 905-721-3167

> bill.kapralos at uoit.ca

> http://faculty.uoit.ca/kapralos

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-- 
Susan Gold
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!
- J. G. Ballard







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