[MyResearch] Use of Trace Diagrams for Collaborative Tasks Analysis

Richard Joiner, Kim Issroff and John Demiris advocated for using a visual representation of where teammates among a group went during a collaborative foraging task. They claimed that this could provide a visual way to represent a collaborative search strategy; e.g for instance a clear division of labor or not. However, they also mentionned some problems:- these maps do not represent many of the interesting features of human-human collaboration (nature of the interactiona between the participants: a pair could simply took turn rather than working collaboratively, their trace diagram could show little backtracking and overlap, but this would not have been as a result of their collaboration) - it is important to aupplement this analysis method with others to provide a fuller description of their interaction - trace diagrams do not accurately represent time and duration. It could be possible to have a number of trace diagrams for different periods of time, but using this method would make it difficult to get an overall picture of the interaction

"Comparing Human-Human and Robot-Robot Interactions", R. Joiner, K. Issroff and J. Demiris, in "Collaborative Learning: Cognitive and Computational Approachers", Pierre Dillenbourg (ed), pp 81-102, Pergamon Press (Elsevier Science), 1999.

I should also check Joiner R. & Issroff, K. (2003). Tracing success: graphical methods for analysing successful collaborative problem solving. Computers & Education, 41, 4, 369-378.

[Research] C3: location based service for kids learning

C3 (Children in Choros and Chronos) is greek project about location based service for kids learning:

focuses on the spatio-temporal cognition of small children. The project aimed to design and implement - in real school environments - educational activities that raise the spatial awareness and thinking flexibility of children, help them develop specific skills like map reading and (model) constructing, navigating and wayfinding. The learning process is seen as situated in social collaborative settings characterised by involving the children in the acting out of stories involving people’s belief systems, aspirations, intentions. The development of individual activities incorporated a “scenario” in order to situate the activities in a context understood by the children, for instance involving people, their intentions, feelings, aspirations. The scenarios involved a variety of activities such as explorations, experiments, games, tasks, and puzzles. They also necessarily involved some kind of construction, (i.e. a map, an agent path in this map).

[MyResearch] Empirical findings about team coordination

Empirical findings about team coordination taken from W-P. Wang, D.L. Kleinman, P.B. Luh, Modeling Team Coordination and Decisions in a Distributed Dynamic Environment(COORDINATION THEORY AND COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY, Gary M. Olson (ed.), Thomas W. Malone (ed.), and John B. Smith (ed.), 2001)

- team members often coordinate by sending communication messages to each other (explicit coordination), and by exercising their mental predictions of each other's decisions (implicit coordination). REF: Cannon-Bowers and Salas, 1990 + Kleinman and Serfaty, 1989
- team coordination strategies transition from explicit coordination under low task loading/tempo conditions to implicit coordination as load increases. REF: Kleinman and Serfaty, 1989
- as task uncertainty increases, the ability of a team to coordinate implicitly is reduced. Under these conditions, explicit coordination via communication increases. REF: Johnson Laird, 1983 Cannon-Bowers and Salas, 1990 + Kleinman and Serfaty, 1989
-the value of communication depends on the ability of the team to coordinate implicitly. Thus if ample tools (e.g. centralized information displays or shared battle graphics) are provided to enhance implicit coordination, performance will be less sensitive to variations-limitations in the communication media. REF: Simon, 1982, Kleinman et al., 1992
- team members adapt their decision making and coordination strategies to changes in the communication media (delay, bandwidth, probability of message loss and so on). REF: Kleinman et al., 1992
- members of well-coordinated teams are often able to anticipate when teammates are going to need specific information for the completion of a task. They also provide such information proactively. REF: Morgan et al, 1986

Workshop about Spatial Positioning, Cognition and Collaboration

In the context of the Kaleidoscope Conference about CSCL in Lausanne in October 2004, we are organizing a workshop about spatial positioning in mobile collaboration (description hereafter). It aims to study the relationships between space, collaborative problem solving and cognition in group. It will address basic research issues at the crossroads of human cognition and information technology. If you are interested in participating, please send us an abstract (10-15 lines) of your research project by April 23rd. Workshop Proposal: Spatial Awareness in Collaboration and Group Interaction

The recent technical evolution in the field of mobile technologies allow mobile devices users to have location based services such as optimal route generation with GPS or nearest point of interest by SMS. Positioning technologies are more and more precise and taking the context into account is one of the new trend in computer software. Collective uses of those 'locative media' are also on track. Mobile computing should also be seen as an answer to the needs that emerged from geographically distributed organizations. People still need to work together from different places at the same time and collaboration must be fluid. The use of location based services enable to bridge the distance between teammates thanks to different features. The most commonly used context of mobile systems is the location of the user since it is easy to determine and it could be meaningful to use it in order to adapt the behavior of a mobile application. However, spatial awareness should not be restricted to location since information about presence, direction, relative location, physical proximity with resources could also be drawn from context cues. This led designers and researchers to support collaborative work and learning with mobile technology, namely handheld computers, mobile phones, GPS-enhanced tools and wearables. One of the postulates is that space and spatial features such as location could be considered as a resource for collaborative problem solving. We hence aim to understand the impacts of mobile tools on social and cognitive processes.

Location-Based systems (LBS) often propose various services such as: - annotation of space: it is now possible to leave "virtual post-its" attached to specific location. - synchronous positioning: participants among a group can localize their partners. - location based storytelling/narratives - matchmaking between participants of a conference - video games that takes advantage of location-awareness to propose augmented reality scenarios.

All those systems offer both innovative ways to create new affordance for supporting collaborative activities like mobile work or mobile learning as well as smart testbed to address research questions. What are these research questions ? What are the methods ? The workshop will bring together researchers and academics from or out of the KALEIDOSCOPE NoE coming from several disciplines, including learning sciences, psychology, computer science. It aims to study the relationships between space, collaborative problem solving and cognition in group. It will address basic research issues at the crossroads of human cognition and information technology.

The objective is to: 1. Study the role of spatial awareness as a link between mobile technology and collaborative activities. 2. Discuss emprical results concerning the role of space or spatial features in group cognition and collaborative activities (mobile work, mobile learning) 3. Discuss methods of how to study the impact of those Location Based Services with regard to their efficiency as well their impacts on group interactions.

Position Paper Topics Relevant paper topics include, but are not limited to: - Evaluation of location based services in learning or work context - Location based services design - Users and usage of location based services - Mobile learning scenarios - Location-aware interaction - User modelling - Applications that use real world context - Modelling of available physical and social resources

Workshop Organization The workshop will last 1/2 day or 1 day depending on the number of contributions. It will gather researchers among the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence plus some external participants. External participants will have to apy an extra fee. If you would like to participate in this workshop, please submit first an abstract by April 23rd and then your position paper (max 8 pages) to nicolas.nova@epfl.ch by July 15th. Work in-progress will be accepted, but describe your research questions!

Workshop Comitee

Organization: Nicolas Nova and Mauro Cherubini Chair: Pierre Dillenbourg and Mike Sharples

Reed’s Law: the value of a network is not simply function of the number of people in it (Metcalfe’s Law: the number of potential connections between nodes grows more quickly than the number of nodes), but the number of social groups that those people form. When the same network includes ways for the individuals to form groups, the value is exponential (the value of the network grows proportionnately not to the square of the users but exponentionnaly).

[Research] Social Trends in Mobile Entertainment

Slides of Amy Jo Kim's talk at the Game Developers Conference: The Network is the Game: Social Trends in Mobile Entertainment

Social Trends in Mobile Communications 1.Mobiles stay connected to their social network via cellphone 2.Mobiles self-organize into fluid, loose-knit groups 3.Mobiles seek out quick, casual entertainment experiences 4.Mobiles love to share & discuss photos with their friends 5.Location is an integral part of mobile identity

My focus is headed towards the last statement :) She wrote that

Location is an integral part of mobile identity - Cellphone is an intimate, always-with-you device that’s an extension of your physical presence & style (e.g. skins, ringtones, phonestraps) - Current location is relevant for communicating with intimates (via SMS or LBS) - Mobile users can bridge the virtual and physical by connecting with someone in their area (e.g. chatting, flirting, gaming) Mobile services starting to incorporate location into their offerings (e.g. Ulocate, Imahima)

She also took 2 examples: Saw You and Mogi. She tried to envision social games of the future. She expects to see more games that integrate Location/presence awareness tool + self-organizing groups + player-created content: Photo-sharing networks+Photo Games & Puzzles (Photo Jigsaw puzzle most popular •mind game on shockwave.com) + Social Rating Systems (Points awarded for photos that are viewed/rated highly by others)

[MyResearch] Fungus Eater as a Multi Agent Model

The 'Fungus Eater' is a testbed for simulation models in emotion psychology proposed by Toda (1962). Thomas Wehrle describes it in New Fungus Eater Experiments:

The Fungus-Eater is a fictitious mining robot that is sent to a planet called Taros to collect uranium ore. It uses wild fungi growing on the surface of the planet as the main energy source for its biochemical engine. Little is known about the distribution of uranium ore and fungi. Every activity of the Fungus-Eater, including the brain-computer operations, consumes some specified amount of fungus-storage. If the Fungus-Eater runs out of fungus-storage it dies. Its mission is to collect as much uranium ore as possible, and there is no reward for the amount of collected fungi (adapted from Toda, 1982). Since uranium ore and fungi are usually not found in the same place there is a conflict in the robot's action selection. We made some further assumptions for the concrete implementation of the Social Fungus-Eaters: They keep a certain distance to each other in order to avoid conflicts at food places and to avoid inefficient mining. On the other hand they also maintain loose contact in this potentially hostile environment, e.g., to help each other in emergency situations. The (emergent) behavior of the Fungus Eater, achieved with our model can be described as follows: As expected, the agents are mostly found around food sources and mines (see Fig. 2). They gently alternate at food places. Agents with similar hunger conditions build circles of 2 to 5 members. The consumption of fungi is more or less equal for each agent in a circle. A circle breaks up when a certain level of energy is reached or when other agents approach the source. Depending on the parameters, agents leave even rich food regions, e.g. to collect ore or to explore the environment. Often these explorers form a couple (but the partner is irrelevant). Sometimes circles may also be found in places without food or ore. These circles collapse when the consumption motive of one or several members becomes stronger. If they do not find enough food in a reasonable time they die. At the food places, very hungry homecomers push less hungry agents aside and clearly misbehave.

Trajectory of a fungus eater society:

(Research) Morris Water Task: rats navigation is maze

(Sutherland &Hoesing, 1993):

The Morris water maze consists of a submerged platform placed somewhere within a pool of water made opaque with milk or chalk (Morris, Garrud, Rawlins, & O’Keefe, 1982). When placed in this pool, rats try to find a way out; they initially swim randomly until they find the platform and climb out. Normal rats quickly learn the location of the platform: if the platform is removed, the rats search at the place where the platform had been (Morris et al., 1982). Rats with hippocampal lesions cannot learn this task (Morris et al., 1982; Morris, Schenk, Tweedie, & Jarrard, 1990; McDonald & White, 1994). If the rats are trained on the task first and then given a hippocampal lesion 1 week later, they showprofound deficits; however, the same lesion 12 weeks after training produces much smaller deficits (Sutherland & Hoesing, 1993). Here, then, is a specific amnesia result that can be modeled in detail.

[MyResearch] Pattern Detection in Soccer

Last week, I mentionned the use of software for football or rugby analysis. I found an interesting paper about the very topic of sport analysis: "Detection of real-time patterns in sports interactions in football" (pdf file). The authors claims that instead of using frequency of events ("how many times did 'X' occur? with X=pass, tackle, shot...) as a performance index, one should use a more accurate index: T-pattern.

A T-pattern is essentially a combination of events where the events occur in the same order with the consecutive time distances between consecutive pattern components remaining relatively invariant with respect to an expectation assuming, as a null hypothesis, that each component is independently and randomly distributed over time.

This study is of particular interest in terms of how to analyse a mobile game experiment:

The research utilized multiple game analysis with each game being treated as a single case.(...) Coding included data on pi tch posit ion, player and match events. Pitch position was classified according to the pitch divisions shown in figure 3. The primary event categories for data collection were: pass; tackle; header; run; dribble; clearance; shot; cross; set-play; lost control; foul.

They found patterns and structure in football teams play. What is also interesting is the fact that "The link between performance rating and pattern participation suggests that coaches were recognizing, albeit at a potentially subconscious level, the structure within a team’s play."

[MyResearch] Event Like Experiment Analysis: what about rugby !

I was recently reading the french newspaper Liberation and they were mentionning an interesting topic: rugby analysis:

Depuis cinq ans, à Marcoussis (Essonne), le centre national du rugby, tous les matchs internationaux sont ainsi répertoriés, numérisés, disséqués et passés au crible impitoyable d'un logiciel d'analyse. (...) Aucun geste des Bleus ou de leurs adversaires ne doit lui échapper. Toutes les actions de tous les matchs doivent être cataloguées. «Un match est découpé en 1 000 à 1 500 phases. Chaque phase est ensuite qualifiée selon un certain nombre de critères ­ 22 pour une touche par exemple», explique l'ancien joueur de Bourgoin. «Je répertorie dans quelle partie du terrain se situe la touche ; à quel moment du match elle a lieu ; qui lance la balle ; combien de joueurs sont alignés ; combien de blocs de joueurs sont constitués ; qui attrape la balle et où (en début, en fond, en milieu de touche) ; combien de joueurs ont sauté ; combien et quels joueurs ont changé de place dans l'alignement pendant l'envoi du ballon ; qui relaie le ballon vers les arrières ; combien de passes sont nécessaires pour faire sortir le ballon de la zone de touche, etc.» Et il en va ainsi de toutes les phases du match lancées à partir des coups d'envoi, mêlées, pénalités, coups francs, renvois, transformations. Un monstrueux travail de fourmi archiviste, qui réclame sept à huit heures de clics par match. (...) A partir de cette mine d'informations, l'entraîneur imagine les situations susceptibles de surprendre l'adversaire. Pour le Tournoi des six nations 2003, par exemple, le logiciel avait «dénoncé» l'Ecossais Scott Murray aux Français : en touche, il attrapait huit ballons sur dix et toujours en fond ou en milieu d'alignement. Laporte et ses adjoints, qui peuvent rester assis dix à vingt heures devant un ordinateur à chercher la petite bête, n'ont eu aucun mal à mettre au point des combinaisons pour contrer l'Ecosse sur ce point fort de son jeu. Les Bleus avaient chipé trois ballons aux Ecossais.

Dérisoire ? Au contraire : c'est sur ce genre de situations que des rencontres peuvent basculer. L'analyse vidéo sur ordinateur permet de décrypter «les grandes lignes générales du jeu, mais aussi des détails insaisissables»

I am not able to find the name of this software. I only know that British rugbymen use Prozone Matchplayer. Football teams also use it.

MatchPlayer features a summary of the game’s key tactical and physical performance indicators, an animation section with real-time computerised reproductions of all the game’s goals and highlights, and an analysis section that, just like the animation section, allows you to manipulate and interact with the information just like you were in charge of Everton!

This kind of stuff is of interest for my phd topic since it can give ideas about how to analyse mobile game session !

[MyResearch] Wireless positionning: 2 solutions

According to Johnny Shih (thesis, pdf file), it seems that there are two solutions for localizing a device thanks to a 802.11b network, both use the signal strength:

- empirical model: based on storing pre-recorded measurements in a database (a series of selected points for which the locations (coordinates) of these points are known, signal strength value from the APs are also collected). When a device with unknown position requests positioning, the signal information from all the APs are collected and sent to the database for comparison. An empirical model program created then compares and finds the closest match in the entries of the known locations in the database against the entry of the known point. The comparison uses the K-nearest neighbor algorithm. disadvantages to the systems built using the empirical model. The systems will always require a considerable amount of manual efforts on radio map and database constructions, when they are to be used in a new environment. The other disadvantage the system can lose some accuracy when the current environment condition is different the condition when the radio map was constructed. - propagation model: the distance from a wireless device to an access point can then be calculated given the received signal strength loss value. By having the distances to three and more access points, triangulation method can be applied to determine the location of the device. Difficulties in the actual implementations. In order to achieve accurate results, the signal pathloss values that the positioning system received from the access points have to be precise. many existing systems have shown that the accuracy of positioning will decrease as the distance between the positioning device and the affiliated access point increases. To eliminate the aforementioned problems and increase the positioning accuracy, the system can be designed to give the primary access point (which has the least pathloss value) a higher weight in the triangulation algorithm.

[Prospective] Things a cell phone cannot do

Via Japan Media Review, a short list of things a cell phone cannot do nowadays:

1. Adjusting according to the atmosphere We wish cell phones could detect the atmosphere and adjust to it, in cases such as lectures, wedding ceremonies and funerals. There are always people who forget to turn off cell phones. It would be very convenient if the cell phone detected the formal occasions, and switched to voice mail automatically.

2. Recharge-free Our biggest fears regarding cell phones are no-reception places and a dead battery. We look forward to the day when we get power in the same way as we receive reception.

3. Responding to an owner's mood Since it is always with us, it would be nice if a cell phone responded to our moods; for instance, by trying to cheer us up when we felt sad.

(Research) Playing video games together... with only one pad

At the ACOSTIC seminar, Christian Heath talked about people's behavior in museum exhibits. Paul Dourish makes an interesting parallels with people's behavior in video game arcades (participation...). That makes me think of what I wanted to do at DokiDenki: studying children playing video games (one hold the joystick and the others are commenting or helping him). The artifact could maximize coparticipation (in arcade game for instance)

(MyResearch) CSCW Seminar in Paris

I am currently attending a CSCW seminar in Paris (ACOSTIC, the agenda is the following: Paul Dourish (University of  California, Irvine), Jacques Theureau (IRCAM), Christian  Heath (University of London, King's college). Running notes here

(Tech) a vocabulary for describing relationships between people

RELATIONSHIP is a vocabulary for describing relationships between people:

friendOf, acquaintanceOf, parentOf, siblingOf, childOf, grandchildOf, spouseOf, enemyOf, antagonistOf, ambivalentOf, lostContactWith, knowsOf, wouldLikeToKnow, knowsInPassing, knowsByReputation, closeFriendOf, hasMet, worksWith, colleagueOf, collaboratesWith, employerOf, employedBy, mentorOf, apprenticeTo, livesWith, neighborOf, grandparentOf, lifePartnerOf, engagedTo, ancestorOf, descendantOf, participantIn, participant

[MyResearch] map matching

Today, I learnt a new concept in positioning system while attending a thesis defence at EPFL: MAP MATCHING. Here is a definition coming from the paper "A Method Of Map Matching For Personal Positioning Systems" (Kay Kitazawa, Yusuke Konishi, Ryosuke Shibasaki):

To track human's movements with high accuracy in certain areas, where GPS system is not available, complimentary positioning methods are needed. Personal positioning system using a sensor of acceleration and a gyrocompass together with GPS is now being developed as one of promising methods. Accumulation of positioning errors, however, cannot be avoided. One of the solutions to reduce or modify these errors is "Map matching" technique, which modifies estimated user's position assuming that users are always along road networks.

[Research] spatial pattern of people talking in mobile phones

Julien Morel in his paper "Une ethnographie de la téléphonie mobile dans les lieux publics" (Réseaux Vol.20, N°112-113, in french) proposes to use topolographies as way to analyse spatial pattern of people who use mobile phones. The french word topolographie (I would say topolography in english) means that you draw the trajectory of the person like the following figure:

The cross depicts stops.

[MyResearch] Giving your location in mobile phone calls

Nice paper in french about how people give their location during phone calls:Relieu, M. (2992). Ouvrir la boîte noire. Identification et localisation dans les conversations mobiles, Réseaux Vol.20, N°112-113.

He used a vocal server to store mobile phone conversation. The study aimed at studying what mobile phone changed in phone conversation, especially with respect to location information. His point is that by allowing people to call from lots of places, the likelihood of talking about space increases.

He explains that asking the other's whereabout is a common social norm and focus on two "location events": - asking or giving one's location at the begining of the phone interaation - giving one's location at the end of the phone interaation - conversations dedicated to location

Relieu has also a nice take on using mobile phone when people are in the vicinity or very close. It could be used to improve coordination ot to make it more accurate, especially in problem solving activities (like finding a person in a city) -> cell phone for mutual guiding -> adjusting people's location in order to allow the meeting. People who communicate give their respective location while keep moving in the city. The phone call allow them to identify those location based on a shared geographical/topological knwoledge of the city.

He also argues that we should not attribute functions (like availability of the called person, coordination or social control) to localization per se. Those localization must be situated in the on-going activity (which is true: if you know that a nurse is in a surgery room, there is 90% that she is involved in a surgery act and hence unavailable to talk).

I just have a quick note: the author says that no studies focuses on what occur before and after the call. This is not true, as attested by Mizuko Ito's study about cell phones and the appropriation of space.

This piece of work should be related to Eric Laurier's study

[Technology] Tribe.net Offering RSS Feeds

Via therssweblog:

Tribe.net is now offering RSS feeds of their discussion threads, with plans to next offer feeds of their classified ads.

“Right now our service is free. But we anticipate turning on pay-per-listings. We will allow users to pay for notice — if you’d like your ad to be at the top of the list or in bold or up for a certain amount of time, you’ll pay more. We’re going experiment with certain pay models depending on how widely you distribute your classified. If you post it only with your friends it might be free but if you listed with the whole network, it might cost more,” said Paul Martino, founder and CTO of Tribe.net.

It hence combines two cutting-edge trends, social networking sites and RSS technology.

[Research] pMatch: location awareness tool

pMatch video (Windows Media, 7 MB) demonstrates the pMatch application developed by Stephen Sorkin (with Josh Tyler and Bernardo Huberman) for the Nokia 3650. pMatch allows 3650 owners to learn of others with similar interests or information, without revealing their own personal, private data. This system could be the basis for the pokkecon thing !