Keynoters

The 2011 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems

(CTS 2011)

May 23-27, 2011

The Sheraton University City Hotel

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Tuesday Keynote: Supporting Activity Awareness in Computer-Mediated Collaboration

John M. Carroll

The Pennsylvania State University - College Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Wednesday Keynote: Experience, Collaboration and Trajectories

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Steve Benford

The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

Thursday Keynote: Mediated Communication, Ethics and Etiquettes: Choreographing the Social and the Technical

Elizabeth F. Churchill

Yahoo! Research, Santa Clara, California, USA

Luncheon Keynote: Artisanal Technology

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Leah Buechley

MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Tuesday Keynote: Supporting Activity Awareness in Computer-Mediated Collaboration

John M. Carroll

The Pennsylvania State University - College Park, Pennsylvania, USA

ABSTRACT

Effective regulation of joint activity requires awareness of and coordination with partners at many levels. Our research focuses on understanding and supporting awareness in relatively large and complex activities such as emergency management, software development, information analysis, and education. We describe patterns and issues in the development of activity awareness, and approaches to supporting awareness with tools and methods.

Wednesday Keynote: Experience, Collaboration and Trajectories

Steve Benford

The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Everyday experiences such as visiting a museum, a day in a theme park, a shopping trip with friends, or a business meeting, are inherently collaborative. They are also extended in the sense that they may span many (real and virtual) spaces, timescales, roles and interfaces. Drawing primarily on examples of cultural and entertainment experiences, I will introduce a conceptual framework for understanding, and ultimately designing, such experiences in terms of multiple interleaved trajectories that capture the idea of a shared journey. I will introduce three fundamental kinds of trajectory – canonical, participant and historic – that respectively express the plan for the experience, the situated action that actually unfolds, and the retrospective retelling of the experience to others. I will discuss how trajectories must negotiate key transitions as they unfold and also how the interweaving or trajectories can express the social dynamics of the experience including encounters, moments of isolation, and the challenge of pacing.

Thursday Keynote: Mediated Communication, Ethics and Etiquettes: Choreographing the Social and the Technical

Elizabeth F. Churchill

Yahoo! Research, Santa Clara, California, USA

ABSTRACT

Over 40 years ago Douglas Engelbart conducted what has been called the “Mother of All Demos". The demo showcased the first computer mouse, object addressing and dynamic file linking, video conferencing, teleconferencing, email, hypertext, word processing, hypermedia and a crude but effective collaborative real-time editor. These technologies were fantastic in the true sense of the word; most people could not imagine having access to these marvels.

We have come a long way since then. Email is a mundane, everyday curse; seldom a joy-packed miracle. Romantic partners and digital pen-pals need no longer be sought out; algorithms find them for us. Friends can watch videos together in real-time while on other sides of the globe. Mobile consumer devices let us conduct face-to-face conversations over wireless networks. Reality is augmented; even my vision can be overlaid with digital annotations letting me see what others think are important facets of what is in my field of view. The technicalities of remote connection, communication and collaboration with friends, with colleagues and with strangers are in many ways solved or , if not, solutions can be envisioned.

The ethics and etiquettes of their adoption and use are not. Intimacy, relationship, friend, trust, reputation, identity, affiliation, community, recommendation, personal, private, public - these are just some of the words where the technical and the social are stepping on each others’ toes in an awkward, improvised dance. In this talk I will share details of some ongoing projects, and offer some observations and speculations about the ways in which mediating technologies are highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of human sociality as we build technological infrastructures.

Luncheon Keynote: Artisanal Technology

Leah Buechley

MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

ABSTRACT

This talk proposes an alternate model for the production, distribution, and consumption of consumer electronics that emphasizes diversity, small scale production, and thoughtful consumption. I will raise and discuss several questions, including: what kind of technologies can be artisanaly produced--crafted in small batches? what benefits might society reap from artisanal technology? what benefits might we expect as designers and manufacturers? what tools need to be built to support an artisanal technology ecology?