Abstract: Collaborative systems can be considered to occupy positions along a continuum from face-to-face meetings to abstract communication. Consider data visualization systems that lie along this continuum. At the one end, participants can all see the same visualizations at the same time; in fact, they’re practically breathing the same air. At the other end, collaboration is markedly different: participants are free to construct their own representations, and their interactions must be deeper; more about the interpretation of the information than its presentation. This paper discusses the aspects of such a collaborative system, its practicality and usefulness, and some of the pitfalls discovered during the pursuit of it. The research system built to explore this polymorphic (multiple independent representations) collaboration is Visage-Link, an extension of the Visage direct manipulation information-centric environment developed by MAYA Design. Tightly-coupled collaborative presentation is referred to as WYSIWIS (What You See Is What I See). Relaxed-WYSIWIS systems have been developed that loosen the coupling. Visage-Link resides in the space beyond relaxed WYSIWIS.
Keywords: Polymorphic Collaboration, CSCW, WYSIWIS, Relaxed WYSIWIS, Visualization
Download File: Download PDF (286KB)