CAREER: Leveraging Personal Digital Appliances to Support Informal Collaboration

该项目研究了如何通过个人数字设备提供的日历信息来支持工作场所的非正式协作。其目标是保留个人设备的灵活性和个人可用性，同时还支持数据的协作共享，例如时间表和位置信息。然而，从个人使用到群体协作的飞跃并不是微不足道的，因为个人必须评估他们愿意共享哪些信息，他们目前如何使用这些信息，以及他们如何评价协作的好处。为了探索这些问题，研究将使用概率推理技术来确定在预定事件中找到同事的可能性。该系统将分析并向PI所在机构的教职员工和学生分发个人日历信息。不同的可视化技术提供了精度、隐私、自我解释、聚合和获取信息的努力之间的权衡。通过分析这些新功能的可行性、采用、使用和社会规范，我们对非正式协作、偶然信息接口和贝叶斯网络的使用产生了越来越大的兴趣。

This project investigates how informal collaboration in the workplace can be supported by calendar information available via personal digital appliances. The goal is to retain the flexibility and individual usability of personal devices while also enabling collaborative sharing of data, such as schedule and location information. However, the leap from personal use to group collaboration is not trivial, as individuals must assess what information they are willing to share, how they currently use that information, and how they value the benefits of collaboration. To explore these issues, the research will use probabilistic reasoning techniques to ascertain the likelihood of finding a colleague at a scheduled event. The system will analyze and distribute personal calendar information to faculty, staff and students at the PI's institution. Different visualization techniques offer trade-offs among precision, privacy, self-explanation, aggregation and effort in obtaining information. By analyzing the feasibility, adoption, use and social norms formed in response to these new capabilities, we contribute to the growing interest in informal collaboration, interfaces for serendipitous information, and the use of Bayesian networks.