Papers by Michael Twidale
Proceedings of the 6th conference on …, Jan 1, 2006
We explore the application of a wiki-based technology and style of interaction to enabling the in... more We explore the application of a wiki-based technology and style of interaction to enabling the incremental translation of a collaborative application into a number of different languages, including variant English language interfaces better suited to the needs of particular user communities. The development work allows us to explore in more detail the design space of functionality and interfaces relating to tailoring, customization, personalization and localization, and the challenges of designing to support ongoing incremental contributions by members of different use communities.
The paper reviews work on informal technical help giving between colleagues. It concentrates on t... more The paper reviews work on informal technical help giving between colleagues. It concentrates on the process of how colleagues help each other to use a computer application to achieve a specific work task, contrasting this with the focus of much prior work on surrounding issues like the choice of whom to ask, information re-use and the larger work context of encouragement or otherwise of such learning. By an analysis of the literature and a study of office activity, some strengths and weaknesses of the method are identified. The difficulties of talking about the process of performing graphical user interface actions are explored. Various design implications for functionalities to improve the efficiency of informal help giving are explored. A consideration of informal learning can help in designing more effective, learnable, robust and acceptable CSCW systems. It also provides a different perspective on interface design as an exploration of features to support human-human interaction, using the computer screen as a shared resource to support this. In this way CSCW research may contribute to HCI research, since during such help giving, all computer systems are at least temporarily collaborative applications.
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on …, Jan 1, 2007
Many collaborative design tools may suffer from being too generic to address the specific complex... more Many collaborative design tools may suffer from being too generic to address the specific complexities inherent in multidisciplinary collaboration. We provide accounts of several multidisciplinary HCI courses at our institution, elaborating on the challenges student teams face when integrating design practice from a wide variety of disciplines. Of particular interest are the distinct approaches that these multidisciplinary teams adopt that differ from more common forms of collaborative design. We suggest reasons for the poor rate of adoption of existing collaborative support tools and outline specific suggestions for directions in both ethnographic studies of multidisciplinary collaboration and collaborative systems design.
Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on …, Jan 1, 2000
ARIADNE Project on Digital Libraries– …, Jan 1, 1998
This paper is a review of the field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) with respect to... more This paper is a review of the field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) with respect to digital libraries. The literature surveyed covers both library & information science and computer science. An overview of the field of CSCW is provided including requirements capture, ethnography, interfaces, toolkits, organisational memory etc. Collaboration is interpreted in a wide sense and systems supporting user-staff (e.g. remote reference) and user-user (e.g. collaborative filtering) interactions are described.
After software has been released the opportunities for users to influence development can often b... more After software has been released the opportunities for users to influence development can often be limited. In this paper we review the research on post-deployment usability and make explicit its connections to open source software development. We describe issues involved in the design of end-user reporting tools with reference to the Safari web browser and a digital library prototype.
Annual Review of …, Jan 1, 2003
The first international …, Jan 1, 1995
We consider the role of collaborative learning during information searching. We report on observa... more We consider the role of collaborative learning during information searching. We report on observations of situated collaboration in a physical library, which informed the development of our system, Ariadne. This was intended both to investigate and support the learning of search skills. An iterative development and testing methodology was applied. The system has a mechanism for recording an interaction history of the search process. A visualisation of this process makes it easier for users to reflect, share and comment upon their understanding with others.
Software Process: Improvement …, Jan 1, 2006
In this paper we explore how open source projects address issues of usability. We describe the me... more In this paper we explore how open source projects address issues of usability. We describe the mechanisms, techniques and technology used by open source communities to design and refine the interfaces to their programs. In particular we consider how these developers cope with their distributed community, lack of domain expertise, limited resources and separation from their users. We also discuss how bug reporting and discussion systems can be improved to better support bug reporters and open source developers.
Proceedings of the …, Jan 1, 2005
The federation of digital resources has become increasingly important in realizing the full poten... more The federation of digital resources has become increasingly important in realizing the full potential of digital libraries. Federation is often achieved through the aggregation of descriptive metadata, therefore the decisions resource developers make for the creation, maintenance, and quality assurance of their metadata can have significant impacts on aggregators and service providers. Metadata may be of high quality within a local database or web site, but when it is taken out of this context, information may be lost or its integrity may be compromised. Maintaining consistency and fitness for purpose are also complicated when metadata are combined in a federated environment. A fuller understanding of the criteria for high quality, "shareable" metadata is crucial to the next step in the development of federated digital libraries.
Many computer-assisted language learning systems specifically designed to be used in the curricul... more Many computer-assisted language learning systems specifically designed to be used in the curriculum and which exploit AI techniques have neither a learner model nor consequently any deep error analysis. Evidence from applied linguistics shows that learners have their own system of rules for the production of a foreign language. We believe the central issue is to determine the appropriate level of description of these rules and uncover the strategies used by the learners in particular situations. This information represents the major part of the learner model. We review error analysis in second language learning and tutoring systems related to this perspective. We introduce a new structure, called an "applicable rule", that can be used to help diagnose and to represent a learner's performance. We propose a design for the architecture of a system for computer diagnoses of learners' grammatical performances in a communicative environment. Examples of diagnosis using applicable rules illustrate the functioning of this architecture.
Journal of The American Society for Information Science and Technology, Jan 1, 2007
Abstract The movement from the physical to the digital library offers both dangers and opportunit... more Abstract The movement from the physical to the digital library offers both dangers and opportunities. Alongside the greater quantity of online material goes the problem of quality assurance: how can be the information searcher be sure of the status of a document. We suggest that this be addressed by supporting recommendations and that the key feature that links these recommendations together is that of usage. The main use of usage data within information science is currently that of a research tool in the form of transaction log ...
Abstract: Considers how research in collaborative technologies can inform research and developmen... more Abstract: Considers how research in collaborative technologies can inform research and development in library and information science. Topics include computer supported collaborative work; shared drawing; collaborative writing; MUDs; MOOs; workflow; World ...
The public nature of discussion in open source projects provides a valuable resource for understa... more The public nature of discussion in open source projects provides a valuable resource for understanding the mechanisms of open source software development. In this paper we explore how open source projects address issues of usability. We examine bug reports of several projects to characterise how developers address and resolve issues concerning user interfaces and interaction design. We discuss how bug reporting and discussion systems can be improved to better support bug reporters and open source developers.
The paper explores the nature of docents' work in museums. From this is derived the concept of th... more The paper explores the nature of docents' work in museums. From this is derived the concept of the docent function to describe different aspects of that work, some of which may be performed by other people and also by objects such as maps and guidebooks. This analysis leads to the idea of the Cyberdocent -an extension of the docent function to take advantage of new possibilities afforded by advanced technologies. The potential of the Cyberdocent in both virtual and real museums is investigated. The authors claim that it is the provision of docent functions that make a physical museum more than merely a collection, and equally, it is by the provision of Cyberdocent functionality that a virtual collection becomes a virtual museum.
The paper describes techniques to improve error diagnosis by enabling the student to explain his ... more The paper describes techniques to improve error diagnosis by enabling the student to explain his or her underlying thinking to the system. It is argued that attempts to infer this information using such techniques as plan recognition and natural language interfaces are too complex and error prone. Instead, techniques of explicit creation and annotation of underlying plans and goals are proposed, including the use of explicit instantiation of general rules. A tutor for propositional logic, EPIC, has been developed to illustratethellreofthesetechniques,andobservationsmadeofstudentsusingthetutor.Theresultsindicate the power of the technique to identify plans, particularly erroneous ones, during the process of problem solving, when the student may have entered few steps of his or her proposed solution proof. Furthermore, the provision of an interface to permit the articulation of underlying plans was found to be more supportive as a learning environment than merely permitting the entry of the solution steps.
Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Jan 1, 2005
The paper reviews work on informal technical help giving between colleagues. It concentrates on t... more The paper reviews work on informal technical help giving between colleagues. It concentrates on the process of how colleagues help each other to use a computer application to achieve a specific work task, contrasting this with the focus of much prior work on surrounding issues like the choice of whom to ask, information re-use and the larger work context of encouragement or otherwise of such learning. By an analysis of the literature and a study of office activity, some strengths and weaknesses of the method are identified. The difficulties of talking about the process of performing graphical user interface actions are explored. Various design implications for functionalities to improve the efficiency of informal help giving are explored. A consideration of informal learning can help in designing more effective, learnable, robust and acceptable CSCW systems. It also provides a different perspective on interface design as an exploration of features to support human–human interaction, using the computer screen as a shared resource to support this. In this way CSCW research may contribute to HCI research, since during such help giving, all computer systems are at least temporarily collaborative applications.
Uploads
Papers by Michael Twidale