Article

The effects of network delays on group work in real-time groupware

Author:

Carl GutwinAuthors Info & Claims

ECSCW'01: Proceedings of the seventh conference on European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work

Pages 299 - 318

Published: 16 September 2001 Publication History

Abstract

Network delays are a fact of life when using real-time groupware over a wide area network such as the Internet. This paper looks at how network delays affect closely-coupled group work in real-time distributed groupware. We first determine the types and amounts of delay that can happen on the Internet, and then identify types of collaborative interactions that are affected by delay. We then examine two interaction types more closely: predicting others' movements, and coordinating shared access to artifacts. We carried out experiments to measure the effects of two kinds of delay (latency and jitter). When these interactions are isolated and repeated, we found that even small delays can lead to significant increases in completion time and errors. Although people in real-world tasks are often able to adapt their actions to accommodate network delays, we conclude that designing groupware to minimise the effects of delay can improve usability for closely-coupled collaboration.

References

[1]

1. Acharya, A., and Saltz, J. (1996) A Study of Internet Round-Trip Delay. Report CSTR-37-36, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Maryland, 1996.]]

[2]

2. Beaudouin-Lafon, M., and Karsenty, A. (1992), 'Transparency and Awareness in a Real-Time Groupware System', Proceedings of the Conference on User Interface and Software Technology, Monterey, CA, 1992, 171-180.]]

[3]

3. Brennan, S. (1990), Seeking and Providing Evidence for Mutual Understanding, Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1990.]]

[4]

4. Cisco corporation (2000), Designing Internetworks for Multimedia. Currently at: www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/idg4/nd2013.htm.]]

[5]

5. Clark, H. (1996), Using Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996.]]

[6]

6. Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (2000). http://www.caida.org]]

[7]

7. Fluckiger, F (1995). Understanding Networked Multimedia, Prentice Hall, 1995.]]

[8]

8. Gaver, W. (1991), 'Sound Support for Collaboration', Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991, 293-308.]]

[9]

9. Greenberg, S., and Marwood, D. (1994), 'Real Time Groupware as a Distributed System: Concurrency Control and its Effect on the Interface', Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 1994, 207-217.]]

[10]

10. Gutwin, C. (2001) Groupware Latency and Jitter on the Internet. Technical Report, Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, 2001.]]

[11]

11. Gutwin, C., and Greenberg, S. (1998) 'Effects of Awareness Support on Groupware Usability'. Proceedings of ACM CHI'98, Los Angeles, ACM Press, 1998.]]

[12]

12. Hall, R., Mathur, A., Jahanian, F., Prakash, A., Rassmussen, C. (1998) 'Corona: A Communication Service for Scalable, Reliable Group Collaboration Systems'. Proceedings of CSCW'98, pp. 140-149, 1998.]]

[13]

13. Kum, H., and Dewan, P. (2000), 'Supporting Real-Time Collaboration Over Wide Area Networks', Video Proceedings of ACM CSCW 2000.]]

[14]

14. Matrix Information and Directory Services, Inc. (2000). The Internet Weather Report, http://www.mids.org/weather/]]

[15]

15. Monk, A., McCarthy, J., Watts, L., and Daly-Jones, O. (1996), 'Measures of Process', in P. Thomas (ed): CSCW Requirements and Evaluation, Springer-Verlag, London, 1996, 125-139.]]

[16]

16. National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (2000). www.nlanr.net]]

[17]

17. Park, K. and Kenyon, R. (1999), 'Effects of Network Characteristics on Human Performance in the Collaborative Virtual Environment'. Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality'99, March 14-17, 1999.]]

[18]

18. Roseman, M., and Greenberg, S. (1996), Building Real-Time Groupware with GroupKit, a Groupware Toolkit, ACM Transactions on CHI, 3(1), 66-106, 1996.]]

[19]

19. Salvador, T., Scholtz, J., and Larson, J. (1996), The Denver Model for Groupware Design, SIGCHI Bulletin, 28(1), 52-58, 1996.]]

[20]

20. Scholl, F. (2000), Planning for Multimedia. White paper, Monarch Information Networks. Currently available at: http://www.monarchinfo.com/pmm.html.]]

[21]

21. Segal, L. (1995), 'Designing Team Workstations: The Choreography of Teamwork', in P. Hancock, J. Flach, J. Caird and K. Vicente (eds): Local Applications of the Ecological Approach to Human-Machine Systems, 392-415, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1995.]]

[22]

22. Stefik, M., Foster, G., Bobrow, D., Kahn, K., Lanning, S., and Suchman, L. (1987), 'Beyond the Chalkboard: Computer Support for Collaboration and Problem Solving in Meetings', Communications of the ACM, 30(1), 32-47, 1987.]]

[23]

23. Tanenbaum, A. (1996), Computer networks, Prentice-Hall, Englewood N.J., 1996.]]

[24]

24. Tang, J. (1991), 'Findings from Observational Studies of Collaborative Work', International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 34(2), 143-160, 1991.]]

[25]

25. Tatar, D., Foster, G., and Bobrow, D. (1991), 'Design for Conversation: Lessons from Cognoter', International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 34(2), 185-210,1991.]]

[26]

26. Vaghi, I., Greenhalgh, C, and Benford, S. (1999), 'Coping with Inconsistency due to Network Delays in Collaborative Virtual Environments'. Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on Virtual Reality and Software Technology, 1999, 42-49.]]

Cited By

Chen BNakajima KHatada KYura JUyama MOkabayashi K(2019)Real-time collaborative system based on distributed data sharing methodCompanion Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/3308557.3308659(53-54)Online publication date: 16-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3308557.3308659
Concannon DFlynn RMurray NMontagud MDe Simone FMurray N(2019)A quality of experience evaluation system and research challenges for networked virtual reality-based teleoperation applicationsProceedings of the 11th ACM Workshop on Immersive Mixed and Virtual Environment Systems10.1145/3304113.3326119(10-12)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3304113.3326119
Lee SKrosnick RPark SKeelean BVaidya SO'Keefe SLasecki W(2018)Exploring Real-Time Collaboration in Crowd-Powered Systems Through a UI Design ToolProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/32743732:CSCW(1-23)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3274373
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

The effects of network delays on group work in real-time groupware

Recommendations

Building real-time groupware with GroupKit, a groupware toolkit

This article presents an overview of GroupKit, a groupware toolkit that lets developers build applications for synchronous and distributed computer-based conferencing. GroupKit was constructed from our belief that programming groupware should be only ...
Workspace awareness in real-time distributed groupware
A Descriptive Framework of Workspace Awareness for Real-Time Groupware

Supporting awareness of others is an idea that holds promise for improving the usability of real-time distributed groupware. However, there is little principled information available about awareness that can be used by groupware designers. In this ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

ECSCW'01: Proceedings of the seventh conference on European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work

September 2001

418 pages

ISBN:0792371623

Editors:
Wolfgang Prinz
GMD-FIT, Germany
,
Matthias Jarke
RWTH Aachen, Germany
,
Yvonne Rogers
University of Sussex, United Kingdom
,
Kjeld Schmidt
Technical University of Denmark
,
Volker Wulf
GMD-FIT, Germany

Publisher

Kluwer Academic Publishers

United States

Publication History

Published: 16 September 2001

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

31
Total Citations
View Citations
0
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)0
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 19 Nov 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Chen BNakajima KHatada KYura JUyama MOkabayashi K(2019)Real-time collaborative system based on distributed data sharing methodCompanion Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/3308557.3308659(53-54)Online publication date: 16-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3308557.3308659
Concannon DFlynn RMurray NMontagud MDe Simone FMurray N(2019)A quality of experience evaluation system and research challenges for networked virtual reality-based teleoperation applicationsProceedings of the 11th ACM Workshop on Immersive Mixed and Virtual Environment Systems10.1145/3304113.3326119(10-12)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3304113.3326119
Lee SKrosnick RPark SKeelean BVaidya SO'Keefe SLasecki W(2018)Exploring Real-Time Collaboration in Crowd-Powered Systems Through a UI Design ToolProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/32743732:CSCW(1-23)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3274373
Long MGutwin CMueller FJohnson DSchouten BToups Dugas PWyeth P(2018)Characterizing and Modeling the Effects of Local Latency on Game Performance and ExperienceProceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3242671.3242678(285-297)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3242671.3242678
Waltemate TSenna IHülsmann FRohde MKopp SErnst MBotsch MKranzlmüller DKlinker G(2016)The impact of latency on perceptual judgments and motor performance in closed-loop interaction in virtual realityProceedings of the 22nd ACM Conference on Virtual Reality Software and Technology10.1145/2993369.2993381(27-35)Online publication date: 2-Nov-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2993369.2993381
Doucette AGutwin CMandryk RZhang HTang T(2015)Effects of arm embodiment on implicit coordination, co-presence, and awareness in mixed-focus distributed tabletop tasksProceedings of the 41st Graphics Interface Conference10.5555/2788890.2788914(131-138)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2788890.2788914
Waltemate THülsmann FPfeiffer TKopp SBotsch MZhao QThalmann DWu ELin MWang L(2015)Realizing a low-latency virtual reality environment for motor learningProceedings of the 21st ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology10.1145/2821592.2821607(139-147)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2821592.2821607
Ivkovic ZStavness IGutwin CSutcliffe SBegole BKim JInkpen KWoo W(2015)Quantifying and Mitigating the Negative Effects of Local Latencies on Aiming in 3D Shooter GamesProceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2702123.2702432(135-144)Online publication date: 18-Apr-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2702123.2702432
Yamashita NEchenique AIshida THautasaari ABruckman ACounts SLampe CTerveen L(2013)Lost in transmittanceProceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work10.1145/2441776.2441881(923-934)Online publication date: 23-Feb-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2441776.2441881
Dyck JGutwin CMakaroff DFinholt TTellioğlu HInkpen KGross T(2012)Adaptive forward error correction for real-time groupwareProceedings of the 2012 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work10.1145/2389176.2389196(121-130)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2389176.2389196
Show More Cited By

View Options

View options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents