Collaboration in Performance of Physical Tasks Effects on Outcomes and Communication.pdf

Collaboration in Performance of Physical Tasks: Effects on Outcomes and Communication Robert E. Kraut, Mark D. Miller, Jane Siegel Human Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A. 15213 Robert. Kraut @ andrew.cmu,edu Mark.D.Miller@ andrew.cmu.edu Jane. Siegel @cs.cmu.edu ABSTRACT We report an empirical study of people using mobile collaborative systems to support maintenance tasks on a bicycle. Results show that field workers make repairs more quickly and accurately when they have a remote expert helping them. Some pairs were connected by a shared video system, where the video camera focused on the active workspace and they communicated with full duplex audio. For other pairs, either the video was eliminated or the audio was reduced to half duplex (but not both). Pairs’ success at collaboration did not vary with the communication technology. However, the manner in which they coordinated advice-giving did vary with the communication technology. In particular, help was more proactive and coordination was less explicit when the pairs had video connections. The results show the value of collaboration, but raise questions about the interaction of communication media and conversational coordination on task performance. Keywords Wearable computers, empirical studies, collaborative work, conversation, media effects, vehicle maintenance. INTRODUCTION This paper investigates the design and value of collaborative, mobile computer systems to support field repair and maintenance of mechanical devices. When a pilot radios in a possible malfunction in an aircraft, the field crew has only a short time to diagnose and repair the problem. Smailagic and Siewiorek [18] have described mobile maintenance systems, which incorporate computers, on-line repair manuals and diagnostic aids. These systems could give field workers access to schematics, repair histories, instructions, parts lists, and other information about the equipment being repaired. With