The doing of doing stuff: Understanding the coordination of social group-activities

Richard P. Schuler, Sukeshini A. Grandhi, Julia M. Mayer, Stephen T. Ricken, Quentin Jones

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper explores how the adoption of mobile and social computing technologies has impacted upon the way in which we coordinate social group-activities. We present a diary study of 36 individuals that provides an overview of how group coordination is currently performed as well as the challenges people face. Our findings highlight that people primarily use open-channel communication tools (e.g., text messaging, phone calls, email) to coordinate because the alternatives are seen as either disrupting or curbing to the natural conversational processes. Yet the use of open-channel tools often results in conversational overload and a significant disparity of work between coordinating individuals. This in turn often leads to a sense of frustration and confusion about coordination details. We discuss how the findings argue for a significant shift in our thinking about the design of coordination support systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI 2014
Subtitle of host publicationOne of a CHInd - Conference Proceedings, 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages119-128
Number of pages10
ISBN (Print)9781450324731
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Event32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014 - Toronto, ON, Canada
Duration: Apr 26 2014May 1 2014

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Other

Other32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityToronto, ON
Period4/26/145/1/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Keywords

  • Common Ground
  • Communication
  • Conversation
  • Coordination Theory
  • Diary Study
  • Language Action Theory
  • Mobile Coordination
  • Qualitative Research
  • Social Group-Activity

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