. T. T T f, f, f, ELE{TE)ENLE 0nulo Telepresence Projec A Tale of Two Ciies : A Sudy of Conference Room Videoconf erencing Gale Mooe OMARTO TELEPRESEN CE P RO E CT December'1994
T T l Execuive S ln lae 1992 ResCorp purchased a CL videoconferencing uni. The primary objecives were o enhance communicaion and increase produciviy as opposed o cuing ravel coss. n Sepember 1993 several members of he Onario Telepresence Projec (OTP) visied ResCorpl as guess of he Manager of Research Operaions o discuss some of he challenges hey were facing as an early adoper of videoconferencing echnology. Afer several discussions i was agreed ha OTP would carry ou a field sudy a ResCorp and a Core Group was esablished o monior he process and faciliae he research. The primary focus of he sudy was o gain early insighs ino he ways in which commercial videoconferencing is used in a real world siuaion. We wished o consider is impac on he work and work pracices of members of he group, he opporuniies creaed by his new class of echnology, and he problems and unanicipaed consequences of using his new communicaion medium. There was general consensus ha a echnical working group which holds biweekly videoconferences wih saff a DevCorp would be he group sudied. DevCorp and ResCorp have a hisory of ineracion: here is co-publicaion of paens beween he sies, and DevCorp has a videoconferencing faciliy ha is compaible wih ResCorp echnically. The group has already had some experience wih videoconferencing and he scienific leader a ResCorp was boh willing o paricipae and as an early adoper glad o have suppor o explore ways in which his medium could be used effecively. r ResCorp is a pseudonym for he company in which his sudy was carried ou. The organisaion is he research arm of a large mulinaional corporaion referred o as MuliCorp in his documen. The oher paricipans in he videoconfermce are from a developmen organisaior which is referred o as Devcolp.
The social scienis aended he biweekly meeings o observe he working group meeings in progress and following he observaion period carried ou a series of inerviews wih seleced paricipans from boh ResCorp and DevCorp. The use of videoconferencing was appreciaed by all he paricipans in erms of he ime saved and he ravel deferred, bu here were a number of issues - social, echnical and organisaionai - ha had a major impac on he successful use of videoconferencing. A number of recommendaions are presened on pp. 51-58. Overall, he echnical problems were easy o see and relaively easy o diagnose. The social and organisaional issues and problems, on he oher hand, were less visible. While less aenion is generally paid o his aspec of videoconferencing, i is he resoluion of his class of problem ha will, in he long run, deermine wheher he organisaion no only recovers he cos of is invesmen, bu maximises he long erm benefi o boh he organisaion and he employees. l1
F F F F F Table of Conens The Process Esabiishing he Agenda denifying he Work Group... Creaing an Acion Plan... The Field Sudy A 6 9 { - Par : Descripion The Aciviy The Sies Videoconferencing Rooms Organisaional Suppor, Services & Training... 13 1,6 Par : Observaions and Analysis Social Conexs The Videoconferencing Environmen... 18 The Organisaional Conex... 25 The Paricipans...... 28 The Meeing Conex... 32 Produciviy ssues...... 38 Technical Conex Meeing Breakdown... M Hisory of he Breakdown... M Same Brand vs Cross-Brand Videoconferencing.46 111
F h Some Ways Ahead Videoconferencing Sysem and Faciliies... 51 Organisaional ssues...... 57 Conclusion... 59 Bibliography... 60 Acknowledgemens...... 61 Appendix : Videoconferencing Today 1V
Fi Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 1L Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 OTP Field Sudy Model... 3 ResCorp Videoconferencing Room... 15 DevCorp Videoconferencing Room... 15 Lines of Sigh...... 24 Videoconferencing - People - 1 monior... 35 Videoconferencing - People - 2 moniors... 35 Videoconferencing - People & Documens... 37 ResCorp Sending a Documen... 49 ResCorp Receiving a Documen... 50 Conference Room Videoconferencing... 63 A Roll-Around Uni...... @ Deskop Videoconferencing... 65 TMS: Telepresence Media Space Office lnsallaion... 68 Doors on he TMS lnerface... 70 Sofware Doors Defined... 70 Porholes...--.--... 77
Table 1 Same Brand vs Cross-Brand Videoconferencine... 48 Table 2 Using he Elecronic Whieboard for Documens... 55 vi
nroducion A Tale of Two Ciies: A Sudy of Conference Room Videoconferen Gale Moore Onario Telepresence Projec n Sepember 1993 several members of he Onario Telepresence Projec (OTP) visied ResCorp2 as guess of he Manager of Research Operaions o discuss some of he challenges ResCorp was facing as an early adoper of videoconferencing echnoiogy. Moioaion of he Paricipans ResCorp n lae 1992 ResCorp purchased a CL videoconferencing uni. The primary objecives were o enhance communicaion and increase produciviy as opposed o cuing ravel coss. During he firs half of 1993 he sysem was used on a limied basis, and when a porion of he building was being remodeled laer ha year i was decided ha a mulimedia conference room would be included in he plans. The CL videoconferencing uni was incorporaed ino wha is now a ResCorp boardroom. A he ime he videoconferencing uni was purchased CL was he corporae sandard, bu as his new 2 ResCorp is a pseudonym for he company in which his sudy was carried ou. The organisaion is he research arm of a large mulinaional corporaion referred o as MuliCorp in his documen. The oher paricipans in he videoconference are from a developmen organisaion which is referred o as DevCorp.
echnology developed new producs enered he markeplace and he corporaion. A he presen ime, he sysem a ResCorp is used o communicae wih a number of brands of sysems3. By he fall of 1993, here was sill relaiveiy low use of he faciliy a ResCorp, and no use of an elecronic whieboard also available. ResCorp was ineresed in working wih OTP o see if here were ways in which use of he sysem could be encouraged in he organisaion. Onaio Telepresence Proiec (OW)a OTP, on he oher hand, was ineresed in working wih ResCorp as he videoconferencing room provided a excellen opporuniy o sudy real world use of a commerical sysem in a corporae conex. The mission of he OTP is.. o conduc pre-compeiioe research ino compuer/video suppored coilaboraive work in order o provide indusry Parners wih early insighs ino user accepance and usage so ha in he fuure hey may develop and deploy producs and services which effecively address boh he social needs and job needs of people. While OTP focuses primarily on he deploymen and field sudies of is prooype media space echnology, TMS5, in sies ouside he laboraory, OTP seeks o exend is research program by sudying commercial videoconferencing sysems. n his way we limi our 3This poin is noed here as he issue of same brand, cross-brand videoconferencing capabiliies significanly impaced he videoconferences ha were observed in his sudy. 4 The Onario Telepresence Projec is a research proiec co-spondored by wo Onario Cenres o{ Excellence - TRC; ln{ormaion Technology Research Cenre and TRO; Telecommunicaions Research nsiue of Onario. 5 The prooype media space being developed by OTP is known as Telepresence Media Space, or TMS.
exposure on he echnical side as we generae ideas abou he social impac of videoconferencing o feed back ino he design cycle a OTP. Figure 1 below illusraes his approach. Figure 1: Field Sudy Model6 RSK NCREASES -+ Technology Commercial Telepresence Media Space Local Deskop, Roll-abou, Confercnce Room e.g., OW lab Ac' Parners Deskop, Roll-abou, Conference Room e,8,, Prooiel* e.g., Prooiel* * niligo Exernal Deskop, Roll-abou, Conference Room e.9., Rescorp e,g,, Amber (Planniflg sage) OTP and ResCorp agreed ha i could be muually beneficial o cooperae in a projec. A small group of saff from ResCorp who had some experience wih videoconferencing - including boh users and echnical saff - me members of he OTP eam in Oc. 1993 o explore he possibiliies for a field sudy. o A sar (*) indicaes a code name
F F F F The Goal Towards a Field Sud F F T T The primary focus of he sudy is o gain early insighs ino he ways in which commercial videoconferencing is used in a real worid siuaion. We will consider he impac on he work and work pracices of members of he group, he opporuniies creaed by his new class of echnology, and he problems and unanicipaed consequences of using his new communicaion medium. n he acual process of carrying ou he sudy, i became clear ha some of he problems faced by hese early adopers of videoconferencing were primarily echnical in naure, and par of he repor will deal wih hese echnicai issues. The Process Es ab lishing he Agen il a On Sep. 3, 1993 he Manager of Research Operaions visied OTP for a demonsraion of he TMS sysem. This led o a number of informal meeings o discuss he possibiliy of OTP and ResCorp working ogeher on a projec of muual ineres, namely he role and use of conference room videoconferencing a ResColp. Oc.8, 1993: The Manager of Research and he Head of Social Science me in a conference call o discuss he maerials ha he manager had provided on he organisaion. The goals were o idenify he members of he organisaion who migh be poenial sakeholders
in videoconferencing, o prepare a meeing inviaion, and o esablish he agenda. Oc.27,7993: A small group of saff from ResCorp and OTP eam me o explore he possibiliies for a field sudy. The group from ResCorp included wo saff members who had a echnical role in esablishing he videoconferencing faciliy a ResCorp, wo researchers boh of whom had experience wih videoconferencing and one of whom had been idenified as a poenial sakeholder from analysis of he organisaional documens. Paricipans from OTP included he head of social science and a research associae. Afer a brief inroducion o he Onario Telepresence Projec, he ResCorp saff described heir experiences wih videoconferencing o dae and how hey hough i migh be used. There was agreemen in principle ha a sudy could benefi boh paries. Visi o Onario Telepresence Proiec Nov. 18, 1993: The Core Group was invied o OTP o experience he media space and o familiarise he group wih he research and some of he ways in which communicaion echnologies were being inegraed and deoloved. Repor o he Core Group MarchL7,l9%: Preliminary findings
F F T denifying he Work Group As par of is research agenda OTP is developing a Mehodology for he nroducion of New Technology in he WorkplaceT. The innovaion and diffusion lieraure indicaes ha finding a credible champion helps adopion. Therefore, one aspec of our research is aimed a he developmen of a se of sraegies o assis in idenifying poenial eariy sakeholders of videoconferencing in an organisaion. Tradiional models of deploymen or wha have called he Velcro Model - ('oss in he echnology and see where i sicks') and he Field of Dreams Model - ('if you build i hey will come') - are cosly boh in erms of capial and in erms of geing employees o 'inves' in adopions. The inroducion of video in he workplace raises a new se of concems for many employees. The ype and naure of hese concerns needs o be deermined prior o deploymen. A variey of facors can play a role in he users' levels of comfor - for example: he ype of videoconferencing (deskop vs conference room)g, he ype of meeing (one o one, many o many, ec.), he saus of he paricipans, he organisaional culure and srucure (bureaucraic and hierarchicai vs democraic and fla). We believe ha echnology fails o be adoped as ofen for social as for echnical reasons. 7 'Mehodology Moore, Gale. 1993. for he nroducion of New Technology in he Workplace.' n Technolo&v,/Mehodolo&v nvenory. Torono; OTP. (Technical Repor otp-93-06) EMoore, 'Field Gale. 1994. Sudies - Social Sciences'; Presenaion o he Bell-Onario Telepresence Prolec Meein& Jan. 19, 1994. Torono: OTP. esee Appendix for descripion of he 3 maior ypes o commercial videoconferencing sysems in use oday and he TMS; Telepresence Media Space.
The following crieria guide he process for he idenificaion of early adopers:. paricipans should have an exising need o communicae - individuals do no communicae because hey have a specific echnology, bu raher hey use echnology because hey need o communlcae. o paricipans should have a common goal or projec o paricipans should be geographicaily separaed over a number of sies, ideally where frequen ravel beween sies is no considered desirable.. paricipans need boh planned and sponaneous meeings o paricipans should have general credibiliy wih heir organisaional peers wih regard o echnology and innovaion. 'l
Par of he process for idenifying poenial sakeholders is o review a variey of corporae documens o ge a beer undersanding of he naure of he organisaion, he work groups and work aciviies. To assis in idenifying paricipans for he meeing he Manager of Research Operaions provided he social scienis wih several documens including: T T [, T T l MuliCorp Corporaion organisaion char ResCorp organisaion char - June 30,7993 1990 brochure on he Corporae Research Group a MuliCorp 1993 brochure on ResCorp ResCorp Publicaions - 1997-7993 ResCorp Paen Awards - July 1992-lrne 7993 ResCorp lnvenory of Teams and formal meeing schedule ResCorp 1993 Fall/Winer Seminar Series Videoconference Room bookings - May 25,1993 - Sep. 29,7993 The lis of paens proved paricularly useful as a ool for idenifying poenial users of videoconferencing. By checking he workplace locaion of each of he individuals named in muli-auhored paenslo i was easy o idenify individuals and groups ha worked ogeher bu were no co-locaed. 10 of he 62 paens lised,55 (88.7%) had rnore han 1 auhor.
Creaing an Acion Plan The following acion plan was agreed o:. The sudy would be limied o one group, conduced over a period of approx. 5 monhs and evaluaed a he end of his period There was general consensus ha a echnical working group which holds biweekly videoconferences wih saff a DevCorp would be he group sudied. DevCorp and ResCorp have a hisory of ineracion, here is co-publicaion of paens beween he sies. and DevCorp has a videoconferencing faciliy ha is compaible wih ResCorp echnically. The group has already had some experience wih videoconferencing and he scienific leader a ResCorp was boh willing o paricipae and as an early adoper glad o have suppor o explore ways in which his medium could be used effecively. The sies are approx.325 km apar and in wo differen counries. F l. During he firs 6 monh period no new equipmen would be purchased nor modificaions made o he videoconferencing room.. The commiee wih some addiional members would esablish iself as a Core Group o monior he sudy. o OTP and ResCorp agreed o sign he appropriae disclosure and ehics documens o guaranee boh paries ha he insiuional and organisaional requiremens were me11. 11 All research involving human subiecs is subiec o approvai by he Universiy of Torono Office of Resesarch Services Review Commiee on he Use of Hu-man Subjecs.
The discussion of he field sudy is divided ino wo pars, he firs describing he sudy design and mehodology and he second he observaions and analysis: o Par : The Field Sudy - Descripion The Sudy Design The Work Grouo The Aciviy - Technical meeings The Videoconferencinq Sies Equipmen Room layou Organisaional suppor, services and raining Par : Observaions and Analysis Social Conexs F F T The Environmen The Room The Videoconferencing sysem Documen camera Elecronic whieboard Overall Organisaional Conex Seing up he videoconference The Paricipans The Meeing Conex Produciviy ssues Technical Conex Cross-brand vs Same Brand Communicaion 10
Par - The Field Sudv- Descrioion The Sudy Design "You can obserae a lo jus by waching" Yogi Bera T T T l" T The sudy planned was small in scale (involving less han en paricipans), resriced in focus (looking a a specific ype of meeing), and limied in ime (a period of approximaely six monhs). The mehods of choice were a combinaion of paricipan observaion and inerviews. The social scienis aended he biweekly meeings o observe he working group meeings in progress and followed up wih a series of inerviews wih seleced paricipans from boh ResCorp and DevCorpl2 afer he observaion period had been compleed, and he preliminary findings repored o he Core Group. The Work Group The work group idenified for he sudy a ResCorp are all members of MCG: Maerials Chemisry Group and he main opic of discussion in he working group is pigmens. Over he years members of ResCorp have been in regular conac wih colleagues from he D&MG: Developing and Manufacuring Group a DevCorp which is locaed in a suburb ouside a mid-sized American ciy. These wo groups have me semi-annually in 12An obvious, bu imporan poin is ha communicaion echnologies, such as videoconferencing sysems, have paricipans in a leas wo locaions. n his sudy, all he meeing were observed from he ResCorp end, and i is he implicaions for ResCom ha are he focus of his repor. However, as a second sie was involved, and as he c'ulure appeared from he ou[* o b" q,-,i" differen in he wo cenres, an aemp was made o validae some of hese observed dilferences hrough a sie visi o DevCorp. This ook place a he end of he sudy period and was a brief half day visi. 11
Waerdown, Onario and ravel beween he wo research cenres is no uncommon. The majoriy of he members of he working group have me each oher face o face a some poin in he Pas, and several have ongoing ineracions ouside his paricular working group. The paricipans from ResCorp are all chemiss or echnicians working on he developmen of new pigmens for MuliCorp. The main paricipans from DevCorp are a projec leader and a designer. The Aciviy - Technical Meeinqs A cross-organisaional working group had recenly been esablished in order o faciliae he ransfer of informaion abou new pigmens and maerials chemisry beween he researchers a ResCorp and he chemiss and engineers a DevCorp who develop hese maerials and es hem in he equipmen. The working group, chaired by a senior scienis a ResColp mees every 2 weeks for approximaely one and a half hours. The syle of he meeings is informal, and involves he exchange of highly echnical informaion. An agenda was PrePared for he early meeings bu his pracice sopped as he group fell ino a rouine of presenaions by members of he ResCorp eam leading ino discussions of he findings by he enire group and suggesions for furher experimens. From 4-6 people aended he videoconference a he ResCorp end and from 1-3 people from DevCorp. However, a almos all he meeings observed here was only one remoe paricipan. 12
The Videoconferencing Sies: Boh ResCorp and Devcolp have formal videoconference room faciliies and boh were equipped wih CL videoconferencing sysems during he period of he sudy. The videoconferencing equipmen a ResCorp is locaed in a boardroom, and a DevCorp in a modes general purpose conference room. The rooms are comparable in size, in boh cases accommodaing 12-15 people around he cenral able. Equipmen: Each conference room is equipped wih: F F - a CL Rembrand videoconferencing sysem comprised of:. a fixed camera o 2 Son colour moniors. several microphones. a kewad conrol uni o Rembran videoconferencing sofware - an Elmo documen camera capable of sending graphics o he sysem for display on he SONY colour monior - an elecronic whieboard Boh sies had elecronic whieboards. The ResCorp sysem was moved ino he conference room during he period he sudy was underway, bu his equipmen was no used - a elephone J
- radiional whieboards ln addiion, DevCorp had a phoocopier and an inernal inercom and ResCorp had an overhead projecor and a room converer o conrol he lighing, blinds, ec. 1 i
Layou of he Videoconferencing Rooms a ResCorp and DeoCorp: Figure 2: ResCorp Videoconferencing Room wh Phone Camera Keypad T l' T T l l Figure 3: DevCorp Videoconferencing Room L5
l', For a deailed discussion of he relaionships beween conference room design, equipmen, work pracices and use of he environmen see pages 18-24. Organisaional Suppor, Seroices Tnining F F F F Organisaional suppor for videoconferencing services is handled very differenly a ResCorp and DevCorp. A ResCorp he inroducion of videoconferencing is bes described as ad hoc and informal. The videoconferencing sysem was insalled by a member of saff responsible for oher echnical aciviies, bu no addiional resources in erms of saff or raining were provided o his group. The sysem was no formally inroduced and no formal raining was given o he saff. Poenial users were simply encouraged o conac he echnical saff and 'ry i ou'. The only formal procedure involves booking he boardroom where he equipmen is locaed. This is no a new pracice associaed wih videoconferencing bu simply he coninuaion of an exising pracice. A DevCorp, on he oher hand, videoconferencing services have been formalised. The services are cenralised and a deailed se of rules and procedures covering everyhing from bookings o use have been esablished. A small group of saff who have been rained in he use of he equipmen serve as operaors, seing up he room and making he connecion o he remoe sie 30 minues in advance of he scheduled meeing ime. This assures ha he equipmen is working, and ha he qualiy of he audio and video connecions are saisfacory. 1,6
Neiher procedure is righ or wrong, bu i is imporan o noe ha communicaion echnologies have wo ends, and wo ses of paricipans are involved in each videoconference. As we will see on pages 25-28, he organisaional policies and procedures adoped by one side can have uninended consequences for he oher. F 17
Par - Observaions and A Noe: The meeings were observed a ResCorp, and he observaions reflec his poin of view. The DevCorp sie was visied following he observaion period, bu no meeings were observed from he DevCorp end. F n he following secion firs consider how various aspecs of he social conex in which a echnology is deployed affec he experience of ha echnology for he users. The naure of he physical environmen in which he meeings are held, organisaional policies and he naure of he work aciviy independenly and ogeher condiion he experience of use. Second, look specifically a how he acual echnology used mediaes his experience for he users. Finally consider how he social and echnical conexs inerac. This laer ineracion is of criical imporance and increases in complexiy wih comrnunicaion echnologies which by definiion imply a leas a sender and a receiver - boh of whom work in disinc and ofen quie differen social and echnical conexs. Social Conexs The Viileoconf erencing Enoironmen a ResCorp l The Room: The videoconferencing equipmen a ResCorp is in a boardroorn on he 2nd floor. The irregularly shaped room, approximaely 20 fee long and 16 fee wide a one end and 18 fee wide a he oher, was designed as a videoconferencing board room by a professional design firm who had experience in designing his ype of faciliy' 18
F F F F The execuive naure of his conference room is evidenced by he qualiy and coordinaion of he furnishings and fiings. The buil-in sorage space and book shelves creae a pleasan amosphere and assure no cluer. The conference room able is rapezoidal in shape wih he end furhes from he video moniors considerably narrower han he edge of he able close o he monior (see Figure 4, page 24). This design, no uncommon, is mean o accommodae videoconferencing. However, in observing he acuai use of he room here were a number of serious problems. Only wo or hree people can be seen if an image of reasonable size is sen o he far end. The remaining paricipans in he meeing canno be seen by he remoe paricipans, and as Figure 4 illusraes hey auomaically move heir chairs back from he able o permi heir local colleagues a clear view of he remoe paricipan(s).13 Clearly, he able was designed o accommodae his bu he angle of accommodaion is insufficien in his insallaion. Also, he conference able is exremely cluered a narrow end - wih approx. 70"/o of he surface unused and unusable. Somewha myseriously, he ouer 6" of he able slope downward a approximaely 10-20 degrees from he horizonal plane of he able and objecs mus be carefully placed o accommodae his as pencils roll and coffee cups opple. ronically, his was less of a problem in a videoconference as few of he paricipans sa close o he able! (See Figure 4) Videoconferencing Sysem: The videoconferencing equipmen has likewise been incorporaed ino he boardroom furniure. The microphones, for example, are 13This was observed in each of he meeings even hough boh he number of paricipans and he specific individuals aending c-hanged from meeing o meeing. 19
buil ino he deskop, and he codecs, and oher equipmen are hidden in closed cupboards. The conrol uni (or keypad) for he videoconferencing uni which is used for a variey of purposes including camera managemen - pan, il, zoom, ec. is locaed a he narrow end of he able. Alhough i is no fixed o he able i does no move very far and is wihin reach of only a few seas a he able. The conrol buons are no labeled, and in spie of he projec leader's ineres in 'managing he view' he ask is difficul when he mus concenrae on he conen of he meeing a he same ime. He noes: "l like dynamic hings - ry o figure ou he buons now and hen, bu neaer remember from one ime o he oher - he [#] 6 buon and he number 3 fbuon] focus on ha person... lf only could figure his ou or acually program i myself hen would know which buon does wha and hen we could si people ahere we roan and we could focus more dynamically - when somebody nlks. We did i a few imes and somebody has o run he camera and focus on ha person." h ll However, while he designers have succeeded in making he echnology 'disappear' so ha i does no dominae he room or look overly echnical he formaliy of he design resrics he users abiliy boh o use he echnology and o accommodae social ineracions. For example, he microphones and conrol pad have a limied range hrough which hey can be moved, and wihou remoe conrol devices he person 'conrolling' he camera is obliged o si 'on camera' in one of he few good seas in he room. Documen Camera: is ineresing o noe ha while a documen camera has been subsiued for a radiional overhead projecor i coninues o occupy 'he bes sea in he house' a he head of he able, raher han being placed o he side where i could be used more 20
comforably by he presener and would no be included in he image sen o he far end.14 As i is se up he video image being ransmied is unnecessarily cluered in a group sho and when he focus is on one individuai hey acquire 'horns' from he side arms of he documen camera, ln his paricular conference room his is even more imporan given he narrowing of he able and he reducion in he number of 'sood' seas a he able. T Whieboards: There is a single medium size whieboard a one end of he boardroom which can be seen by remoe paricipans. Prior o several of he meeings i was noed ha ResCorp was wrien in large leers on he whieboard. This served as a signal o DevCorp ha he connecion had been successful, as here was no always someone presen in he ResCorp boardroom prior o he meeing when DevCorp was esablishing he connecion, and adjusing he video qualiy. One of he ironies of commercial videoconferencing sysems on he marke oday is ha he high end equipmen can cos up o $50,000 for each end bu in order o make a connecion you mus elephone or pre-arange o have he sysem umed on. To use he videoconferencing sysem wo phone numbers are dialed bu here he similariy o he elephone ends. Wih he elephone you dial and he call is answered, you ge a busy signal or here is no answer. Wih videoconferencing a plumbing meaphor is more appropriae. f he remoe end does no have he sysem urned on (i.e., he ap umed on) he connecion will sill be made if he line is free bu he image reumed o he caller is ' black' video. is necessary o pre- 14unfike an overhead proecor where he locaion of he equipmen is deermined by he locaion of he viewing screen, he locaion of he documen camera is independen of he locaion of he image. The only resricion is ha i can be easily reached by he user. is equally convenien o place i off camera on he speakers righ hand side. 2l
arrange he videoconference, or call o se up he connecion so ha he 'ap' can be opened a he receiver's end. An organisaion can choose o leave he ap 'on' permanenly bu any caller hen simply 'lands' in he room where he camera is locaed wihou waming and wihou regard o wha is aking place in ha room. This is fine for pre-arranged meeings, bu clearly accouns for he relucance of organisaions o leave heir unis 'on' permanenly. Also, i is imporan o noe ha if he uni is'on'bu he moniors swiched 'off ' a one way audio-video connecion is made! No surprisingly, organisaions prefer o leave he sysem off and eiher pre-arrange or elephone ahead o se up meeings. An excepion o his model of videoconferencing is TMS; Telepresence Media Space which is described in more deail in he Appendix. However, i may be useful o noe briefly a his poh ha TMS provides a live video 'window' o callers. This view, ono he universiy campus, is no inrusive bu verifies o he caller ha he call has been successfully compleed. Wih a phone call o he inended receiver he 'ap' can be opened from any office or conference room equipped wih a TMS node. During he period of he observaions an elecronic whieboard was moved ino he conference room and placed a he fron end of he room, beside he videoconferencing moniors. While here was also an elecronic whieboard a DevCorp i was no clear hey were compaible as boh locaions had prooypes, and i was difficul o verify exacly which version of he proo'?e sysem was in each locaion. Consequenly, he elecronic boards were no used in any of he meeings wih DevCorp. f, however, hey had been used anoher problem would have emerged. A boh ends - a DevColp and ResCorp - he elecronic whieboards have been placed beside he video moniors and i would have been l 22
T impossible for he remoe end o see he person working a he elecronic whieboard. Ooerall: The ResCorp boardroom is an exremely pleasan environmen for face o face meeings, and some ypes of videoconferences; however, i canno be easily modified o accommodae a variey of meeing ypes or presenaion syles. For a presenaion syle meeing he fi is quie good - he video image of he remoe presener, (in erms of size), placemen in he room and sociai role are in relaive harmony. However, in a brainsorming session, or a round able discussion he fi is poor as he microphones have a limied range of movemen, and he camera canno be made o rack he speaker wih any degree of ease - e.g.,by passing a wand ha he camera follows. The oniy way o conrol he camera is from he keypad and his requires he aenion of one of he meeing paricipans. ZJ
Fig. 4: Lines of Sigh f! T l 24
Organis aional Conex Seing up he Videocon'erencehe ResCorp end: A he firs meeing of he Working Group a member of ResCorp's echnical saff - he person responsible for he original insallaion - was presen o help se up he videoconference. Subsequenly, a senior scienis a ResCorp and he chairman of he commiee arrives one half hour before he meeing o urn on he equipmen and awai he connecion from DevCorpls. He is essenially on his own o sor ou any problems. For example, one day here was audio bu no video recepion a Rescorp. urned ou ha he moniors had been umed off, and hus he soluion was simple once he problem was diagnosed. However, his highlighs he fac ha here is no formal organisaional suppor for he end user - no even a manual, a checklis or a roubleshooing guide, and here is no mechanism for recording or passing on he lessons leamed. As he saff member who was responsible for insalling he sysem a ResCorp was already fully commied o suppor a number of oher, and unrelaed, echnical aciviies in he organisaion he could no simply add videoconferencing o his responsibiliies wihou addiional resources. However, he coninued informally o provide suppor o he users of videoconferencing as ime permied. ln addiion, here was no formal mechanism for hose 15 The elephone and videoconferencing calls were always placed from DevCorp as he charges were lower his way. h one meeing here was a problem wih he video connecions and when ResCorp decided o elephone DevCorp as considerable ime had lapsed i was realised ha he phone number of he DevCorp conlerence room was no available in he boardroom. The lack of even such minimal suppor for he users was a source of frusraion. 25
F l ineresed in exploring he use of videoconferencing o arrange raining. Once again, he echnical group informally provided a brief inroducion o he services, bu by and large users were lef o heir own devices. Finally, if here were echnical problems during a meeing, here was no assurance ha echnical suppor could be found. The resul is ha he use of he sysem a ResCorp relies heavily on he iniiaive of poenial users, he goodwill of he unofficial suppor group, and a degree of good luck in finding help if here are probiems during a meeing, or repairs required beween meeings.l6 This combinaion of facors means ha here is a high level of uncerainy for he users as o he sae of he videoconferencing equipmen a any given ime - a facor ha could deer all bu he mos deermined users. Overall, he organisaion procedures for videoconferencing a ResCorp a his ime can bes be described as informal and flexible. Seing up he Videoconference - he DeaCorp end: A he DevCorp end he meeing was se up each ime by wo women who would appear, esablish he connecion and 'rain' he room. The meeing paricipans arrived only afer he conference had been esablished. During a visi o DevCorp following he observaion period i became clear ha here are major differences in he way each organisaion manages heir videoconferencing services. The procedures a DevCorp are highly formal. Here here are policies and procedures ha cover all aspecs of videoconferencing - from 16 For example, during one meeing i was discovered ha one of he nicrophones was no working and i was several weeks before i was useable. n anoher meeing a ligh bulb in he documen camera had bumed ou and a replacemen bulb was no readily available. l 26
booking he meeing room o seing up and aking down he videoconference. Suppor saff, rained in he use of he equipmen, have been assigned o handle his aciviy, and are available o handle any problems ha arise during he meeing. One policy esablished by DevCorp is ha all videoconferences are se up one half hour ahead of he scheduled meeing ime - in effec his means ha conference room bookings are rouinely exended by hiry minues o allow ime for se up, problem resoluion, ec. Two immediae consequences follow from his. Firs, he oal number of meeings ha can be scheduled on any single day is dramaically reduced - seven one hour meeings require en and one half hours o complee. Second, as he scheduling of any meeing is frequenly a logisical nighmare - he policy adoped by DevCorp adds a furher consrain o accommodaing paricipans' calendars. Anoher, and less immediaely obvious consequence of his policy is ha i is affecs he use of he videoconferencing room a he remoe end, as well as affecing hose responsible for esablishing he conference a he remoe end - wheher suppor saff or users - as someone has o be available o receive he call. ln he case of he ResCorp/DevCorp Working Group meeings i mean ha he projec leader, a busy scienis, had o book he boardroom for an addiional half hour and show up hiry minues before he scheduled meeing ime. f all wen smoohly he was lef waiing for 20-25 minues for he meeing o sar. As his lab is a he oher end of he building i made lile sense for him o reum o his office. The policy of seing up he conference ahead of he scheduled meeing ime and for i o be handled by suppor saff cerainly assured a smooher sar for paricipans a DevCorp, bu i was 27
he scienis a ResCorp, and in urn ResCorp iself, ha absorbed he overhead his policy creaed. There is a furher hidden consequence of he formal procedures in place a DevCorp - i.e., he 30 minue advance se-up and he use of suppor saff. These procedures effecively discourage he use of videoconferencing for shor meeings or sponaneous encouners. Shor meeings and brief encouners are frequenly observed in groups who work ogeher (i.e., co-locaed), and hese informal encouners play an imporan role in accompiishing asks for a variey of ypes of work aciviies (Fish e al., 7993). The culural differences beween hese wo research labs in a single mulinaional corporaion clearly demonsraes how organisaional policies and procedures affec he use of videoconferencing for he paricipans a boh ends. Paricipans - High noesors os Lo naesors The previous secion demonsraed ways in which organisaional policies and procedures mediae he experience of videoconferencing for he users. Here, he focus is on he behavioural responses of he meeing paricipans o videoconferencing which reflecs, a leas in par, back o he issues of managemen and conrol of videoconferencing services. ResCorp End - High lnzesors: As already noed i is he projec leader who opens he room and prepares i for he videoconference. He also roubleshoos when he equipmen doesn' funcion as expeced and ries o find a member of he echnical suppor group if he is unable o solve he problem. The projec leader has no received any formal raining on he use 28
of he room, or he poenial problems, bu he genuinely wans he videoconferencing o succeed in order o reduce his ravel o DevColp - ravei ha is paricularly hazardous in winer, and as he noes " can wase a whole day for a one hour meeing." One of he consequences of being dropped ino he deep end of videoconferencing wih no guaranee of suppor is ha a number of he ResColp users began aking charge of he echnology and seemed o feel free o explore he ways in which i could be used o heir advanage. This is paricuiariy rue in he case of he projec leader, who has he mos experience wih he room, bu one of he regular paricipans in he meeing appeared o be 'naurally' video aware and quickly began o sep in o manage he video images being sen while he projec leader was acively engaged in he meeing' There was frequen use of he keypad for image managemen - e.g., focus, zoom ec. - regardless of wheher he image was a person or a documen. This conrass sharply wih he virual non-use of he keypad a he DevCorp end. However, he limied range of he keypad - i is no cordless - means here are a limied number of posiions in he room where users have access o i - e.g., he paricipan acually had o move ino he projec leader's chair when he moved o use he documen camela. This musical chairs effec -as people changed heir seas oihin he conference room - occurred frequenly. 17 This is a response o he 17An example illusraes his phenomenon. The presener, a chemis, seaed a he fron of he room beside he documen camera finished his presenaion. The proiec leader lef his sea - from where he was conroling he keypad - o come o he fron of he room. There was no place for him o si, and afer a sligh hesiaion he presener go up o give him his chair, bu he projec leader's sea had already been occupied by anoher member of he group who was using he keypad o adjus he carnera and graphic images. The original presener found anoher sea, off camera, bu as quesions came from DevCorp i was clear he was no in he righ place. He moved back o he fron of he room and ye anoher member of he group seaed a he fron of he 29
consrains imposed by he design of he room since here are few seas where one can be seen. Specialised aciviies such as using he documen camera impose furher consrains. The paricipans did no seem o be overly concerned by his aciviy in he room, which may in par be explained by he naure of heir meeings, i.e., echnical working meeings which are no highly formalised and where here is some movemen of paricipans ino and ou of he meeing room.18 is no clear ha oher users in a differen syie of meeing would be as acceping of hese disrupions. DeoCorp End - Low noesors: The users of videoconferencing a DevCorp had been given some insrucion on he use of he keypad, bu are no permied o se up heir own meeings. n he early meeings DevCorp paricipans made no adjusmens o heir image, and i was only afer several monhs hey would respond o requess o 'zoom' or adjus he view ha hey were sending in some way. The DevCorp users are characerised as low invesors. This limied sudy canno assess wheher his is an uninended consequence of he formal organisaional procedures discouraging 'play' and disancing he user from he echnology or simply personal syle. However, wo oher facors may also explain he more limied engagemen a he DevCorp end. During he observaion period almos all he presenaions were from he ResCorp end and herefore here was lile need for he DevCorp o use heir documen camera and he keypad buons conneced wih sending graphic images. Also, as he ResCorp image was being well able offered him his sea. The discussion ended and wih he nex Presenaion abou o begin people once again re-arranged hemselves. 18As he majoriy of paricipans and he maioriy of presenaions were from he ResCorp end, some ResCorp members lef he meeing afer heh experimens had been discussed. Ohers, joined he meeings while hey were in progress. 30
managed he paricipans a DevCorp may no have noiced ha heir image - visible o hem only as a small picure-in-picure image - needed o be improved. During one meeing here was a reques for DevCorp o zoom in, bu his didn' happen. Toward he end of he observaion period he projec leader a ResCorp and a chemis a DevColp sayed on afer he meeing o cha. During he conversaion here was some discussion of how he videoconferencing approach was working and he DevColp paricipan began o play wih he camera zoom. The ResCorp paricipan encouraged his and gave advice. Also, for mos of he meeings observed here was only one person a he DevCorp sie. This probably made i difficul for him o concenrae on he meeing and manage unfamiliar equipmen a he same ime. Overa: A ResCorp here is no one who has 'ownership' of he videoconferencing service. While his informaliy may have cerain advanages in making users comforable o explore he ways in which videoconferences can be handled and used o suppor heir work pracices, here is some organisaional suppor required, paricularly in erms of raining, manuals, guides and for echnical suppor. l ResCorp has essenially adoped he Field of Dreams approach o deploymenle - 'if you build i hey will come', bu hey don' - wih he excepion of hose who are highly moivaed o use he sysem for oher reasons, and have a leas minimal echnological skill and confidence o persis - and hey zuor'f unless some suppor is provided, and he ease of use allows he communiy o grow beyond he early adopers. This paricular group of early adopers in boh 19Moore, 'Field Gale. 1994. Sudies - Social Sciences': Presenaion o he Bell-Onario Telepresence Proj c Meein& Jan. 19, 1994. Torono: OTP. 31
ResCorp and DevCorp were specifically seleced for sudy because of heir need o communicae a his ime and heir early experience wih videoconferencing. Organisaions commiing resources o videoconferencing echnology, however, should no depend on excepional users wih exraordinary needs and high levels of perseverance o bring a reurn on heir invesmen. This limied sudy suggess ha here needs o be a disincion beween'suppor for' and 'conrol of' videoconferencing services. Adminisraive and echnical suppor needs o be balanced wih he freedom ha allows users o 'discover' how hey can mos effecively use he sysem o communicae. Differen ypes of users and differen ypes of use require differen responses. Today's users are sill pioneers and wha is leamed in his period will have an impac on he ways in which his medium develoos in he fuure. The Meeing Conex Scheduling meeings: The working group mees every wo weeks. Prior o using videoconferencing he group had me lvice a year in Waerdown, Onario. The members of he group all know one anoher, bu no all have worked closely ogeher. The primary focus of each of he groups is differen; ResCorp's primary focus is research, and DevCorp's is developmen. When he Working Group was firs esablished hey agreed o schedule heir meeings on he same day and a he same ime every second week, bu problem of conflics wih ohers booking he rooms, paricularly a he DevCorp end, made his fixed schedule impossible. The following quoe from an ResCorp member of he group clearly illusraes he frusraion: JZ
"Here i's no so bad, bu if i was like DeoCorp i would bind me up and would sop using i.... e's reschedule, so okay we reschedule and hen DeoCorp calls back - he group ha acually hrew us ou 2 weeks ago now cancelled heir meeing so we can use our regular schedule. f i's he VPs ha's okay, once in a while hey need prioriy, bu someimes i's anoher group and hours are reseraed weeks ahead, and if i happens like his [i.e., we are bouncedl - if we are going o haae problems finding a ime. don' like o use i so much." This will become increasingly problemaic if videoconferencing is adoped by more groups, and a ResCorp he siuaion is furher complicaed by he fac ha he videoconferencing equipmen is in a boardroom which is booked and used for a variey of purposes and funcions oher han videoconferencing. Meeings using he videoconferencing sysem do, however,, have prioriy. Syle of he Meeing: Basically he meeings can be characerised as 'one o many'20 in syle and rely heavily on he use of documens o Presen experimenal resuls. The mos common Paern is o use he documen camera o show a se of resuls, chars, ables, ec., briefly describe he findings and reply o quesions. The focus of he discussions, which are lively, is consisenly on he experimens - a discussion of he mehods, he chemicals used or he findings. The meeings are no formal, bu are highly focused. niially, hose presening came prepared wih aceaes or foils, bu quickly realized ha he documen camera was capable of acceping paper and his became he sandard. During one meeing DevCorp asked if here were daa available from a very curren se of experimens, and he chemis simply pu his lab book under he documen camera and a 20 i.e., presenaions 33
discussion ook place. While his happened sponaneously here was immediae recogniion in he group ha his was somehing new, and in inerviews some monhs laer one paricipan recalled he even his way: " yeh, one ime he did ha and his was like brand new suff. 'm no sure why he did i - he hadn' made a slide up ye so he says 'ake my noebook and see wha i says'- so did - " Figure 5 below shows he view from ResCorp when he meeing sars. The second monior is generally lef blank unil documens are used, bu once documens sar being shared - he norm in hese meeings - he irnage of he presener becomes he defaul when he documen is no longer required. Figure 6 illusraes his view. The resul is ha he person speaking occupies he large screen. Their colleagues presen in he meeing wach he monior a he far end of he able - where hey can see boh he presener and he remoe paricipan(s) - raher han looking direcly a he Presener. For he presener, he larges and mos impressive 'Person' in he room is an image of himself which is direcly in fron of him a he end of he able. is ineresing o noe ha none of he Preseners ever requesed ha his image be removed - somehing easily accomplished wih he keypad. 34
Figure 5: Videoconferencing - People - 1 monior Video only - no documens Figure 6: Videoconferencing - People - 2 moniors Video only - curren pracice l JC
Figure 7 below illusraes he view from he ResCorp end when documens are sen. The highes qualiy of image resuls when he graphics mode capabiliy of he CL sysem is used. Here, he video feed is no 'live', he documen canno be annoaed or marked up in real ime - hence he erm 'dead' doc. However, he image is very clear on he large monior a Rescorp, he focus can be adjused, and he camera can zoom in o ou. There appear o be major advanages o using his feaure over ransmiing a 'live' documen. While changes can' be recorded dynamically as wih a 'live' doc, he updaed version is presen wih he push of a buon. n he inerviews ha followed he observaions i was clear ha here were problems wih receip of he documens a he DevCorp end. The main concern was ha hey received only a small Porion of he documen, bu hey also repored Problems wih image clariy, especially wih he 'live' documen. A designer repors: "They haae made an hones effor o use he graphic ransmission mode, bu i' s kinda like looking hrough a keyhole wihou your glasses- i's no sharp and lrc field is exremely limied."2l 21This commen is boh ineresing and myserious. From he ResCorp end he image displayed on he large monior and in he pip:picure -in -picure window were idenical and included he enire 8 7 /2 x 77" page. Unforunaelp he severiy of his problem was no recognized a he ime, and given he subsequen severe reducion in video qualiy (see p. K-50 for commens) i is no Possible o sor ou exacly when his began or he source of he problern. JO
Figure 7: Videoconferencing - People & Documen Full CL Capabiliy The qualiy of he video signal for documens is exremely imporan - jus how imporan we discovered when here was a major change in video qualiy several monhs ino he observaion.22 This change so dramaically affeced he abiliy of he working group o funcion ha i was decided o end he daa collecion porion of he sudy one monh early and repor he preliminary findings o he Core Commiee in March 1994. The video problems ha he working group encounered are echnical in naure, bu hey dramaically illusrae he inerrelaionship beween he social and he echnological conexs. 22 See pages 114-50 for deails. 37
-! \ Produciviy lssues The radiional produciviy equaion has been unable o demonsrae a posiive relaionship beween use of various informaion echnologies and increased produciviy. However, as ]ohn Seely Brown, chief scienis and direcor of Xexox Palo Alo Research Cener (PARC) has commened: "he inabiliy of economiss o proae he aalue of informaion sysems may haae more o do wih our presen undersanding of produciaiy han wih any real offie beueen he cos of informaion sysems and heir inheren aalue o an organisaion" (Brown, 1994,77). A new produciviy meric is needed for he informaion economy, a meric ha capures qualiaive as well as quaniaive informaion on he oupus of informaion and knowledge workers. Unil such ime as a new meric is developed - and, as par of he process of arriving a he new meric - sugges ha i is he responsibiliy of hose involved in sudying he deploymen and use of hese innovaions o record and repor on demonsraed produciviy increases. This is he new produciviy. The following secion ells a number of 'sories' abou produciviy gahered during he observaions of he meeings and subsequen inerviews wih hose involved in his videoconferencing field sudy. The main reasons for videoconferencing a ResCorp have always been enhanced communicaions and produciviy, as opposed o decrease in ravel coss.23 A he firs meeing of he Core Group (Oc. 1993) he issue of produciviy was clearly on he minds of he ResCorp saff aending. The group was boh aware and highly ariculae abou he 23E-mail memo from Manager of Research Operaions o Gale Moore, Augus, 5,7994. 38
- kinds of problems hey face and expressed an eagerness o ry new hings as i is very imporan o hem o be efficien. Several of he paricipans acually used he phrase 'produciviy gains' in discussing new ways of approaching a variey of problems. The sfories ha follow are brief, and hey are old as much aspossible in he voices of he paricipans. n some cases here are differen inerpreaions of he same even - no surprising given ha he paricipans in hese meeings included managers and bench chemiss, researchers and developers, people from wo organisaional culures, and wo naions. 39
* * The Sories: * Previously meeings beween hese wo groups o discuss projecs of muual ineres had been infrequen - wice a year and formal in syle. Everyone agrees ha hese are very imporan, boh in erms of he personal conac and in erms of conen, and hey would no like o see hese disappear. The issue is wheher furher more frequen, less formal working meeings are also useful. Did he fac ha hese wo groups have more frequen conac make a difference - in erms of heir work, eam building, ec.? "Yeh, hink here aas a gain. We knew more abou wha hey were doing - from a memo you don' always haae he ime o. read eaeryhing and undersand i and his way you ge i firs hand, i's more ineresing and i's more han a memo ha passes by on a disribuion lis wih 20 people and you jus uan o pass i on. hink i was useful ha way. hink ha hey are much more producioe han haaing monh o monh (wih raael) cause hen i's more formal - you haae o haae your.".i! ready, hey pu ou an agenda, ushaeaer, i's no as ofen "When you go up here you'ae go nice slides and eaerybodys gonna ge a nice hard copy ha hey can look and a hey're no going o be looking a somehing ha blurring. Euery ime go o one of hese [uideoconferences] consciously raise my aoice and my hroa hurs for 2 hours aferwards. don' know wheher need o do ha or no... lf anyhing is going on ha is imporan o exchange back and forh i ges done in a imely way bu beyond ha i's beer o ge organised slides ha you can read clearly and you'ue go a package ha you can look hrough and see wha comes ou of a of his insead of geing i a dip and a dab a a ime. Of course, when you ge i ha way i's basically ho off he press." 40
How ho? 'Wel heck his hing u)e're on nou), hry found i up here, and don' know if i was hrough he eleconference ha you learned abou i -" "Yeh, essenially i was... ha's where he noebook enry came in - i's nice o read uha he wroe in his noebook... he firs ime he ried his suff.... his uas like brand neu: suff and he hadn' made a slide up ye so he says ake my noebook and read wha i says - so did - ha's he kind of hing uould do - 'm no a graphic ars person and making slides is a pain for me." On developing relaionships: "...luhen you alk abou a common goal and wha he curren sae of he ar is i's aery useful o alk o hem personally. You say o hem - gee l'm haaing a errible ime filering his - hey'll say, yeh well so are we. You ge deails ha you don' ge in a slide - ha par is aery useful o me." Avoiding duplicaion and increasing comparabiliy: "'m sure he doesn' knou ha you are doing his - we don' uan o duplicae and we need o checkmehodology - also ue should presen our findings in he sameway so ha hey are readily comparable." "We'oe added some addiional measures - you migh wan o alk o your people abou he usefulnessof hese addiional measures." Sharing daa ha could no be shared oherwise: "... A ha ime [i.e., before he aideo was degraded] i uas possible for him o ransmi hese prins, and didn' haae o ake his word for i - could see how good hey u)ere. don' hink we could do ha now eiher. These were basically one of a kind indiaiduals - you can' reproduce hem because if you ry o run i lrough a colour copier you're geing wha he colour copier did for you, no wha your pigmen did on a piece of paper 41,
r r - and somebody else's machine, so here was really no oher way han o elecronically send he image." Timely informaion: From ResCorp o DevCorp: " know ha he (a DeaCorp) is alking o he supplier his afernoon - you can check wih hem" "... As say righ now sponaneous ansl)ers o quesions ha are uexing me is more imporan han wheher or no i is uude wha l'ae been looking a." Serendipious informaion: DevCorp happens o menion ha a paricular chemical rep is coming o DevCorp ha afernoon. ResCorp complains ha he hasn' been o Canada and hey only need a small vial of maerial, bu hey can' seem o ge i. DevCorp agrees o ry and ge i from him and send i up. Coordinaion where here are muual dependencies: "l's A useful hing o do and l'ae kep i going [oideoconferences] because i saaes me a lo of ime. 's beer han rying o rack somebody down on a phone, especially when you're no near yours necessarily if hey call you back, and i's a lo beer han driaing all he way up here and back, ha's usually a full day a leas... can usually always ge my quesions answered whaeoer hey are. Like heh... haae you done anyhing wih he deaelopmen plan uni ye? or Are you sill geing a big loss zahen you make his suff up because you can' filer i -ha sor of suff, and can usually ge i firs person and 'd jus as soon hear i sponaneously. f he guy swears, know he's go problems! So, ha's in paricular he benefi ge in his case..." "'s beer o hear i ha raay han o read i as a bulle on a able - he emoion is here, if here needs o be some. Tha's very useful. " 42
l { i s ravel beween hese wo sies a 'perk,? Everyone fel ha geing ogeher, face o face, a leas a few imes a year is exremely imporan - bu winer ravel? "No, only remember his as droue mv own car and had a errible ime geing up here and he nbx morning i was sill rlgiryg, a blizzard by hen. As was coming back iround seelown, i was snowing miserably hard ind he wind was blow.i1g, bu righ in hai area i was warm enough coming off " he lake ha i was mosly we, mosry rain, and" somehow managed -o ge waer ino my engine, ino my carbureor. sill had a carbureed engine a he ime! and my carbureor froze up or sared o freeze. My car was running worse and woise and' worse a he ime and hough was going o ge sranded ou here in he middle of nowhere in a blizzard in"a foreign counry. really ried, and my car conked ou sone cod dead a he op of he Peninsula Bridgi. r made i o he op and coased down across he riuer. s;lled, and 'm siing here a he boom, and maybe because here was no wind moion here usas enough residual hea in my engine o haw wha froze and so i sared up again. l was awful. " and, here was one car acciden during he period of he sudy. 43
i Technical Conex Meeing Breakdoun A he firs meeing of he working Group in February 19fr here was dramaic degradaion of he video signal and i was no longer possible o ge he 'dead' doc ransmission working. This caused a grea deal of frusraion in he meeing. Only laer was i learned ha a decision had been made o rese he CL equipmen o sandard ransmission so ha users could communicae wih ohers in he broader organisaion who had non-cl equipmen. unforunaely his informaion was no immediaely ransmied o any of he members of he working Group - eiher a ResCorp or DevCorp - alhough he equipmen had been modified a boh sies. The effec on he aciviies of he working group was immediae, dramaic and negaive. The working group had come o rely on he high qualiy image, for example hey even fel hey were able o make disincions abou colour differences - somehing no one had expeced o be possible - and hey had also become accusomed o a high qualiy video image of he remoe paricipans. Needless o say, he unexpeced, and a he ime inexplicable, reducion in qualiy was very frusraing. Here was a group of users making an effor o use a new echnology, and finding ways o overcome some of he exising limiaions when for no apparen reason he sysem 'broke'. M
+ l fi Hisory of he Breakdoun The firs signs of rouble came in making connecions for a meeing early in February. The video signal was very poor - he image of he people fuzzy and es documens sen 'live' could no be read. They ried repeaedly o ge a beer connecion, bu finally gave up and he meeing began. One member of he group said: "' d firs neuer wan o uideoconference again, if his had been my experience." Laer in he meeing hey ry o use he documen camera o send a 'dead' doc, bu i will no work. There are also problems wih he audio qualiy ha have no been experienced before. Finally, hey decide o end he meeing early: "...wih all he echnical problems perhaps we should qui,' During he meeing here was menion of he fac ha ResCorp will begin holding videoconferences wih a group in ResCorp. n early March here are once again problems wih geing he connecion esablished, and he video qualiy is poor, bu in his meeing he audio has improved. A member of he group from DevCorp menions ha hey have also conneced wih ResCorp since February bu: "We can only receioe liae aideo and can' send sills." A member a ResColp says ha heir problems have also increased since rying o work wih ResCorp, and ha he connecion o hem 45
* + * il * * is errible.z4 A he end of he meeing here is some informal discussion abou he videoconferencing sysem. Boh ends have been old ha he room was re-configured so hey could alk o ResCorp. As we leave he meeing he projec leader commens ha he is really upse abou he way he echnology is working, and he fac ha i is worse han before is especially upseing. He is also concerned as he is working on a regular basis wih people in Rescorpll, and while he expecs o have o ravel o he wes coas where heir offices are locaed, he wans o do as much as possible from here. The qualiy of he videoconferencing is a really serious issue for him. n discussion wih he Manager of Research Operaions i was agreed ha given he serious effec of hese problems on he meeings ha he researcher would sop he observaions, discuss he echnical issues wih her echnical colleagues a OTp, and presen a se of preliminary findings o he Core Group in 2 weeks. Technical rssue - same Brand as Cross-branil videoconferencing Communicaions ools imply wo ends, and compaibiliy beween sysems is one of he key facors in geing o a criical mass of users. Videoconferencing equipmen manufacurers are currenly addressing he issue of sandards so ha differen brands of videoconferencing sysems can 'alk' o each oher.25 However, given ha his is sill very new echnology, and here is compeiion among manufacurers for marke dominance his issue is unlikely o be resolved omorrow. The 24This commen needs o be considered in ligh of he fac ha hese users had become used o a level of qualiy and flexibiliy in heir videoconferencing and for hem his 'defined'wha videoconferencing is. n oher words, wha is clearly degraded service o hese users could been 'seen'as amazing o a firs ime user. 25 A Poin of comparison is he fax machine. Sandardisaion and ineroperabiliy were Precondiions o creaing a criical mass of users. Communicaion echnologies, unlike oher ypes of echnology, i*ply a sender and a receiver and require cross--brand. compaibiliy. 46
i l i + l + curren soluion - parial sandardisaion25 - permis some cross-brand communicaion bu comes a he cos of lower qualiy of video, and an inabiliy o use he advanced or specialised feaures provided by individual manufacurers. A he ime of he sudy DevCorp and ResCorp boh had high-end CL videoconferencing sysems and were able o use he advanced brand specific CL feaures - e.g., a graphics mode for 'dead' documens and consisenly high qualiy video. n discussion wih he echnical saff a OTP (Onario Telepresence Projec) he following able was developed o illusrae some of he ways in which same brand and cross-brand communicaion vary. 25Currenly H.261 or H.320 47
Table l,: Same Brand vs Cross-Brand Videoconferencing "'Finii,re Same Branil Crass-Brunil Qualiy of video image High Medium-Low + 'Dead' Documens. Possible o send Advanages:. High resoluion(+) o Can see documen & people (+) No possible o send (-) Disadvanages:. Saic C). Vendor specific (-) 'Live' Documens. Possible o send Possible o send T T Disadvanases: - o Low resoluion (-) o Can see documen or people - no boh G-) Advanages: neracive - poin & move (++) -Disadvanases: Very low resoluion (--) Can see documen or people - no boh C-) Advanaees: - neracive - poin & move (+) Vendor independen (+) Daa Back channel o Available. No available 48
Figure 7 (p.37) shows he view from ResCorp of he CL-cL capabiliy of sending simulaneously high qualiy images of people and documens. n he sandards mode, by comparison, i is possible o send only one live signal, and so a choice mus be made beween he person and he documen, and he image will be of poorer qualiy han boh images using he same brand of equipmen. n he sandards mode, wih only people involved, we have he same view shown in Figure 5 (p. 35), bu wih reduced video qualiy. when ResCorp ships a documen in his mode, hey can sill see he person a he far end and Rescorp also sees heir documen - bu once again he qualiy of boh images is dramaicalry reduced (Figure g). The person on he receiving end, however only sees he documen and loses he person (Figure 9). Figure 8: ResCorp Sending Documen Sandards Mode: ResGorp Sending Doc? 49
T Figure 9: ResCorp Receiving Documen Sandards Mode: ResCorp Receiving Doc The members of he Working Group had become used o a cerain sandard of videoconferencing and had 'discovered' a number of ways in which he service had exceeded heir expecaions - e.8., heir abiliy o assess and disinguish colour. The reducion in qualiy was annoying in iself, bu i was he lack of informaion on 'why' hese changes had occurred and hen he failure o explain he deails o he paricipans which hreaened he survival of he group. 50
Some Wavs Ahead Videoconferencing Sy sems and F aciliies: Videoconferencing Sysem: ResCorp had made considerable invesmen in a high-end CL videoconferencing sysem, bu as discussed earlier he indusry is sill immaure and cross-brand videoconferencing, whiie possible, can be exremely frusraing for users - in paricular users who are accusomed o he higher qualiy video and he addiional feaures available when same brand equipmen is used. However, since i is no possible for an organisaion o conrol he purchasing decisions of he oher organisaions wih whom hey may wish o communicae hey may, regardless of planning, find hemseives needing o communicae across brands. The CL equipmen available a ResCorp is a high-end sysem ha delivers excellen picure qualiy wih he abiliy o ransmi'dead' docs - a feaure highly valued by he working group for sharing graphical and exual informaion. However, his level of qualiy can be achieved only when communicaing wih oher CL equipmen. The CL sysem can be modified o receive signals from non-cl equipmen, bu a presen his is complex and no available o users a he push of a buon - e.g., Buon # 1: CL o CL; Buon #2: CL o non-cl or he sandards opion. This swiching is possible, bu requires addiional programming by ResCorp o provide he user wih his capabiliy from he keypad. However, wih his modificaion, users can dynamically rese he sysem o make maximum use of all he CL feaures when hey are communicaing wih anoher CL sie. f he remoe sie is a 51
PicureTel sie or a Briish Telecom sie for example hen he user sirnply selecs he sandards mode. Wheher furher invesmen in modifying he exising equipmen is jusified is a managemen decision. However, a review of he exising, and possible fuure uses of videoconferencing by members of he organisaion coupled wih informaion on he brands of equipmen in use in he remoe sies would help clarify his issue. Several opions are hen available: Opion L:. modifl he CL sysem so ha i can readily be swiched beween CL o CL and CL o non-cl confisuraions Opion 2:. sell he CL sysem and purchase he brand used by he majoriy of oher organisaions wih whom ResCorp is communicaing. For example, here are a large number of PicureTel codecs in MuliCorp, and PicureTel codecs have he abiliy o auomaically 'recognize' he incoming signal and swich beween PicTel o PicTe and PicTel o non-pictel equipmen. Opion 3:. modifl he CL sysem and purchase a second sysem. This opion allows he organisaion o capialise on is original invesmen. f use of videoconferencing grows here will be increasing compeiion for access o codec resources and he boardroom. The second sysem could be in a locaion appropriaely equipped for small group meeings where he room seup can be easily modified - e.g., ables are secional in design. 52
a The Boardroom: There are a number of modificaions o he way in which he equipmen is currenly deployed in he boardroom - mos minor - ha would improve he qualiy of videoconferences, and provide some flexibiliy in re-arranging he room o accornmodae differen ypes of meeings. n sandard face o face meeings i is no uncommon for users o modify a room o accommodae he paricular ask being carried ou. For example, moving chairs from a cenral able o si in a senicircle around a whieboard, or pushing ables ogeher o accommodae a larger group. Perhaps because his is such common social pracice i is also a relaively 'unconscious' pracice. However, i may be a source of discomfor in a videoconference - a discomfor ha is more likely o be ariculaed as a complain abou video or audio qualiy raher a recogniion ha he issue may in fac be ha social norms have been violaed. Modificaion 1: o The documen camera should be moved from he op of he able o a place beside he presener's sea, and a a heigh somewha lower han he ableop. This would be more comforable for he user, and her view of he remoe paricipans would no be obsruced. n addiion, he remoe paricipans would have a clear view of he presener. 53
Modificaion 2: o Some modificaions o he lighing in he room are required. ndividual paricipans are generally poorly li bu he exen of he problem varies wih he specific locaion in he room. Modificaion 3:. There needs o be more flexible camera conrol. n he presen se-up he view is limied and adjusmens o he view are ied o he keypad which is relaively fixed. Cordless remoe conrol devices are available. This would increase he opporuniy for paricipaion in he meeing and reduce he overhead on he person conrolling he keypad. Modificaion 4: l. The keypad should be more clearly labeled in order o reduce user overhead. A presen, he person operaing he keypad mus give i considerable aenion and canno paricipae fully in he meeing. The oher opion is o make no adiusmens during he meeing, bu his reduces he effeciveness of he meeing for hose a he remoe end. Elecronic Whieboard: Boh ResCorp and DevCorp have an elecronic whieboard and during he course of he sudy he whieboard was moved ino he boardroom a ResColp. However, he elecronic whieboard has no been inegraed ino he videoconferencing services. A number of advanages are o be gained when using his equipmen, especially in cross-brand videoconferences where ransmission of ex and graphics 54
is problemaic. Table 2 below illusraes some of he advanages offered by elecronic whieboard echnology. A comparison wih Table 1 (p. 48) shows how he elecronic whieboard compensaes for some of he feaures los in cross-brand videoconferencing in addiion o adding new capabiliies. lly'hile here is no video available wih his version of he elecronic whieboard i can be easily inegraed wih he videoconferencing sysem - assuming ha he elecronic whieboard is posiioned correcly vis-a-vis he camera. n addiion, for meeings where here is lile need for video, a high qualiy speaker phone and he elecronic whieboard are a useful and cheaper alernaive. Table 2: Using he Elecronic Whieboard for Documens Daa Channel. Highly ineracive - can poin & move on boh sides (+++). Can annoae and save documens (+++) o Can ransfer documens from and o personal compuers - by nework or disks (+++). Acceps scanned in documens (+ +) e Good resoluion (++). fully neworked - can use LAN, WAN andlor he nerne. no addiional cos 55
Proaiding office access o aideocon'erencing: The secion in he Appendix on Media Space (p. 66-71) describes TMS; Telepresence Media Space and a number of innovaive ways in which video can be used in he organisaion. is possible ha he exising infrasrucure a ResCorp could immediaely suppor a number of media space services.2 The addiion of some audio-video swiching equipmen, a dedicaed SUN compuer (he server) and sofware would provide videoconferencing access from he deskop - boh wihin ResCorp and wih ouside organisaions. The sysem is highly flexible and adapable, wih an archiecural srucure ha is essenially an audio/video PBX: Privae Branch Exchange. This sysem is currenly deployed and in use in a leas six sies. 27 The curren requiremen is 4 unshielded wised pairs of wires o each media space locaion 56
Organisaional ssues - Suppor and Senices: There is a danger of over-formalising he suppor and services for videoconferencing, bu here is a minimal level below which uncerainy abou he reliabiliy of he service and overhead on he user discourages use. The following areas deserve aenion: T raining. Some formal raining o exisiing users of videoconferencing services should be provided and a mechanism developed wherebv he experiences of he early adopers can be capured and inegraed in fuure raining. Videoconferencing is sill in is infancy and he early users are pioneers whose experiences _ boh posiive and negaive - are a valuable resource. Technical suppor r A level of echnical suppor is required and responsibiliy for he mainenance and repair of he equipmen needs o be formally assigned and suppored. A ho line number would also provide a useful service o he users in he even of equipmen failure during a meeing. Resources need o be dedicaed o his aciviy. o Several documens are needed in he videoconferencing room. For example:. a roubleshooing guide. a lis of common problems and he soluions. a guide o frequenly called remoe sies which could include informaion such as: : number of rooms available for videoconferencing a he sie 3/
l : ypes of videoconferencing sysems in he remoe sie : oher equipmen available, e.9., elecronic whieboards : procedures and proocols of he remoe sie ha affec ResCorp, e.9., he lead ime required for seing up meeings wih DevCorp Adminisraioe Suppor: o There are currenly procedures in place for booking he videoconferencing room a ResCorp and conflics over booking appear o be minimal. This area may need furher aenion if use of he videoconferencing grows, and new forms of suppor may be required in he fuure. 58
l Conclusion The meeings of he ResCorp/DevCorp Working Group were observed over a period of approximaely 4 monhs. The meeings which had been underway for several monhs prior o he field sudy involved paricipans from ResCorp and DevCorp and used videoconferencing echnology for all heir meeings. The use of videoconferencing was appreciaed by all he paricipans in erms of he ime saved and he ravel deferred, bu as his sudy discovered here are a number of issues - social, echnical and organisaional - ha have a major impac on he successful use of videoconferencing. The echnical problems were relaively easy o see and o diagnose. The soluions o hese problems have a cos, bu he soluions hemselves are relaiveiy sraigh forward. The social and organisaional issues and problems, on he oher hand - issues o which less aenion is paid - are less visible. However, i is solving he social and organisaional problems ha will, in he long run, deermine wheher he organisaion no only recovers he cos of is invesmen, bu maximises he long erm benefis o boh he organisaion and he employees. 59
T l T Bib Brown, lohn Seely. nformar Magazine 2:7994,77. [nerview] Fish, Rober S. e al. 1993. 'Video as a echnology for informal communicaion.' Communicaions of he ACM 36 (1\: 48-61. Moore, Gale. 1994. 'Field Sudies - Social Sciences': Presenaion o he Bell-Onario Telepresence Projec Meein g, lan. 19, 1994. Torono: OTP. Moore, Gale. 1993. 'Mehodology for he nroducion of New Technoloev in he Workplace.'n Technoloev / Mehodoloev nvenorlz. Torono: OTP. (Technical Repor OTP-93-06) 60
T T A cknowledgeme n s wish o hank he members of he Core Grouo a ResCorp who have faciliaed my work in he organisaion and assured ha he sudy could proceed in a imely way. also hank my colleagues a OTP, especially Garry Beirne and Bill Buxon. for heir suppor and advice. A special hank you o he members of he Working Group a ResCorp and DevCorp for heir willingness o le me observe heir work and for he ime hey have spen paricipaing in he sudy - hey are he real Dioneers. ol
A ndix - Videoconferen Toda General Videoconferencing We classify commercially available videoconferencing sysems ino hree disinc ypes:. conference rooms, boh commercial and corporae. roll-around unis. deskop unis. n general, corporae conference room sysems use high-end codec equipmen2s provide boh high qualiy video and audio. However, an inheren disadvanage o hese sysems lies in he fac ha he equipmen is large and difficul or impossible o move once insalled. These conference rooms overcome some of he problems of ravel and scheduiing encounered in he commercial sies2e, bu hey also end o score low on flexibiliy, and make many of he same assumpions abou use. For example, he rooms have generally no been designed so ha hey can be readily modified o accommodae a variey of meeing ypes or presenaion syles. Formally planned meeings of a paricular ype may be wellsuppored, bu informal meeings or meeings of shor duraion are ofen no easily accommodaed. n addiion, ravel, while more limied, is ofen sill involved, and he issues of echnical suppor and raining can be problemaic. 28Manu.facurers of high-end conlerence room codecs include CL, Briish Telecom, and PicureTel. 29Ccmmercial sies refer o he eleconferencing faciliies available for lease frorn a hrid pary, ypically a elephone compurny. They provide he user wih a meeing room equipped wih high end videoconferencing sysems and he echnical suppor and saff required o operae i. Bell Onario's insallahon a Bell Triniy Square is an example of his ype of faciliy. 62
T T l l Figure 10 Conference Room Videoconferencing 63
T T T Roll-around unis (see Figure 11) provide high qualiy audio and video, and are designed o be moveable. This offers a degree of flexibiliy in erms of where hey can be used wihin a buiiding. However, while moveable, he unis are large and wha is possible may no be pracical. n some cases roll-around unis have been buil ino corporae conference rooms - a design which resrics usage o a single locaion! Figure 11 Roll-Around Uni 64
+ + + il A more recen developmen has been deskop videoconferencing. This ype of sysem provides he advanage of desk or office access, bu a he presen ime he qualiy of he video30 is generally poor, and communicaion is only possible beween deskop unis, and no for example beween he office or desk and a conference or meeing room. Addiionally, he locaions in which hese unis can acually be deployed oday are limied by elephone nework capabiliies3i, and i is no possible o use his echnology in all organisaions or in he home offices of many eleworkers. Figure 12: Deskop Videoconferencing * 30 Each deskop sysem is a sand.alone uni which requires is own codec o compress he video signal for ransmission over elephone lines and o decompress incoming signals. The qualiy of he video signal ransmied by hese 'appliance-based' codecs is dramaically lower han he qualiy of he video signal ransmied by he codecs used in he high-end conference rooms or roll-around unis. Jr requires Swich56 or SDN daa communicaions service. +l 65
Media Space The concep of media space provides a new way of hinking and moving abou in ime and space. A media space is essenially an environmen in which audio, video and compuer echnologies are inegraed in novel ways o provide new ways of ineracing and working ogeher. Paricipans are able o acively share heir physical presence and a common work space, as well as have background awareness of oher members of heir group - somehing ha parallels our awareness of colleagues in he radiional office. * one example of his ype of sysem is TMS; Telepresence Media space. TMS is a compuer mediaed videoconferencing echnology developed a he onario Telepresence Projec ha has a variey of feaures:. deskop communicaion feauring high qualiy audio & video he abiliy o link he deskop o cenral faciliies such as conference rooms, ec. which makes i possible o aend meeings remoely he abiliy o share expensive high-qualiy equipmen such as videoconferencing codecs among a number of users, hereby disribuing he cos and maximising he use of expensive resources provides boh foreground communicaion and background awareness (e.9., Porholes, Figure 16).. a virual window which is live video view aken ouside a window and sen o all members of he group. video mail and video minues o virual office capabiliy. seamless inegraion of all he componens in he media space ino a general media ecology 66
TMS is an environmen raher han a produc or appliance. The goal is o provide users wih a space ha provides a variey of echnical capabiliies ha suppor and enhance exising physical, cogniive and social skills wihou disoring well undersood social proocols or demanding radical changes in behaviour. We are dealing wih a communicaion ecology ha involves undersanding he relaionship beween organisaions, work pracices and echnologies. To concepualise he environmen in his way brings new insighs o all aspecs of innovaion from design, and developmen o deploymen and use. This approach o design differs dramaically from radiional models of developmen and deploymen or wha have been called he Field of Dreams Model of Deploymen - 'if you build i hey will come'- and he Velcro Model of Deploymen - 'oss in he echnology and see where i sicks' (Moore, 1994). + There is need for an ecological approach o design. n an inelligen communicaion environmen people should be able o 'move' abou comforably. We need o focus on wha people do and how hey do i raher han giving hem more appliances ha will do some of wha hey do in ye anoher way. f work pracices are suppored, use will grow. Key issues:. bringing he user and he organisaion ino he design process nnovaion needs o be planned and managed o maximise effeciveness and efficiency. Technology fails as ofen for social as for echnical reasons. 67
?. services and echnologies mus be inegraed The curren communicaion environmen placesconsiderable overhead on he user. Raher han rying o say under he hreshold of olerance we need o undersand he ways in which overhead is experienced by a variey of users and work a designing his ou of he environmen. Figure L3: TMS: Telepresence Media Space 58