Beyond "beyond being there": towards multiscale communication systems

ABSTRACT

Forty years after AT&T's Picturephone, video is still mainly considered as a way to enhance audio communication in an attempt to reproduce face-to-face conditions. In a 1992 paper, Hollan and Stornetta argued that we should develop communication tools that go beyond being there. In this paper, we discuss two different interpretations of their analysis. We then propose the concept of multiscale communication as an alternative approach for motivating telecommunication research, an approach that aims at creating systems that support a variable degree of engagement, smooth transitions between degrees and integration with other media. Finally, we present three video systems from which the multiscale communication concept emerged and that partly illustrate it.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.3 Communications Applications
          Subjects: Computer conferencing, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: User-centered design
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Collaborative computing

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
collaboration, communication, computer-mediated communication, coordination, multiscale communication, video-mediated communication