A performing medium for working group graphics

ABSTRACT

Writing and drawing together on a common display often assist a working group in a task. For example,face-to-face groups have long enjoyed the richness of graphic communication found on blackboards. The spontaneous image manipulations which take place over time on a blackboard can be viewed as a text-graphic performance. A human performer generates and manipulates text and graphics for the purpose of assisting the working group in their task.The phenomenon of performed text-graphics presents opportunities for research in the area of computer-supported cooperative work. 1] Spontaneous generation demands a performing medium where the focus is on live manipulation of text and graphics. Design of a computer-based medium with enough agility and generality to support blackboard-like activity is a challenge for interface design. 2] Agility and generality must not be achieved at the expense of specializability. After a group has initially sketched an idea in text and graphics, then that same medium should also support refining the sketch according to formal schema. 3] The performing medium can also be used as a recording medium for studying image manipulation as part of the working group process.This paper presents a stepwise approach to the design of a performing medium for working group graphics. First, examples of non-computer text-graphics for groups are examined to get a preliminary idea of the underlying phenomenon: the performing of text-graphic manipulation to assist working groups. Next key features of that kind of text-graphic manipulation are isolated. Then, third, the architecture and behavior of a graphics editor providing those features is described.

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