We explored the use of awareness information to facilitate communication by developing a series of prototypes. The ConNexus prototype integrates awareness information, instant messaging, and other communication channels in an interface that runs on a desktop computer. The Awarenex prototype extends that functionality to wireless handheld devices, such as a Palm. A speech interface also enables callers to make use of the awareness information over the telephone. While the prototypes offer similar functionality, the interfaces reflect the different design affordances and use contexts of each platform. We discuss the design implications of providing awareness information on devices with varying interface and network characteristics. Keywords awareness, mobile devices, wireless handhelds, instant messaging, computer-mediated communication, CSCW. AWARENESS ON THE MOVE For over a decade, the research community has been exploring how to provide awareness information to help distributed colla...
John C. Tang, Nicole Yankelovich, James Begole, Ma