Piazza: A Desktop Environment Supporting Impromptu and Planned Interactions

Much of the support for communication across distributed communities has focused on meetings and intentional contact. However, most interactions within co-located groups occur when people happen to run into each other. Such unintended interactions should also be supported among distributed communities. We conducted a study of the communication patterns of a large, distributed organization and found that people tend to disseminate information using formal techniques, even though people usually receive information informally. We then designed a system called Piazza that is intended to support the range of communication styles evident in large communities, paying particular attention to addressing the problems revealed in our study. Piazza allows people to be aware of others who are doing similar tasks when they are using their computers, thereby enabling unintended interactions. It also supports intentional contacts and planned meetings. We discuss issues for analysis in an upcoming use...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1996
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Ellen Isaacs, John C. Tang, Trevor Morris
• Keywords: CSCW 1996, Distributed Communities, Intentional Contacts, Social Sciences, Unintended Interactions