An evaluation of workspace awareness in collaborative, gesture-based diagramming tools

Designing usable real-time, distributed collaboration tools is a complex but important task. Workspace awareness can potentially help in making real-time, distributed collaboration tools more usable through a communication of who is in the shared workspace and what they are doing. We present qualitative evaluations of the workspace awareness features of a gesture-based diagramming tool, Distributed Knight, that supports real-time, distributed collaboration. These studies suggest that using simple, non-intrusive awareness means results in fewer breakdowns, more symmetric collaboration patterns, better coordination, and higher perceived usability.