Promoting Feature Awareness by Leveraging Collaborators’ Usage Habits in Collaborative Editors

Emmanouil Giannisakis, Jessalyn Alvina, Andrea Bunt, Parmit Chilana, Joanna McGrenere

Keywords: Collaboration, Design Research Methods, Qualitative Methods

Abstract:

Users often rely on their collaborators to find relevant application features by observing them “over the shoulder” (OTS), usually in a synchronous co-located setting. However, as remote work settings have become more common, users can no longer rely on such in-person interaction with collaborators. Therefore, we investigate designs that help the user become aware of relevant features based on collaborators’ feature usage habits. We created five design concepts as video prototypes which varied in five design dimensions: number
of active collaborators, number of shared documents, specificity of comparison, user involvement, and goal of the feature awareness. Interviews (N=18) probing the design concepts indicate that collaborator-based feature awareness would be valuable for discovering novel features and producing a consistent style across the shared document, but some users may feel micromanaged or self-conscious. We conclude by reflecting on and expanding our design space and discussing future design directions supporting remote OTS learning.