9th European Conference on
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

Workshop 2. Monday 19 September
Computer Games and CSCW

Elaine M. Raybourn, Sandia National Laboratories*
Léonie Schäfer, European Commission – DG INFSO
Uta Pankoke-Babatz, Fraunhofer FIT
Amanda Oldroyd, BT - Broadband Applications Research Centre

Introduction

Computer Games and Collaborative Working Environments – at first glance this appears to be a surprising combination. However, there are several overlaps between these two research areas. The aim of the workshop is to study commonalities and particularities in the design of Computer Games and CSCW systems in their structure and as a learning environment.

Nowadays Computer Games are not only used for entertainment purposes but become a serious issue in research and business. Games have long provided a structured environment for quickly learning complex collaborative or cooperative behaviours through play. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs) are being identified by the research community as informing us on computer-supported cooperative learning, play, and community-building. The study of 'Serious Games', i.e. games for education, healthcare, and training, is of growing interest in many sectors. Games and simulations are often used for training and teaching in management science, economics, psychology, sociology, intercultural communication, political science, military strategy, interpersonal skill development, and education.

Playing games and working in teams usually includes performing collaborative tasks. People cooperate, organize themselves in groups and use shared spaces for interaction. In consequence, Computer Games and Collaborative Working Environments show similar structures in the software they employ. CSCW Systems enable their users to collaborate with each other independently from spatial and temporal distances. Several CSCW systems employ multimodal environments to allow interaction between their users and their shared workspaces. Awareness support facilitates coordination of work. Many technical solutions exist already; however collaboration across distance is rather limited. In particular, team forming and collaboration across spatial distances are still quite difficult. Computer Games have become a quickly evolving research area which combines influences from a wide range of research areas like ubiquitous and mobile computing, mixed reality and advanced human-computer interfaces. Collaborative structures exist in most games, but are not necessarily obvious at the first glance. Examples for technically advanced collaborative applications are pervasive games which combine successfully traditional aspects of gaming with the anytime, anywhere approach of modern information technology.

The workshop aims to explore shared structures in the design and development of Computer Games and Collaborative Working Environments. Today, collaboration from “anywhere at anytime” is facilitated in working environments and is an upcoming matter for games. In both realms, designers aim at designing environments that ease people’s activities and facilitate collaborative activities that may span across real and virtual spaces. We will not only look at technical issues but also examine more closely the design and evaluation of Computer Games in a learning context. For example:

• What exactly are players and designers learning about collaboration through game play, or through the design of compelling experiential activities?
• How are MMORPGs, serious games, and pervasive games designed for multi-player collaboration and for community building?
• How can social interaction be included in evaluation measures?
• How can the design of cooperative games inform the design of CSCW systems and motivational environments for work settings and vice versa?

Workshop Preparation

We aim for a single-day workshop, and we will design sessions around themes that emerge from the accepted position papers. The workshop will be highly interactive, as we intend to allow time for questions and discussion. The organizers will moderate each session, and keep a log of questions and issues that emerge in each session. These questions will be revisited during the wrap-up session in the afternoon.

We invite participants from several disciplines, including computer science, game design and development, communication, psychology, graphics, and visual arts. The workshop should number 12-15 people. Participants will be selected based on position papers. We ask potential participants to prepare position papers and a one-page image/summary suitable for a workshop poster. Accepted participants will be expected to read all position papers ahead of time. The organizers will provide an electronic discussion forum as well as a shared repository in which to retrieve workshop materials before the conference. During the workshop, materials will be put together for a workshop poster if so desired by the Workshop Chair.

Our workshop results will be disseminated in the SIGCHI bulletin. We will invite all workshop participants to submit extended versions of their position papers to the journal Interactive Technology and Smart Education. Additionally, we will provide a website documenting the workshop’s interactions, findings, etc.

More information

Please have a look at our webpage at http://fit-bscw.fit.fraunhofer.de/pub/bscw.cgi/d36422094-1/*/CfP.htm for the CfP and latest news on the workshop.

Organizers’ Background

Elaine M. Raybourn has a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication with an emphasis in Human-Computer Interaction. Her research concerns intelligent community systems, social simulations, games, intercultural learning, and collaborative virtual environments. Current efforts include designing storytelling/training applications and simulations/games that stimulate intercultural awareness and strategic thinking. Elaine is a principal member of Sandia National Laboratories*.

Léonie Schäfer is a Scientific Officer at the EU Commission, DG Information Society in the New Working Environments Unit. She coordinates EU projects with focus on Serious Games, Collaborative Working Environments and Multimodal Interfaces. Before joining the Commission she was a researcher at Fraunhofer FIT in St. Augustin, Germany. She received her diploma in Computer Science from the Berlin University of Technology.

Uta Pankoke-Babatz holds a master and a PhD in informatics. As senior researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute FIT she is engaged in national and European research projects for CSCW since many years. Currently she is working in a research project on Crossmedia Games.

Amanda Oldroyd is a principal researcher in the Broadband Applications Research Centre, BT. She received a BA (Hons) degree in Design and an MA in Computer Graphics. Amanda has worked on several large scale public trials, the most recent being the BAFTA nominated game ‘Uncle Roy All Around You’.

* Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.