Artifact Buddy: The Video

Greenberg, S., Voida, S., and Stehr, N. (2010)
Artifact Buddy: The Video. Research report 2010-983-32, Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November. Duration 6:16. See also companion paper at IEEE HICSS.

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Abstract

In this video, we present a system called Artifact Buddy, which is grounded on the premise that an unaltered Instant Messenger system can simultaneously provide both artifact awareness and interpersonal awareness. In Artifact Buddy, artifacts and people are treated the same way. An artifact - in this case a Microsoft Word document - becomes a first-class IM buddy and behaves like other buddies within a defined group. The artifact-as-buddy knows which people are interested in it and notifies these individuals about its state. Group members can interact with the artifact (and the rest of the group) through the IM system's standard chat features. Critically, this is all done with a client-side helper application that exploits an existing and unaltered IM system. The IM system does all the heavy lifting: it does the underlying distributed systems work, communication, account control, and so on. For a group that already uses this common IM program, all that is required is that one group member install a helper application to run in the background. Additionally, because our approach takes advantage of the interaction mechanisms already well established by IM, group members can readily join and participate in collaborations without requiring that they learn how to use a completely new application.

Bibtex entry

@TECHREPORT { 2010-ArtifactBuddyVideo.Report2010-983-32,
CLASS = { REPORT },
AUTHOR = { Greenberg, S., Voida, S., and Stehr, N. },
TITLE = { Artifact Buddy: The Video },
YEAR = { 2010 },
MONTH = { November },
INSTITUTION = { Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary },
ADDRESS = { Calgary, Alberta, Canada },
NUMBER = { 2010-983-32 },
NOTE = { Duration 6:16. See also companion paper at IEEE HICSS },
}