'Today' Messages: Lightweight Support for Small Group Awareness via Email

‘Today’ messages are short status emails sent daily by members of a project team. We present the results of a field study of the use of ‘today’ messages by six small work groups over six weeks. The evaluation focuses on the benefits and costs of daily email messages, their effect on group work practice, and a careful investigation using Value Sensitive Design of the effect on human values such as privacy, accountability, and trust. We found that using ‘today’ messages resulted in a range of group benefits at low cost, particularly in enhancing group awareness. Contrary to our initial expectations, group members did not have significant privacy or accountability concerns with ‘today’ messages. We conclude with a discussion of the technical implications of our study for systems and practices that support group awareness, communication, and coordination.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: A. J. Bernheim Brush, Alan Borning
• Keywords: Biometrics, Daily Email Messages, Group Awareness, Group Work Practice, HICSS 2005, System Sciences