2005 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 27-36
As network technology advances, groupware is gaining attention as a system for supporting collaborative work among special groups. Therefore, the present study was designed to identify the awareness factors derived from visual information in the Web groupware and to verify their effectiveness. First, we used a site for Web collaboration developed as Web groupware by NTT Higashi Nippon to create flow charts that could identify the current problem points. Then we obtained information on card-sorting procedures by site users, which was used to understand how the users structure the site. Based on the problem points identified in these flow charts and the results of site structuralization by card-sorting, we have created a new site design which supports location awareness derived from three-dimensional site design and the restructuring of links, as well as contents that incorporate users' structural concepts. This site design is confirmed to be qualitatively and quantitatively effective for awareness.
