1. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The Connection Project: Supporting Collaboration at The University of Michigan with High Quality Video Links Erik C. Hofer School of Information University of Michigan

2. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN http://www.nees.org/research/facilities/index.php

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4. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN http://fusiongrid.org http://www.psfc.mit.edu/research/alcator/intro/i nfo.html http://nbirn.net

5. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Problem: My work looks nothing like this.

6. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN http://doc.cern.ch//archive/electronic/cern/others/PHO/photo-ge/0102032.jpeg

7. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Common collaborations Work very closely with a small number of people While the composition may change over time, the location of collaborations stays pretty constant –Between two departments –Between two research groups at different universities

8. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The Connection Project A project to leverage cyberinfrastructure in supporting the real-time collaboration needs of groups Emphasis on high-quality, high- bandwidth technologies Emphasis on connecting established sites together

9. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Today’s talk Who needs this kind of stuff? Why a new solution? What we’ve done How did it work? Where are we going next

10. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The School of Information is a natural laboratory for collaborative technology experimentation.

11. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SI North I, II West Hall

12. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Source:Festinger, L, Schachter, S. and Back, K.W.. (1950). Social pressures in informal groups: a study of human factors in housing. Stanford University Press. Source: Allen, T.J. (1977). Managing the flow of technology in organizations. MIT Press. Source: Galegher,Kraut, & Egido (1990). Intellectual teamwork: Social and technological foundations of cooperative work, p. 160. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

13. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Personnel distribution Central CampusNorth Campus Faculty2014 Staff2720

14. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Solutions Transportation –University, public and personal Collocation of groups Hotel space Commodity video conferencing facilities

15. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Room use Meeting rooms used primarily for formal meetings More used by faculty than by staff –Staff opted to travel When not connected to remote sites, rooms frequently used for long work sessions

16. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Do we need new solution? Is video quality sufficient to support large groups of people? Are the ergonomics correct in existing setups? Are training materials sufficient to encourage use?

17. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Do we need new solution? Is video quality sufficient to support large groups of people? Are the ergonomics correct in existing setups? Are training materials sufficient to encourage use? (Answers: Yes, No, No, No)

18. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Video quality - is 384k enough? Clips from Video Quality Experts Group, www.vqeg.org

19. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Video quality - is 384k enough? Clips from Video Quality Experts Group, www.vqeg.org

20. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN West HallSI North Ergonomics

21. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN User support As in many facilities, users were left with a set of instructions on the table to operate the system The instructions were good, but generally weren’t read Administrative assistants became the first line of support because they were closest

22. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN We wanted to do better.

23. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Design Goals Improve video and audio quality –Leverage investments in campus infrastructure Support high interactivity between sites –Natural interaction –High degree of gaze awareness Improve usability of the rooms Also wanted to understand the impact of the system upgrades

24. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Facility Upgrade Dual 50” NEC Plasma Displays Polycom VSX 7000 DVTS (beta trials) NCast Telepresenter G2 Table replacement

25. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN West HallSI North

26. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Documentation and training Documentation process centered around user testing –Many iterations with technical and non-technical users Produced full-color print documentation Produced a training video Conducted training sessions with key faculty and staff members

27. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Some findings Users report that the improved audio and video quality makes the rooms a viable alternative to travel between sites. Users report that DVTS feels more “live” and the additional quality makes the experience more compelling

28. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Some findings Despite a nearly equal split of personnel between sites, meetings typically don’t include an equal number of people at each site –Design implications for future facilities

29. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Some challenges ahead Organizational challenges still play a major role –Scheduling / character of use –Access issues While bandwidth is over-provisioned now, it’s unclear how much we can scale up use of DVTS in the future as other high bandwidth technologies come online

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31. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Work in progress Production integration of DVTS HD Experimentation Integration with network monitoring technologies to support quality prediction and a dynamic capability set Social network analysis of organizational impact Controlled studies of video quality

32. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Acknowledgements Project Director: Tom Finholt Graduate Students: Emilee Rader, Rasika Ramesh UROP Students: Turquoise Archie, Pritpaul Mahal, Jason Lin This project is funded by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost

33. SCHOOL OF INFORMATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN More info at: www.connectionproject.org