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Method:

Eight short sessions (approximately 1-1.5 hours in length) of 3 - 4 people working on a "conceptual design task" were videotaped. 6 of the groups used large pads of paper and 2 groups used a whiteboard. These sessions were the first time any of these people worked together in these specific groups on this specific task: design a remote control that encompassed the functionality of all remote controls that go with a typical entertainment system. “Analysis focused on how the collaborators accomplished their work through their activity in the drawing space. A framework was developed to categorize actions that occurred in the drawing space and the functions that those actions accomplished. The videotapes were then analyzed using that framework, logging each instance of drawing space activity.

Function\Action	List	Draw	Gesture
Store Information	conventional view	conventional view	gestural expression
Express Ideas	expressing ideas	expressing ideas	expressing ideas and gestural expression
Mediate interaction	mediating interaction	mediating interaction	mediating interaction and gestural expression

Actions:

1. List: actions producing non-spatially located text (alpha-numeric notes)

2. Draw: actions producing graphic artifacts, including textual captions

3. Gesture: purposeful hand movements which communicate information (e.g. enacting simulations, pointing to objects in the drawing space)

An example of a list action is when a member of one group, "S2" writes "slide or tap" at the top of the group page, in order to quickly reference what the collaboration session was about later on (or to maintain point of focus throughout the collaboration). The spatial location of this phrase is not significant; it does not reference any objects.

Drawing is pretty self-explanatory. One example is "S2" drawing a picture of a news desk.

Hand gestures are more difficult. For this study, incidental "twiddling" and "fidgeting" was not taken into account. Only purposeful gestures of communication were taken into account such as S3 tapping on the drawing of a desk and sliding their hand across the pad of paper to illustrate the "tap and slide" concept of the design.

Functions:

1. Store information: preserving information in some form for later reference, typically after attaining group agreement

2. Express ideas: interactively creating representations of ideas in some tangible form, to enable the group to perceive, react to, and build on them

3. Mediate interaction: facilitating the collaboration of the group (i.e. moderating the turn-taking, directing the group's attention).

Storing includes "chunking" information for later reference. This can be done with labeling, drawing an icon or even hand gestures. To "store" with gestures members of a group often mimic each other’s gestures or create an easily distinguishable gesture to signify some bit of information (i.e. the tap and sliding of S2s finger)

Expressing ideas interactively elicits responses from other members of the group. It is a method of presenting/refining ideas (drawing a sketch), assimilating or refining them further, signifying recognition (presentees mimicking the gestures of the presenter), and then either concurring or presenting contrasting ideas.

The drawing space can be used to mediate interaction by drawing the focus of the group (i.e. someone actively circling a sketch or label on the pad to emphasize what they are saying), or by mediating turn taking. An example of the latter is when S3 moves his hand towards the pad commanding a turn in interaction.

It is recognized that this is not a perfect delineation of all activity but it helps in analyzing. Some actions might include more than one action and/or function, i.e. when "S2" draws an arrow and writes "slide + tap". "This is categorized as a draw action, even though the resulting artifact is largely text." While the framework couldn't capture all the subtleties of collaboration is allowed the researchers to identify trends in interaction.

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