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In BRIDGE enabled handheld devices, it becomes important to discuss the connectivity and work environment of the user. For the most part, the user's current ability to work with BRIDGE can be determined through the combination of two variables - work environment and connectivity. Work environment is in actuality the state of mind of the user. The user can either be aggressively pursuing the completion of a task or project, or he/she can be in a more relaxed state, only requesting minimal and generalized information regarded the project at hand. The user's connectivity is in one of two states at any given time - connected, or disconnected. Although this is not the case in actuality (there may be times where the user is only online some of the time because of spotty wireless access), it serves as an ideal model for the abstraction of tasks. Please refer to the matrix in this directory for more information. WORK ENVIRONMENT, FULL CONNECTIVITY In this case, the user is fully ready to accomplish large amounts of work and is entirely connected to the network. Example Scenario: Joe is at his desk, working on a large paper due to a conference in a week. He has a question regarding the results in one portion, and decides to walk over and ask Linda about them. He grabs his PDA and walks over to Linda's desk. Using his PDA, he is able to pull up the document he was just working on, and show the problem to Linda on its screen. She answers his question and he is able to quickly apply the change on his handheld device. When he returns to his desk, the full, updated paper is there waiting to be completed. Explanation: In this scenario we are able to see the ability of the user to describe an idea with the aid of the handheld as a tool for sharing information. Further, we note the ability of the user to alter a working copy from remote so that changes are instantly reflected on all open documents. WORK ENVIRONMENT, NO CONNECTIVITY The user has the desire to work on a problem, but does not have connectivity to the server. Example Scenario: Joe is attending a department meeting with his colleagues. He is asked to give an overview of the key points in his paper. He uses his handheld to display a list of the headings in the document that have been cached from previous usage. Additionally, he takes notes on his handheld devices during the meeting. Later, when he has access to the server again, the notes are synchronized and uploaded to the server for replication and sharing. Explanation: We see that the handheld provides the ability to cache particular pieces of information about objects that have been recently used. This functionality could include the ability for the handheld to download pieces of important information even if the user is working on a different machine. We also see the ability of the BRIDGE client to work in off-line mode, whereby Joe is able to take notes in the BRIDGE software and then later share them. HOME ENVIRONMENT, FULL CONNECTIVITY This describes a time when a user is at home, and not concerned with making progress on a particular piece of work. The network is, however, accessible. Example Scenario: Joe is at home, watching television. He knows that the rest of the team is working late on finishing some experiments in time for the paper submission. He decides to check on their progress so far by using his handheld. The BRIDGE client allows him to see all of their progress as they enter data into a table. He notices that a particular piece of data seems off-target, and makes a small annotation to notify his colleagues. He turns off the handheld and resumes watching TV. Explanation: Here we see that with the full connectivity, Joe enjoys real-time reviewing of his colleagues progress. At his discretion, he can either choose to see the entire table, or simply view an abstracted version of the proceedings in an outline or version history format. Small annotations can be made, though more substantial alterations could be done just as easily. HOME ENVIRONMENT, NO CONNECTIVITY This constitutes an environment where the user only has minimal interest in pursuing the completion of a task, and does not have the ability to connect to the BRIDGE server. Example Scenario: Joe is about to go out to dinner with a member of the department board of directors. He wants to quickly review the department notes that were posted publicly so he can speak intelligently at dinner. He does not have network access though, but he is able to view the key points that were made in the address from his cached memory. Explanation: Although Joe does not have the intention of completing any piece of work in particular, he would like to review some of what has been posted already. The offline BRIDGE client, although unable to retrieve the document he is seeking in its entirety, can provide him with the key points that were made. DISTRACTION In the case of using a handheld, it is difficult to take into account the amount of distraction that a user may be facing at any given time. If using a handheld while walking down a crowded street, for example, there is a far greated amount of distraction (not bumping into people or things) than there would be sitting at a desk alone. Distraction is natural, and more than likely a user will be interrupted during a session using BRIDGE on a handheld. Taking into account this factor, it is difficult to assume the state of a user. If the handheld powers off after 2 minutes, then is the user simply suspending work for a moment, or finished using BRIDGE for the day? How can we discover the answer to this question? |
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