Mechanics of Camera Work in Mobile Video Collaboration

Jones, B., Witcraft, A., Tang, A., Bateman, S., and Neustaedter, C. (2015). Mechanics of Camera Work in Mobile Video Collaboration. In CHI 2015: Proceedings of the 2015 SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 957-966.

Abstract

Mobile video conferencing, where one or more participants are out from behind a desk and moving about in the real world, enables entirely new interaction scenarios (for example, asking a remote party for help to construct or repair an object, or showing a physical location to someone). While we have a good understanding of the challenges of video conferencing in office or home environments, we do not fully understand the mechanics of camera work—how people use mobile devices to communicate with one another—during mobile video calls. To understand these mechanics, we conducted an observational study where pairs of participants completed tasks using a mobile video conferencing system. Our analysis suggests that people use the camera view deliberately to support their interactions—for example, to convey a message or to ask questions—but the limited field of view, and the lack of camera control can make it a frustrating experience for remote parties.

Materials

PDF File (http://hcitang.org/papers/2015-chi2015-mobile-video-collaboration.pdf)
Video (http://hcitang.org/papers/2015-chi2015-mobile-video-collaboration.mp4)
DOI (http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702345)

BibTeX

@inproceedings{jones2015mobilecamerawork,
  publisher = {ACM},
  pages = {957-966},
  videourl = {http://hcitang.org/papers/2015-chi2015-mobile-video-collaboration.mp4},
  pdfurl = {http://hcitang.org/papers/2015-chi2015-mobile-video-collaboration.pdf},
  year = {2015},
  type = {conference},
  title = {Mechanics of Camera Work in Mobile Video Collaboration},
  doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702345},
  booktitle = {CHI 2015: Proceedings of the 2015 SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  author = {Jones, Brennan and Witcraft, Anna and Tang, Anthony and Bateman, Scott and Neustaedter, Carman},
  abstract = {Mobile video conferencing, where one or more participants are out from behind a desk and moving about in the real world, enables entirely new interaction scenarios (for example, asking a remote party for help to construct or repair an object, or showing a physical location to someone). While we have a good understanding of the challenges of video conferencing in office or home environments, we do not fully understand the mechanics of camera work—how people use mobile devices to communicate with one another—during mobile video calls. To understand these mechanics, we conducted an observational study where pairs of participants completed tasks using a mobile video conferencing system. Our analysis suggests that people use the camera view deliberately to support their interactions—for example, to convey a message or to ask questions—but the limited field of view, and the lack of camera control can make it a frustrating experience for remote parties.},
}