A Framework for Inter-referential Awareness in Collaborative Environments

For collaborative environments to be successful, a fundamental requirement is that they provide support for inter-referential awareness - or the ability for one participant to refer to a set of objects, and for that reference to be understood by others. Participants in co-located collaboration benefit from the availability of non-verbal communication, including gestures, eye gaze and body movements. However, when geographically separated, they can experience difficulty in communicating - as computer-mediated cues are often compromised. Given the heterogeneity of media and myriad of interaction techniques that exist in groupware, supporting inter-referential awareness can be difficult. We present a unified and systematic way of encapsulating the numerous factors related to this form of awareness through the creation of process-driven ontology. Our framework provides a formal method for describing inter-referential awareness, and serves as approach that interface designers can use to better comprehend the relevant factors involved. This research stems from our previous investigations in inter-referential awareness in collaborative augmented reality environments.