Supporting collaboration through teleproximity

Giving distributed collaborators a sense of working near each other involves making it easy to: initiate contact, come in contact at shared events, and set up contact through shared awareness. Three prototypes are discussed that illustrate each of these attributes. Montage provides an interface for desktop video conferencing. Forum allows people to participate in video-based presentations from their computer desktop. Piazza provides shared awareness among distributed group members to help set up good opportunities for making contact. Reflecting on how these prototypes were used raises opportunities for future development.