Using tags to assist near-synchronous communication

  • Authors:
  • Gary Hsieh;Jennifer Lai;Scott E. Hudson;Robert Kraut

  • Affiliations:
  • Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;IBM, Hawthorne, NY, USA;Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

In this work, we introduce the use of tags to support the near synchronous use of instant messaging. As a proof-of-concept, we developed a plug-in in Lotus Sametime, an enterprise IM client. Our plug-in supports tasks that do not need immediate attention and tasks that have deadlines. A trial deployment and survey shows that users can see the potential usefulness of such a tagging system in their IM communication. Furthermore, users rated our design intuitive and easy to use. Longer study is needed to explore communication norms that results from its use.