Collaborations in organizations thrive on communication that is informal because informal communication is frequent, interactive, and expressive. Informal communication is crucial for the coordination of work, learning an organization's culture, the perpetuation of the social relations that underlie collaboration, and, in general, any situation that requires communication to resolve ambiguity. Informal communication is traditionally mediated by physical proximity, but physical proximity cannot mediate in geographically distributed organizations. The research described here evaluates the adequacy of a version of a desktop video/audio conferencing system for supporting informal communication in a research and development laboratory. The evaluation took place during a trial in which the system was used by summer employees and their supervisor-mentors.While the system was used frequently, the most common uses and users' assessments suggest that it was used more like a telephone or electronic mail than like physically mediated face-to-face communication. However, some features of its use transcended traditional media and allowed users to gain awareness of their work environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of requirements for successful technology to support informal communication.

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In this paper we present a new approach to the use of computer-mediated communicatiuns technology to support distributed cooperative work. In contrast to most of the exLsting approaches to CSCW. we focus explicitly on tools to enable unplanned, informal social interaction. We describe a 'social interface" which provides direct, lowcost access to other people through the use sf multi-media communtcations channels. The design of the system centers around three basic concepts derived from the research literature and our own observations of the workplace: social browsfng, a virtual workplace, and interaction protocols. We use these design properties proper&s to describe a new systeq concept, and examine the implications for CSCW of having automated social interaction available through the desktop workstation.

This paper reports on a study investigating the strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires as software evaluation tools. Two major influences on the usefulness of questionnaire-based evaluation responses are examined: the administration of the questionnaire, and the background and experience of the respondent. Two questionnaires were administered to a large number of students in an introductory programming class. The questionnaires were also given to a group of more experienced users (including course proctors). Respondents were asked to evaluate the text editor used in the class along a number of dimensions; evaluation responses were solicited using a number of differentThe order of authors is not significant.Several people put in a lot of work on this project, most prominently Amy Geoffroy, Jan Graham, and Claire O'Malley. We are also indebted to Professor Kenneth Bowles who offered us a full and generous cooperation in our attempts to invade his Pascal course with our research. A number of other people also contributed to the design and wording of the questionnaires, including:

CARD (Collaborative Analysis of Requirements and Design) is a participatory technique for analyzing task flows and for redesigning task flows, in software systems. It provides a macroscopic complement to the more microscopic design activities that are supported by the PICTIVE technique. CARD uses the metaphor of a card game as the vehicle for communication and collaboration among users, developers, and designers. We describe the technique, and provide illustrative session protocols and assessment data. The paper closes with a comparison to other relevant participatory practices, and a discussion of CARD's shortcomings.