Sharing views and interactions with single-user applications

Although work is frequently collaborative, most computer-based activities revolve around software packages designed to be used by one person at a time. To get around this, people working together often talk and gesture around a computer screen, perhaps taking turns interacting with the running “single-user” application by passing the keyboard around. However, it is technically possible to share these unaltered applications—even though they were originally designed for a single user only—across physically different workstations through special view-sharing software . Each person sees the same image of the running application on their own screen, and has an opportunity to interact with it by taking turns. This paper discusses the various roles and responsibilities of the view-sharing software that must be considered during its design and evaluation: view management, floor control, conference registration by participants, and handling of meta-level communications. A brief survey of existing shared view systems is provided for background.

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