Spatial context in collaborative information seeking

Space and time are considered the most important dimensions for studying systems and methods that support collaboration in information seeking. Several investigations have provided us with insights into people’s preferences and experiences relating to these two dimensions, but there is a lack of empirical evidence. A user study is presented, involving 60 subjects in 30 pairs, in which the experience and performance of users are compared while performing an information-seeking task in three different spatially defined collaboration settings: (1) working at the same workstation, (2) working in the same room at different workstations, and (3) working in different rooms. The results show significant differences among the experimental conditions, indicating the impact of space on collaboration. The pros and cons of different spatial set-ups are derived from an extensive analysis that uses several traditional information retrieval measures such as precision and recall, as well as unconventional assessments involving coverage and diversity.