and Collaboration in Sharlok
HiroakiOgata,Kenji Matsuura,andYoneoYano
Dept. ofInformation ScienceandIntelligentSystems,
FacultyofEngineering,TokushimaUniversity,Japan
E-mail: fogata, matsuura,[email protected]
URL:http://www-a4.is.tokushima-u.ac.jp/
Abstract: Sharlok(SHARing, Linkingand lOoking-upKnowledge) hasknowledge
buildingandcollab orativelearningenvironmentthroughsharingandlo okingupand
linking learners' knowledge. This pap er prop oses a knowledge awareness (KA) for
enhancingcollaborationopp ortunitiesinthissituation. KAplaysarole ofinducing
collab oration bygiving the learnerthe information ab out otherlearners' activities
withinasharedknowledgespace. Forinstance,withmessagesas"someoneislooking
atthe sameknowledgethatyouare lookingat.","someonechangedtheknowledge
whichyouhaveinputted."thelearnerisinducedtocollab oratewithotherswhoare
interestedinthesameknowledge. Thespontaneouscollab orationwhichiscreatedby
KA,facilitatestore neandevolvebothlearners'knowledgeandsharedknowledge.
1. Intro duction
Knowledgeacquisitiontyp eoropenstructuredCAIsystemshaveb eenprop osed. Insuchenvironments,
thelearner can provide his/herownknowledge intothesystem. This environmentimprovesandkeeps
learners' motivation for learning [Yamamotoet al 89a]. Recently, researchers in this area attempt to
providetechnologicalsupportforcoop erativeandcollaborativelearningadvocatedbyeducationaltheories
like, forexample, knowledgebuilding tools and collab orativeinterface tools. However,few researchers
attemptto integrateknowledgebuildingtoolwithcollab orativeinterface.
Wepropose a knowledge building and collab orativelearning environment, called Sharlok (SHARing,
LinkingandlOoking-upKnowledge)whichintegratesknowledgebuildingandcollaborativeinterfacetool.
Thecharacteristicsof thisenvironmentarethefollowing:
(1) Sharlok allowsthelearnerstoshare,lo ok upandlinking knowledgeprovidedbyotherlearners.
(2) Learnerscanexploreinsharedhyp ertextualknowledgespaceaccordingtotheirinterests. Therefore,
users can seemlesslylearn to coverthe multi-domain,whichraises andkeeps in a high leveltheir
motivation.
(3) Bothlearners'knowledgeandshared knowledgespacearere nedandevolvedthrough iterationof
collaborationabouttheknowledge.
In this environment, it is necessary to bridge between knowledge building and collaboration toward
ecientlearning.
Researchers in groupware and computer supported coop erative work(CSCW) are investigating how
technology can supp ort e ectively theinteractions between p eople. Oneof the elements for increasing
communicationopp ortunitiesisawareness[Dourishetal92,Blyetal93,Matsuuraetal95]. Incomputer
supported collab orativelearning (CSCL),awarenesscan beusedforenhancingcollaborativeopportuni-
ties. Goldman identi edthree types of student awareness: social, task, and conceptual [Goldman 92].
Theseawarenessareimp ortantforthesuccessofecientcollaboration. Moreover,Gutwinalsoproposed
workspaceawarenesswhichis theup-to-the-minuteknowledgeaboutotherstudents'interactionswithin
sharedworkspace[Gutwinetal95]. However,awarenessforthesuccessofcollab orativelearninginshared
knowledgespacehasnotyetbeenproposed.
Weproposeknowledgeawareness(KA)forenhancinge ectivecollaborationinsharedknowledgespace.
KAplaysaroleofinducingcollaborationbygivingthelearnertheinformationonotherlearners'activities
inputted."thelearnerisinducedtocollab oratewithotherswhoareinterestedinthesameknowledge. In
addition,thefourtyp esofawarenessproposedbyGoldmanandGutwinarenotprovideduntiltheuser
requests. Wecall these typ es"passiveawareness". Incontrast,weprop ose"activeawareness"in which
thesysteminformsawarenesstotheuserautomatically.
This pap er describ es the development of Sharlok and KA in CSCL environment. We rst discuss
awarenessinCSCWandCSCL,andKAindetailinsection3. Section4presentsanoverviewofSharlok,
itsinterfaceandframeworkanddescribeshowknowledgeawarenesscanbesupportedinthisenvironment.
Finally,theconcludingremarksaregivenin section5.
2. Awareness
2.1 Awareness in CSCW
In CSCW, collaborationprocess is leadfrom the following pro cesses [Malone et al94, Kuwana et al
95].
(1) Co-presence: It givesthefeelingthat theuser isin a shared workspacewith someoneelse atthe
same time.
(2) Awareness: Itisaprocesswhereusersrecognizeeachother'sactivitiesonthepremiseofco-presence.
(3) Communication: Theusercanexchangemessages.
(4) Collaboration: Theusercollaboratesonthespeci ctaskwithotherusersandaccomplishesthetask
andcommongoals.
(5) Coordination: Whenwedocollab orativework,wesometimes con ictthepartners. Inthatcase,a
coordinationprocessisneededtoresolvethecon icttowardse ectivecollab oration.
Researchers in CSCW have already proposed the following awareness, that are implemented using
multi-mediatechnologiestobondphysicallydistributed environments.
(1) to giveinformationonthesurroundingofthetargetuser,e.g.,Portholes[Dourishetal92];
(2) to providecommonor publicspacewhereuserscan meet,e.g.,MediaSpace [Blyet al93]; and
(3) to simulate informal communicative opportunities in real world using computers, e.g., VENUS
[Matsuuraet al95].
Table1: Typesofawareness.
S ocial
T ask
C oncept
W orkspace
W hat should I expect from other members of this group?
How will I interact with this group?
W hat role will I take in this group?
W hat roles will the other members of the group assume?
W hat do I know about this topic and the structure of the task?
W hat do others know about this topic and task?
W hat tools are needed to complete task?
How much time is required? How much time is available?
How does this task fit into what I already know about concept?
W hat else do I need to find out about this topic?
D o I neeed to revise any of my current ideas in light of this new informaion?
C an I create a hypothesis from my current knowledge to predict the task outcome?
W hat are the other members of the group doing to complete the task?
W here are they?
W hat are they doing?
W hat have they already done?
W ho is discussing looking at the same knowledge that I am looking at now?
W ho has changed the knowledge since I have last looked at it?
W hat knowledge are they discussing now?
W hat knowledge of my input did they change?
K nowledge
A wareness E xamples
K nowledge
B ased on Gutwin, C algary (in C S C L '95)
G o l d m a n ( ' 9 2 ) G u t w i n ( ' 9 5 ) O g a t a ( ' 9 5 )
Awareness is important for e ective collab orative learning and it plays a part on how the learning
environment createscollab oration opportunities naturally andeciently. Social awarenessprovidesin-
formationonsocialrelationshipswithin thegrouptocarryoutthetask,e.g.,theroleinthegroup. Task
awarenessshowshowthelearnersaccomplishthetask. Conceptawarenessistheawarenessofhowapar-
ticularactivityor knowledge tsintothelearner'sexistingknowledgeorcompletesthetask. Workspace
awarenessistheup-to-the-minuteknowledgeaboutotherlearners'interactionswithin sharedknowledge
space. Incontrasttothefourawareness,KAistheinformationab outotherlearners'activitiesinshared
knowledgespace(seeTable1).
3. Knowledge Awareness
Wedivide theiractivitiesinto (1)"lo ok up", (2)"change", and(3) "discuss". Sharlok monitors and
memoriesof these3 activities. "Look up" activity meanslooking upandrefer sharedknowledge. This
awarenessprovides episodicalycollab orativechanceswheretheusertalksto anotherlearner. "Change"
includes creating, updating and deleting knowledge or links. For instance, by watching this action,
Sharlok informs the learner that someone has updated the knowledge her/she o ered. If the learner
is awareof someone whois discussing aboutthe same knowledge, he/she mayjoin thediscussion. By
discussingonthechangedknowledge,sharedknowledgeisre nedandfeedbackto theenvironment.
3.1 Time and Knowledge Proximity
WeconsidertwodimensionsofmessagesforKA:timeseparationandknowledgeseparation (seeTable
2). Sametimetyp eKAinformsthatotherlearnersaredoingsomethingatthesametimethatthelearner
whois using thesystem. This awarenesseasily mediates the collab orationin real time. Di erenttime
typ eKAprovidestheencountersbeyondtimeusing learners'pastactions. SameknowledgetypeKAis
amessageonotherlearners'activitieswhichhaverelevanttotheknowledgethattheleanerislookingat,
discussingon,orchanging. Thismessageleadsthelearnertocollaboratewithotherswhoareinterested
inthesameknowledge. Di erentknowledgetyp eKAisanawarenessthatinformsotherlearners'actions
whichhavenorelationwiththeknowledgethatthelearnerisusing. Throughthisawareness,thelearner
mayb e cognizantofunknownbut imp ortantknowledge.
Table2: Messagetypesofknowledgeawareness.
S ame time
S ame knowledge D ifferent knowledge
W ho is looking at the knowledge ?
W ho is discussing the knowledge ?
D ifferent time
W hat has been changed since I last
looked at the knowledge ?
W ho looked at the knowledge ?
W ho discussed the knowledge ?
W hat knowledge are they discussing ?
W hat knowledge are they changing ?
W hat knowledge are they looking at ?
W hat knowledge did they discuss ?
W hat knowledge did they change ?
W hat knowledge did they look at ?
W ho is changing the knowledge ?
3.2 Passiveand Active Knowledge Awareness
From the point of view of providing awareness, we divide KA in "passive awareness" and "active
awareness". While,in a passive one,thesystemdo es notshowawarenessinformationuntilthelearner
requests it, in the active awareness, the learner is autonomously informed during his/her interaction
with system. Sharlok induces spontaneous collab oration b etweenlearners using activeawareness. For
instance,aleaner(Mr. A)canstartstodiscusswithanotherlearner(Mr. B)usinginformationthatMr.
BhasupdatedfromtheknowledgethatMr. Ahadprovided. ThenMr. AlearnsfromMr. B.Currently,
ThedefaultrulesofactiveKAareonlysametimeandsameknowledgetype. Alearnercanmodifythem
Sharlok includes shared knowledgespace, awareness,andcollab oration modules. Wedevelop edthem
using Tcl/Tk, Tcl-DP in a UNIX workstation. The system consists of several clients and a server
connected viaInternet. Sharlok uses Holmes (Hyp ertext and semi-Object oriented Learners' MEmory
System)asashared knowledgespace. Thecollab orationissupportedbyGroupKit[Rosemanet al92].
4.1 Holmes: Shared Knowledge Space
Holmes integrates hyp ertext and semi-object-oriented database technology. Holmes handles shared
knowledge using TRIAS [Yamamoto et al 89b] which allows users to add, delete or changeattributes
or values at any time during its use. TRIAS represents data with triplets by a small grain size as
(object, attribute,value),and itautomatically links tripletswhich havethesame element. As in gure
1,searchbutton inthemain windowop ensthebrowsingwindowinwhichthelearnercan startlooking
up knowledge. Class button op ens the type windowin which the learner inputs knowledge. Question
buttonallowsthelearnertocreatediscussion.
(1) Sharing knowledge: Typewindowshows the class de nition and its hierarchy among subjectsby
treestructured knowledgelayer. Inthiswindow,alearnercan add,delete, orrename attributeor
subclass. Using"AllObject"button,thesystemshowsalltheobjectsoftheselectedclassintothe
objectlistwindow. By selectingthe"NewObject" button, alearner can createa newknowledge
as anobject. ThedataofHolmescanbenotonlytextbut also gureorimage.
(2) Looking upknowledge: In theBrowsingwindowa learnercan look uptheknowledgeby selecting
\object", \attribute" and \value" in turn as in a search condition. Then the system gives the
resultsintotheObjectslistwindowand showstheknowledge(object) in theobjectwindowsuch
as "physics object" in gure 1. The question button in the object window is used for starting
collaboration.
(3) Linking knowledge: By selectingadd explicitlinkmenuintheobjectwindow,thelearnercan link
theknowledge(object)asanexplicitlink. Inotherhand,TRIASgenaratesautomaticallyimplicit
links b etween triplets. Learners obtain relevant knowledge by "Explicitly linked to/from" and
"Implicitlylinkedto/from"in thewindow.
accelerative
velocity
oscillation
Physics
Physics
Physics
E xecise
E xplanation
K eyword
R elevant kn
accelerative
velocity
oscillation
Object
J apanese
Mathematics
Physics
C hemistry
E nglish
Proverb
J apanese
Mathematics
L iterature
Grammer
Proverb
A wareness
Question
exercise
physics
accelerative motion
T he mass of the object M
E xplanation
K eyword
physics
Figure1: ExamplescreenofHolmes.
4.2 KnowledgeAwareness
Usinglearners'history,KAfacilitatesencounteringotherlearnersnotonlyinrealtimebutalsoinpast
AAAAA
AAAAA
AAAA AAAA
Y es No
message
D o you start to discuss on
"T ime is money"?
ayala
A ware.
諺
時は金なり
J apanese
T ime is money.
K eyword time
R elevant
Proverb
時(とき)は，金(かね)なり．
S panish
T me flies like an arrow.
E l tiempo es dinero.
T ime is money.
accelerative motion(toda
a linear equation (95/10
solar system (95/8/29/12
ayala
cho
jin
ogata
yano
K nowledge / T ime People
AAAA AAAA C ontents
K nowledge A wareness
T ime is money.(today/
Figure2: Examplescreenofknowledgeawareness.
history. PassiveKAaredisplayedthroughfetchingthelearners'history whenthelearnerrequestsit. In
contract, active KAare generated according to the rules or conditions. The rules are triggers for the
displayof messages. As in gure2,thesame time and di erentknowledgetyp eKA areautonomously
displayedinthemessagewindow. Thelearnercanstartorjointhediscussionbyselecting"Yes"button.
WhenthelearnerrequestsKAbyselectingthemenu,Sharloktellshim/hertheinformationin"Knowledge
Awareness"window. Since KA window showsconferencenames, theirschedules andtheirparticipants
respectively, the learner can start or join the discussion by selecting a conference name, and see the
contentsofthediscussionusing"Content"button.
4.3 Collab oration
Figure 3 shows anexample of collab oration in Sharlok. The systemdisplays theconference window
whenaconferencestarts. Thiswindowshowsup-to-minuteconferencenamesandtheirrespectivepartic-
ipants. Byselectingconferencename,alearnercanjointhediscussion. Thequestionbuttoninthemain
windowandtheobjectwindowareused tostartcollaboration. After a learnerselectedthebuttonand
wrotehis/herquestion,Sharlok calls otherlearnersfor thecollaborationusing theirresp ectivemessage
window. Ifthelearnerpushes "Yes"buttoninthewindow,Sharlokstartsupa texttool,adrawingto ol
and theknowledge(object) for discussion. In thetext to ol, theonly one learnerwhohas thespeaking
rightcanwritehis/heridea. Ifanotherlearnerrequeststherighttosp eakhis/heropinionandthecurrent
writer givesthe right,the requestinglearnerbecomesthenextwriter. In gure3a writer isogataand
thenextonewillbemat. Moreover,participantscanuseadrawingto olforadiscussion. Thistoolshows
theirmousep ointersandallowsthemtodraw guresatthesame time.
5. Conclusion
Inthispaper,wedescribedSharlok whichhasknowledgebuildingandcollab orativelearningenviron-
ment through sharing and lo oking up and linking learners' knowledge. Through this environment, the
learnerscoverthelackofmutualknowledgeeachotherbysharingtheirknowledgeandtheycancon rm
or correct theknowledgebycollaboration. Weprop osed knowledgeawareness(KA) for enhancingcol-
laboration opp ortunities. That is, KA playsa role of inducing collab oration bygiving the learnerthe
informationaboutotherlearners' activitiesin shared knowledgespace. WebelievethatKA can bridge
A wareness
Question
exercise
physics
accelerative motion
T he mass of the object M
E xplanation
K eyword
physics
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAA
AAAAAAA
AAAAAAA 等加速度運動
AAAAAA
AAAAAA mat san ogata
AAA ogata
C onferences
accelerative motion
C onferene name Participants
Y our name :
ogata mat
<mat> W hy is the acceleration gsinα ?
<san> I don't know, too.
<ogata> T he problem is relative to similar in math..
L et's explain it in detail, using the figure.
L ook at the figure ! !
san
mat
ogata
α
gsinα
AAAAA
AAAAA
AAAAA
AAAAA
Y es No
message
D o you start to discuss on
"accelerative motion"?
mat
Figure 3: CollaborationscreenofSharlok.
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Acknowlegements
Thisresearchissupp ortedbytheGrantforScienti cResearch(A)No. 07308016 fromtheMinistryofEdu-
cationofJapan,theResearchGrantfromtheTelecommunicationsAdvancementFoundation, andthe Sasagawa
