Metaphor or diagram?

Abstract

This paper aims at answering the question how ambient displays can be used as group mirrors to support collaborative (learning) activities. Our research question is to what extent the type of feedback representation affects collaborative processes. Two different representations have been created and compared in a user study: a diagram and a metaphor. In the diagram version the quality rating for each person is explicitly shown in charts and numbers. In the metaphorical representation feedback is implicitly visualized by changing certain characteristics of a pictorial scene. The results show that the metaphoric group mirror was not only more popular than the diagram, it also had a greater impact on the group behavior. When receiving negative feedback from the metaphoric group mirror, a correction of behavior was made significantly faster than with the diagram. Furthermore, both group mirrors had a positive effect on the self-regulation of the group compared to the baseline condition without feedback.