Groupgarden

Abstract

To ensure the productivity of brainstorming, group members have to observe several rules. Nevertheless, problems such as free riding or imbalanced participation can occur. We present Groupgarden, a metaphorical group mirror providing feedback about individual as well as group performance. We conducted two user studies. We could validate the effectivity of Groupgarden in a preliminary study that compared brainstorming sessions supported by Groupgarden with sessions without additional support. Results show that the group mirror effectively supports the compliance to particular brainstorming rules and participation is more balanced compared to the baseline. In a second study, we examined the influence of the location of the feedback, wall vs. table, on group behavior. Our results indicate that the location does not influence efficiency of brainstorming, while each location has different benefits. Feedback on a wall seems less disturbing and puts less pressure on the group while a group mirror on a table facilitates communication and collaboration.