Evaluation of a Social Awareness System: Panorama

Evaluation of social awareness is a relatively new area of research in the field of Human Computer Interaction. In this paper, a system called Panorama that supports social awareness among co-workers of a computer science department is evaluated, to see how it supports awareness and how the users experience it. Observations and interviews are used to see how users respond to the system, as well as the Repertory Grid technique to capture the user experience in a more quantitative way. It is shown that participants think of Panorama as a social, public system that stimulates interaction between people by provoking curiosity. Colleagues gain new knowledge about each other by the things they see and more importantly, by the interaction that is sparked by the content. In this way, social awareness is supported.