INTEGRATING COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION CONTACTMAP Bonnie

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM April 2002/Vol. 45, No. 4 89 Which organizing principle might be adapted for designing and developing advanced user interfaces affording information and communication services in a single integrated system? Our research on communication patterns in the workplace points to models of personal social networks. We have found that people invest considerable effort in maintaining links with networks of colleagues, acquaintances, and friends, and that these networks are a significant organizing principle for work and information. Here, we outline and analyze a study of workplace communication that informs our development efforts, describing our evolving software prototype, ContactMap, as well as recent user experiments with the system. INTEGRATING COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION CONTACTMAP Bonnie A. Nardi, Steve Whittaker, Ellen Isaacs, Mike Creech, Jeff Johnson, and John Hainsworth