A significant problem with telephone communication is that callers do not have enough awareness about the Personal Presence of people they want to call. The result can be unwanted, interrupting calls. The live addressbook is an application that helps users make more informed telephone calls and teleconferences, from anywhere, via their wireless PDA or desktop browser. Unlike other network-based address books, which maintain static information, the live addressbook can display dynamic information about where the recipient currently is (i.e., reach number), and how available he/she currently is for calls. The system accomplishes this by applying to telephony the "Buddy List" concepts made popular in Instant Messaging applications. User trials assess the applicability of Personal Presence information in a telephone context.

Globally distributed software engineering involves one or more of geographic, temporal or cultural distances, which empirical studies find have deleterious effects on the efficiency of the software engineering process. There have been some successful examples where one 'bridge' location has facilitated collaboration and coordination across the other locations. Managers might want to use this bridging as a tactic for future projects, even when future collaborations may be composed of very different participants and in different locations and contexts than current successfully bridged teams. However, group behaviour is complicated and establishing an effective bridge is neither a simple nor a straightforward step. We propose a set of guidelines, based on empirical findings, to help managers understand what to expect from the bridging tactic. These include cultural, organizational, individual and temporal factors as well as insights into the costs and benefits of bridging.

Notification-oriented computer interfaces are growing in importance, as is our understanding of how users manage interruptions. To gain insights relevant to the design of such interfaces, this study explored telephone call screening as a common example of how people manage technology-driven interruptions in their everyday residential environment. Survey results showed that audio screening is a frequent and regular practice, often used as part of an active, multicue strategy for managing interruptions. Frequent screeners estimated knowing more about the call before engaging in social interaction and were more selective when answering. Screening was viewed as an effective means of managing interruptions because screened, unanswered calls were rated as less disruptive of ongoing activities than calls that were answered. These findings on how people manage telephone call interruptions provide insights for designers of notification systems. First, audio alerts can be highly effective, especially in residential settings. Second, alerts need not be simple to be effective; they can usefully include rich information that clarifies how to respond to the interruption. Finally, informative alerts offer a situated alternative to "presence publishing" interfaces.

Information-seeking strategies were explored in software engineers. A complex interaction of task and geographic differences was revealed. There is a general tendency across software engineers to favor non-social sources, such as documentation, for tasks where the goal is to seek factual information. More social sources are preferred when seeking information to diagnostic, problem-solving questions. Within this effect, some geographic variations assert themselves in a way that might partly be interpreted in terms of national cultural differences in Individualism vs. Collectivism. Implications of geographic differences in information-seeking for collaboration within global software development teams are discussed.

SummaryThere is currently a great deal of interest in the development of intelligent agents. While there is little agreement on exactly what constitutes an intelligent agent, many definitions embody a user interface model that differs from the traditional one where users perform tasks with the help of computer-based "tools." In contrast, the "delegation" model associated with agents is based on entrusting tasks to an autonomous, sometimes anthropomorphized system, whose performance is monitored and evaluated. This change in user interface model is a dramatic one since delegation can be a difficult and often-avoided behavior in humans. Agent interface designs need to overcome well-established drawbacks in delegation. For this purpose, designers should find the management sciences and organizational psychology literatures to be as relevant as that of traditional human factors. This paper describes issues regarding task delegation as they pertain to the design of intelligent agent user interfaces.

Virtual teams are an important work structure in software development projects. However, little is known about what constitutes effective virtual software team leadership, in particular, the amount of leader delegation that is appropriate in a virtual software-development environment. This study investigates virtual software team leader delegation and explores the impact of delegation strategies on virtual team performance mediated by team motivation, team flexibility and team satisfaction with the team leader. This research is a report of a pilot study run on student teams carried out to refine and test the research constructs and research model for a larger study run in corporations. The study found that virtual team leaders delegate more to competent virtual teams and that such delegation is positively correlated with team member satisfaction with their leader and with team member motivation. Overall, the work provides important information for software-based organizations interested in developing virtual team leadership skills.

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Transfer of the median plane slant aftereffect was assessed across changes in the type of depth information for the slant of the display. In addition, the effectiveness of monocularpictorial and binocular information in inducing the aftereffect was measured. Binocular information produced a larger aftereffect than did monocular-pictorial information, and adaptation created with one type of depth information induced an aftereffect assessed with presentation of the other type of depth information. The results suggest that the slant aftereffect is not entirely specific to type of depth information presented. The induction of the aftereffect involves a process more general than the sensory mechanisms responsible for adaptation to twodimensional tilt or adaptation to a texture gradient.