Multimodal, asynchronously shared slide shows as a design strategy for engineering distributed work in the National Airspace System

This research focused on the design and evaluation of a multimodal asynchronous communications tool that uses an annotated slide show structure for messages, to support collaborative analysis of post-operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). Voice-based asynchronous annotations communicated between writers working collaboratively have been found to support more extensive discussion of problems in draft documents. People point naturally when discussing the content of a shared image, and voice synchronized with pointing in asynchronous annotation systems has been found to be more efficient in scheduling tasks, than voice-only, or text only communication. This research involved investigating how synchronized voice and pointing annotation over asynchronously shared slide shows composed of post operations graphical and tabular data differs in its effect compared to text based annotation, as collections of flights ranked low by standard performance metrics are discussed by FAA and airline representatives.; The results showed: (1) The communications mode failed to show an effect on the number and type of ideas generated for improving performance. (2) The most common strategy proposed was a change of route. (3) The dispatchers' combined problem solving and message creation time was shorter (ANOVA, α < 0.05) when working in the voice and pointing mode than the text based mode, as was the dispatcher-traffic manager pairs' total time (ANOVA, α < 0.01). (4) Dispatchers and traffic managers considered the system they used to be usable and valuable, but dispatchers using the text mode rated the usability and utility of the system higher on average than dispatchers using the voice and pointing mode, whereas for traffic managers the reverse was true. (5) The slide image provided a context for comments, but the slide show structure sometimes created navigation and communication problems. These problems lead to a redesign of the system. (6) The comments and annotations made provide a vocabulary of syntax and semantics for a more task specific version of the system.