MessyBoard: Lowering the Cost of Communication and Making it More Enjoyable

Coworkers often do not communicate as much as they should both because communication costs time and effort and because work-related communication can be unpleasant. MessyBoard is a communication medium that aims to improve collaboration by reducing the costs of communication and making it more enjoyable. MessyBoard is a persistent networked 2D bulletin board. Freeform layout reduces the cost of communication by allowing people to quickly express ideas. The medium makes communication more enjoyable by facilitating playful behavior alongside work-related communication. I reduce the cost of receiving communications by projecting MessyBoard on the wall and displaying it as a screen saver. Several groups have found MessyBoard useful in performing real-world tasks. Usage patterns differ widely between groups and over time within groups, and I plan to conduct a systematic study in order to discover how group characteristics relate to MessyBoard use.