{"id":{"repo_id":"sask","oai_identifier":"oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/etd-03202008-180541"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/sask/oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/etd-03202008-180541","repository":{"repo_id":"sask","name":"University of Saskatchewan","base_url":"https://harvest.usask.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Reducing the effect of network delay on tightly-coupled interaction","abstract":"Tightly-coupled interaction is shared work in which each person’s actions immediately and continuously influence the actions of others. Tightly-coupled interaction is a hallmark of expert behaviour in face-to-face activity, but becomes extremely difficult to accomplish in distributed groupware. The main cause of this difficulty is network delay – even amounts as small as 100ms – that disrupts people’s ability to synchronize their actions with another person. To reduce the effects of delay on tightly-coupled interaction, I introduce a new technique called Feedback-Feedthrough Synchronization (FFS). FFS causes visual feedback from an action to occur at approximately the same time for both the local and the remote person, preventing one person from getting ahead of the other in the coordinated interaction. I tested the effects of FFS on group performance in several delay conditions, and my study showed that FFS substantially improved users’ performance: accuracy was significantly improved at all levels of delay, and without noticeable increase in perceived effort or frustration. Techniques like FFS that support the requirements of tightly-coupled interaction provide new means for improving the usability of groupware that operates on real-world networks.","abstract_html":"Tightly-coupled interaction is shared work in which each person’s actions immediately and continuously influence the actions of others. Tightly-coupled interaction is a hallmark of expert behaviour in face-to-face activity, but becomes extremely difficult to accomplish in distributed groupware. The main cause of this difficulty is network delay – even amounts as small as 100ms – that disrupts people’s ability to synchronize their actions with another person. To reduce the effects of delay on tightly-coupled interaction, I introduce a new technique called Feedback-Feedthrough Synchronization (FFS). FFS causes visual feedback from an action to occur at approximately the same time for both the local and the remote person, preventing one person from getting ahead of the other in the coordinated interaction. I tested the effects of FFS on group performance in several delay conditions, and my study showed that FFS substantially improved users’ performance: accuracy was significantly improved at all levels of delay, and without noticeable increase in perceived effort or frustration. Techniques like FFS that support the requirements of tightly-coupled interaction provide new means for improving the usability of groupware that operates on real-world networks.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Stuckel, Dane Joshua"],"institution":"University of Saskatchewan","degree_name":"Master of Science (M.Sc.)","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Computer Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Gutwin, Carl"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Elias, Lorin J.","Deters, Ralph","McQuillan, Ian"],"year":2008,"date_issued":"2008","date_published":"2008","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:26:45Z","subjects":["coordination theory","network delay","real-time groupware","CSCW"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-03202008-180541","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Gutwin, Carl"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Elias, Lorin J.","Deters, Ralph","McQuillan, Ian"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Stuckel, Dane Joshua"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2008-03-20T18:05:41Z","2013-01-04T04:27:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2009-03-31T08:00:00Z","2013-01-04T04:27:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2008"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (M.Sc.)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Saskatchewan"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["coordination theory","network delay","real-time groupware","CSCW"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-03202008-180541"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Tightly-coupled interaction is shared work in which each person’s actions immediately and continuously influence the actions of others. Tightly-coupled interaction is a hallmark of expert behaviour in face-to-face activity, but becomes extremely difficult to accomplish in distributed groupware. The main cause of this difficulty is network delay – even amounts as small as 100ms – that disrupts people’s ability to synchronize their actions with another person. To reduce the effects of delay on tightly-coupled interaction, I introduce a new technique called Feedback-Feedthrough Synchronization (FFS). FFS causes visual feedback from an action to occur at approximately the same time for both the local and the remote person, preventing one person from getting ahead of the other in the coordinated interaction. I tested the effects of FFS on group performance in several delay conditions, and my study showed that FFS substantially improved users’ performance: accuracy was significantly improved at all levels of delay, and without noticeable increase in perceived effort or frustration. Techniques like FFS that support the requirements of tightly-coupled interaction provide new means for improving the usability of groupware that operates on real-world networks."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reducing the effect of network delay on tightly-coupled interaction"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Gutwin, Carl"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Elias, Lorin J.","Deters, Ralph","McQuillan, Ian"],"dc:creator":["Stuckel, Dane Joshua"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2008-03-20T18:05:41Z","2013-01-04T04:27:00Z"],"dc:date.available":["2009-03-31T08:00:00Z","2013-01-04T04:27:00Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2008"],"dc:description.abstract":["Tightly-coupled interaction is shared work in which each person’s actions immediately and continuously influence the actions of others. Tightly-coupled interaction is a hallmark of expert behaviour in face-to-face activity, but becomes extremely difficult to accomplish in distributed groupware. The main cause of this difficulty is network delay – even amounts as small as 100ms – that disrupts people’s ability to synchronize their actions with another person. To reduce the effects of delay on tightly-coupled interaction, I introduce a new technique called Feedback-Feedthrough Synchronization (FFS). FFS causes visual feedback from an action to occur at approximately the same time for both the local and the remote person, preventing one person from getting ahead of the other in the coordinated interaction. I tested the effects of FFS on group performance in several delay conditions, and my study showed that FFS substantially improved users’ performance: accuracy was significantly improved at all levels of delay, and without noticeable increase in perceived effort or frustration. Techniques like FFS that support the requirements of tightly-coupled interaction provide new means for improving the usability of groupware that operates on real-world networks."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-03202008-180541"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:subject":["coordination theory","network delay","real-time groupware","CSCW"],"dc:title":["Reducing the effect of network delay on tightly-coupled interaction"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Computer Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (M.Sc.)"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Saskatchewan"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:26:45Z"}