JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 17(2): 183-202, doi: 10.3217/jucs-017-02-0183
The Iceberg Effect: Behind the User Interface of Mobile Collaborative Systems
expand article infoValeria Herskovic‡, Sergio F. Ochoa§, José A. Pino|, Andrés Neyem
‡ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile§ Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile| DCC, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile¶ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile

Corresponding author: Valeria Herskovic ( vherskov@ing.puc.cl )

© Valeria Herskovic, Sergio Ochoa, José Pino, Andrés Neyem.
This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License.
Citation: Herskovic V, Ochoa SF, Pino JA, Neyem A (2011) The Iceberg Effect: Behind the User Interface of Mobile Collaborative Systems. JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 17(2): 183-202. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-017-02-0183
Open Access
Abstract
Advances in mobile technologies are opening new possibilities to support collaborative activities through mobile devices. Unfortunately, mobile collaborative systems have been difficult to conceive, design and implement. These difficulties are caused in part by their unclear requirements and developers’ lack of experience with this type of systems. However, several requirements involved in the collaborative back-end of these products are recurrent and should be considered in every development. This paper introduces a characterization of mobile collaboration and a framework that specifies a list of general requirements to be considered during the conception and design of a system in order to increase its probability of success. This framework was used in the development of two mobile collaborative systems, providing developers with a base of back-end requirements to aid system design and implementation. The systems were positively evaluated by their users.
Keywords
mobile shared workspaces, hidden collaboration requirements, equirements for communication and coordination