COMMUNICATION SUPPORT FOR MOBILE COLLABORATIVE WORK: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Abstract

Advances in mobile computing and wireless communication are easing the evolution from traditional nomadic work to computer-mediated mobile collaborative work. Technology allows efficient and effective interaction among mobile users and also provides access to shared resources available to them. However, the features and capabilities of the communication infrastructure supporting these activities influence the type of coordination and collaboration employed by mobile collaborative applications in real work scenarios. Developers of these applications are typically unaware of the constraints the communication infrastructure imposes on mobile collaborative systems, because they are not easy to foresee. That leads to a high probability of communication problems in otherwise fully functional mobile collaborative support applications. This paper presents an experimental study with real devices and networks on a realistic physical environment that shows how ad hoc networks can effectively support mobile collaborative work and the practical limitations. The paper analyzes several networking issues and determines how they influence mobile collaborative work in various interaction scenarios. The paper also presents the lessons learned in the study and provides recommendations to deal with some networking issues related to real-world ad hoc networks.