At EuroPARC, we have been exploring ways to allow physically separated colleagues to work together effectively and naturally. In this paper, we briefly discuss several examples of our work in the context of three themes that have emerged: the need to support the full range of shared work; the desire to ensure privacy without giving up unobtrusive awareness; and the possibility of creating systems which blur the boundaries between people, technologies and the everyday world.

Article Free Access Share on Participatory design in Britain and North America: responses to the “Scandinavian Challenge” Authors: Michael J. Muller Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane, Piscataway NJ Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane, Piscataway NJView Profile , Jeanette L. Blomberg Xerox PARC Xerox PARCView Profile , Kathleen A. Carter Rank Xerox Ltd. Rank Xerox Ltd.View Profile , Elizabeth A. Dykstra Pacific Bell Pacific BellView Profile , Kim Halskov Madsen City University of NY City University of NYView Profile , Joan Greenbaum City University of NY City University of NYView Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '91: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsApril 1991 Pages 389–392https://doi.org/10.1145/108844.108962Published:01 March 1991Publication History 21citation1,340DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations21Total Downloads1,340Last 12 Months28Last 6 weeks7 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

It is impossible to design systems which are appropriate for all users and all situations. We believe that a useful technique is to have end users tailor their systems to match their personal work practices. This requires not only systems which can be tailored, but a culture within which users feel in control of the system and in which tailoring is the norm. In a two-pronged research project we have worked closely with a group of users to develop a system to support tailoring and to help the users evolve a “tailoring culture”. This has resulted in a flexible system based around the use of distributed on-screen Buttons to support a range of tailoring techniques.