Improving Inter-personnel Communication Using the MRD's Desktop Conferencing and Multimedia Messaging Facilities

The Middle Road Demonstrator (MRD) is a system for communication support within cooperative work settings. The MRD is one of three demonstrator systems developed within the framework of ESPRIT Project 6155 - EuroCODE: CSCW Open Development Environment. The system was designed and evaluated in cooperation with a pilot group from the Department of Radiology at Rikshospitalet.

The MRD supports cooperative work by allowing users to share applications independent of time and space. The MRD supports both synchronous and asynchronous communication modalities. In both of these modalities, the MRD provides communication facilities based upon a “show, point and talk” functional profile. The MRD’s synchronous communication modality is realized through it’s desktop conferencing facility, while it’s asynchronous modality is realized through a multimedia messaging facility called the Snapshot Composer. These two facilities are thoroughly integrated with one another, and presented through a homogenous, task-oriented user-interface.

Radiologists within the pilot group identified a number of application areas for the MRD. They also stated that the MRD could help make certain processes involving inter-personnel communication more effective.This paper briefly describes the MRD’s functionality. Thereafter, screen images depicting the MRD in use are presented. Lastly, the pilot group’s evaluation of the system is summarized.