METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC MESSAGING

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of managing electronic messaging, and has particular - but by no means exclusive - application to the field of managing electronic messaging for Internet based instant messaging services.

Background of the Invention

Instant messaging is a text based communication system that can be used by people to exchange relatively short text messages via networked computers. Instant messaging services have become immensely popular on the Internet, which is attested to by the fact that the MSN, AOL and Yahoo instant messaging services have millions of users worldwide.

Many of today's instant messaging services, such as the MSN service, support the exchange of messages on both a one-to-one and a many-to-many basis, hi the one-to-one scenario messages are limited to being exchanged between two people. However, in the many-to-many basis messages are exchanged between more than two people. Many-to-many instant messing is often referred to as "group chat".

Whilst today's instant messaging services are reasonably effective at supporting one-to-one message exchanges, they are considered less effective when it comes to supporting the many-to-many mode of exchanging messages. One of the reasons that today's instant messaging services are considered to be less effective at supporting many-to-many message exchange is that the messaging services display messages as a linear sequence of messages; that is, messages are displayed one after the other as an unstructured list of messages.

Displaying messages from a many-to-many dialogue as a linear sequence of messages is undesirable for several reasons. First, the linear sequence is highly limited in creating a structural and logical layout of group discussion as there is weak coherence between messages. Thus, it makes it difficult to connect coherently between questions and answers, and between two consecutive messages from the same person. Second, given the nature of a linear sequence of messages it is difficult for users to respond

explicitly to a particular message that was previously posted by a person. Third, the conversational context of a group discussion is diminished by a linear sequence of messages.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for managing electronic messaging, the system comprising a processing means arranged to: display visually distinct message groupings each of which relates to a unique thread; and highlight a last message posted to each of the groupings.

An advantage of the first aspect of the present invention, which stems from displaying the visually distinct message groupings, is that it is reasonably effective at supporting many-to-many messaging. In particular, because messages related to a common thread are grouped together in a visually distinct manner the system according to the first aspect of the present invention is capable of providing a relatively strong coherence between messages. Furthermore, highlighting the last posted message in a message grouping enables a person to quickly discern the focal point of messages in a message grouping. It is noted that throughout this application the term "electronic messaging" is intended to cover text based messages that may or may not be augmented with audio and/or video information.

Preferably, the processing means is arranged to: obtain a message; and analyse the message to identify an appropriate one of the message groupings into which the message is to be grouped.

Analysing the message is advantageous because it removes the need for the person to select a message grouping to place the message in. Thus, analysing the message facilitates automatic grouping of the message independently of the person.

Preferably, the processing means is arranged to analyse the message in accordance with an utterance rule-based algorithm.

Use of the utterance rule-based algorithm provides a simple and highly effective mechanism for grouping the message into one of the message groupings.

Preferably, the processing means is arranged to obtain the message from a text box.

Use of the text box provides an relatively simple way for a user to input the message into the system, which can subsequently post the message to recipients. Preferably, the processing means is arranged to: display messages from the message groupings as an ungrouped list of messages; identify a selected message from the ungrounded list of messages; and highlight the selected message in one of the message groupings. An advantage of being able to identify the selected message and highlight the selected message in the relevant grouping is that it provides a means for allowing a user of the system to efficiently locate the occurrence of the selected message in the grouping.

Preferably, the processing means is arranged to: display a list of icons each of which represents a unique one of the message groupings; identify a selected one of the icons; and provide access to one of the message groupings that is represented by the selected one of the icons. Being able to identify the selected icon and provide access to the message grouping represented by the selected icon is advantageous because it allows a user to efficiently locate a required message grouping.

Preferably, the processing means is arranged to colour each of the message groupings in a unique colour. Colouring each message groupings in a unique colour allows a user to relatively quickly and easily distinguish one message grouping from another message grouping.

Preferably, the processing means is arranged to display at least one graphical element that conveys: information about whether a person is an active or an inactive member of a discussion group associated with one of the message groupings; and information about a period of time the person has been in the active or the inactive member.

The graphical element allows a user to relatively quickly and easily determine the status of a person, which may be required if another person wants to send a message to the person.

Preferably, the message groupings accord with a tree structure. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of managing electronic messaging, the method comprising the steps of: displaying visually distinct message groupings each of which relates to a unique thread; and highlighting a last message posted to each of the groupings.

Preferably, the method comprises the steps of: obtaining a message; and analysing the message to identify an appropriate one of the message groupings into which the message is to be grouped. Preferably, the step of analysing the message comprises the step of processing the message in accordance with an utterance rule-based algorithm.

Preferably, the step of obtaining the message comprises the step of obtaining the message from a text box.

Preferably, the method comprises the steps of: displaying messages from the message groupings as an ungrouped list of messages; identifying a selected message from the ungrounded list of messages; and highlighting the selected message in one of the message groupings. Preferably, the method comprises the steps of: displaying a list of icons each of which represents a unique one of the message groupings; identifying a selected one of the icons; and providing access to one of the message groupings that is represented by the selected one of the icons. Preferably, the method comprises the step of colouring each of the message groupings in a unique colour.

Preferably, the method comprises the step of displaying at least one graphical element that conveys:

infoπnation about whether a person is an active or an inactive member of a discussion group associated with one of the message groupings; and information about a period of time the person has been in the active or the inactive member. Preferably, the message groupings accord with a tree structure.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided software comprising at least one instruction, which when executed by a computing device allows the computing device to perform the method according to the second aspect of the present invention. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer readable medium comprising the software according to the third aspect of the present invention.

A Brief Description of the Drawings

Notwithstanding any other embodiments that may fall within the scope of the present invention, a particular embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a computer network including an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a screen shot of a graphical user interface supported by the computer network of Figure 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figures 3 to 7 provide the results of a test involving the computer network of

Figure 1; and

Figures 8 and 9 provide more screen shots of a graphical user interface supported by the computer network of Figure 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

An Embodiment of the Invention

With reference to Figure 1, the computer system 100 comprises numerous personal computers 102, a computer server 104, a communication network 106, and several data links 108 that are electrically coupled to the personal computers 102, the computer server 104 and the communication network 106.

Each personal computer 102 comprises a monitor 110, keyboard 112, a mouse (not shown in the figures) and a casing 114. Housed within the casing 114 is traditional computer hardware including, for example, a motherboard, central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, graphics card, network interface (which is electrically connected to a data link 108), and a power supply, m addition to the hardware, each personal computer 102 includes an operating system in the form of Microsoft Windows XP. The operating system resides on the hard disk of the personal computer 102. When executed the operating system cooperates with the hardware of the personal computer 102 to provide an environment in which software applications can be executed. Li this regard, the hard disk of each personal computer 102 is loaded with an instant messaging application. A detailed description of the instant messaging application is provided in subsequent paragraphs of this specification.

The computer server 104 comprises a casing 116 that houses traditional computer hardware including, for example, a motherboard, central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, graphics card, network interface (which is electrically connected to a data link 108), and a power supply. Li addition to the hardware, the computer server 104 comprises an operating system in the form of Microsoft Windows Server 2003. The operating system resides on the hard disk of the computer server 104, and when executed cooperates with the hardware to provide an environment in which software applications can be executed. Li this regard, the hard disk of the computer server 104 is loaded with an instant messaging support application that basically coordinates the exchange of electronic messages between the instant messaging applications loaded on the personal computers 102. Subsequent paragraphs of the specification provide a detailed description of the operation of the software application loaded on the hard disk of the computer server 104.

The communication network 106 is in the form of an Internet Protocol (IP) based packet switched network. As such, the communication network 106 comprises

several interconnected routers/switches (not shown in the figures). As persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the interconnected routers/switches are arranged to route/switch IP data packets amongst the personal computers 102 and the computer server 104. In the present embodiment of the invention the IP data packets contain electronic messages and/or control data related to the instant messaging applications loaded on the personal computers 102.

The data links 108 are in the form of high speed Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Links (ADSL). The data links are used by the personal computers 102 and the computer server 104, and the communication network 106 to transfer the IP data packets between each other. Each data link 108 is electrically coupled to the network interface of a personal computer 102 or the computer server 104 and a network access point of the communication network 106.

As mentioned previously, each of the personal computers 102 comprises an instant messaging application. The instant messaging application essentially allows a user of a personal computer 102 to engage in the exchange of text based electronic messages, via the computer server 104, with users of the personal computers 102. While the instant messaging application loaded on the personal computers is well suited to exchanging messages in a one-to-one mode, the instant messaging application is particularly well suited for exchanging messages in a many-to-many mode. In this regard, the instant messaging applications of the personal computers 102 and the instant messaging support application of the computer server 104 are capable of supporting any one or more of the following messaging protocols: AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Group Wise Messenger, and Zepher networks. As persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate the instant messaging protocols allow the instant messaging application of the personal computers 102 to communication with the instant messaging support application of the computer server 104 in a manner that facilitates the exchange of electronic text based messages.

To participant in the exchange of electronic messages the user of a personal computer 102 initiates the execution of the instant messaging application loaded on their personal computer 102. Shortly after being executed, the instant messaging application presents a dialogue box (not shown in the figures) on the monitor 110 that prompts the user to enter their username and password. The username and password are assigned to the user by an administrator of the computer server 104. Once the user

has entered their username and password into the dialogue box, the instant messaging application sends the username and password to the computer server 104 via the communication network 106 and the respective data links 108. As alluded to previously, the username and password are sent via the communication network 106 and data links 108 as IP data packets in accordance with one of the messaging protocols.

When the computer server 104 receives the username and password from the instant messaging application, the instant messaging support application processes the username and password to determine whether the user is a valid user. If as a result of processing the username and the password the instant messaging support application of the computer server 104 determines that the user is not a valid user, the messaging support application will send an error message to the instant messaging application via the communication network 106 and the appropriate data links 108. The error message is sent via the network 106 and data links as an IP data packet in accordance with the appropriate messaging protocol. On receiving the error message the user's instant messaging application displays an error message on the monitor 110 of the personal computer 102 informing the user that the username and password they provided are incorrect, and that the user should retry entering their username and password.

On the other hand, however, if the instant messaging support application loaded on the computer server 104 determined that the username and password are valid the instant messaging support application effectively provides the user with access to the computer server 104 so the user can send and/or receive electronic messages using the instant messaging application loaded on their personal computer 102. In this regard, the instant messaging application loaded on the personal computer 102 causes the graphical user interface 200 (which is depicted in Figure 2) to be displayed on the monitor 110 of the user's personal computer 102.

As can be seen in Figure 2, the graphical user interface 200 comprises several dialogue boxes 202 to 210. The first dialogue box 202, which is identified as the "Chat Area", is a text box. Using the keyboard 112 of the personal computer 102 a user can type in a message that is to be sent to other users of the other personal computers 102. The second dialogue box 204, which is identified as the "Tree Canvas", is used to display posted messaged in a grouped tree structure. The third dialogue box 206, which is identified as the "Message Canvas", is used to display the posted messages (in the

second dialogue box 204) as a linear sequence of ungrouped messages. The fourth dialogue box 208, which is identified as the "Topic List", is used to identify the topic (thread) of each of the message grouping in the second dialogue box 204. The fifth dialogue box 210, which is identified as the "Buddy List", identifies users of the personal computers 102 that are part of a group of users associated with the messaging groupings in the second dialogue box 204.

To send an electronic message, a user of the instant messaging application on a personal computer 102 uses the mouse of their personal computer 102 to click on the Chat Area dialogue box 202. Subsequent to clicking on the Chat Area dialogue box 202 the user can type in their text message using the keyboard 112. As the user types in their text message the instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 processes the text message in accordance with an utterance rule-based algorithm, such as that described in the paper entitled "Meeting Recorder Project: Dialog Act Labelling Guide" by Dhilon et al and which was published by the International Computer Science Institute. The instant messaging application loaded on the personal computer 102 uses the utterance rule-based algorithm as a means for placing messages typed into the Chat Area dialogue box 202 into one of the message groupings of the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204 independently of the user.

To inform users of the instant messaging applications on the personal computers 102 that a message is being typed and that it will appear in a particular message grouping, the instant messaging applications of the personal computers 102 display a visual indication of which grouping the message will be placed into. An example of the visual indication is shown in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204 as the text "Overture typing a message", which is circular to illustrative purposes. To inform other instant messaging applications that a message is being typed, the instant messaging applications and the instant messaging support application of the computer server 104 are arranged to communicate with each other in accordance with the instant messaging protocol. In this regard, communicating in accordance with the instant messaging protocol will result in the exchange of IP data packets via the data links 108 and the communication network 106.

Once the user has finished typing their message into the Chat Area dialogue box 202, the user uses the mouse of their personal computer 102 to click on the "Send" button 212. In response to the Send button being clicked the instant messaging

application of the personal computer will send the message, as an IP data packet, to the computer server 104, via the communication system 106 and the respective data links 108. The IP data packets that are sent to convey the message accord with the instant messaging protocol. On receiving the message the instant messaging support application of the computer server 104 will send the message onto the instant message applications of other personal computers 102. In accordance with the instant messaging protocol, which will result in the exchange of IP data packets.

On receiving the a message from the computer server 104 the instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 will display the received message in the appropriate message grouping of the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. In this regard, a message received from the computer server 104 will be accompanied by control data that it processed by the instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 to determine which message grouping of the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. As can be seen from Figure 2, the message groupings in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204 accord with a tree structure. Each of the messages in a particular grouping are represented as child nodes of a parent node, the latter of which identifies the topic to which the messages relate. For example, it can be seen from Figure 2 that the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204 has a parent node identified as "(Overture): EXl - Finding Words". The child nodes associated with this parent node are identified as "(Skyline):....", "(Xeor):....", and "Overture typing a message".

In addition to displaying a message received from the computer server 104 the instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 is also arranged to display a copy of the received messages in the Message Canvas dialogue box 206. As indicated previously the Message Canvas dialogue box 206 differs from the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204 in that the former displays messages in a linear ungroup sequence of messages. The instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 is such that the messages displayed in the Message Canvas dialogue box 206 are listed according to their time of arrival. That is, messages at the bottom of the Message Canvas dialogue box 206 arrived at a time later than the messages at the top of the list. The instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 is such that it allows a user to select any of the messages displayed in the Message Canvas dialogue box 206 by using the mouse of the personal computer 102 to click on the required message. Subsequent to a message in the Message Canvas dialogue box 206 being selected the instant

messaging application will highlight the occurrence of the message in the relevant message grouping displayed in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. For instance, clicking on the message "Real estate mag is not important for people...." in the Message Canvas dialogue box 206 will result in the corresponding message being highlighted in the tree canvas dialogue box 204.

In order to assist a user of the instant messaging application of the personal computer 102 to quickly locate a desired message grouping in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204, the user can use the Topic List dialogue box 208. The Topic List dialogue box 208 comprises several visual icons 214 each of which represents one of the message groupings in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. Li addition to the icons 214 the Topic List dialogue box 208 includes textual matter that describes the topic (thread) of each of the message groupings in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. For instance, the Topic List dialogue box 208 indicates that one of the message groupings relates to a "Finding words" topic and that another of the message groupings relates to a "Planning proj" topic. Furthermore, the Topic List dialogue box 208 also indicates the number of messages in each of the message groupings that the respective icons 214 represents. The Topic List dialogue box 208 can also be used by the user of the instant messaging application to quickly select an appropriate message grouping in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. In this regard, the user can simply use the mouse of their personal computer 102 to select the required icon 214. In response to one of the icons 214 being selected in the Topic List dialogue box 208 the instant messaging application highlights the relevant message grouping in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204.

As mentioned previously the graphical user interface 200 of the instant messaging application also contains a buddy list dialogue box 210. The buddy list dialogue box 210 comprises several graphical elements 216, each of which conveys information about whether a person is an active or inactive member of the discussion group associated with the message groupings shown in the Tree Canvas dialogue box 204. In addition to the graphical elements 216 the buddy list dialogue box 210 includes information about a period of time the person has being either an active or inactive member of the discussion group. The instant messaging application of each personal computer 102 is arranged to communicate, via the data links 108 and the communication network 106, with the computer server 104 in accordance with the

instant messaging protocol to obtain the information that is displayed in the Buddy List dialogue box 210.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the instant messaging system of the personal computers 102, a laboratory based test was undertaken. The test involved eighteen participants, comprising 10 females and 8 males, were recruited for the laboratory test. The majority of the participants were in their early twenties. All of them had used instant messaging for more than 3 months, and nearly 90% of them had used instant messaging for more than 2 years. The participants were allocated to six groups of three. Each group participated in a two hour experimental session to perform two tasks. Each task was composed of two collaborative exercises.

The first exercise was a finding words game. The rules of the game were that the next word must start with the letter which is the final letter of the previous word listed by another participant, and a word cannot be repeated. One scenario of this game was that each participant had to find ten non-repeated nouns. For example, the first person started with the word "orange", the next person had to find a noun starting with "e" such as "electricity". Three participants took turns to find nouns, and the exercise ended when each participant had found 10 nouns.

The second exercise was a planning budget project. One of the project scenarios included three participants working in a marketing department of a travel agency. They had to plan for a marketing campaign with the budget of $3000. The participants' task was to chat with each other as a group and decide how they should spend the $3000 such as, for example, on radio, TV, local newspapers.

The two exercises were designed and chosen to ensure that participants needed to discuss matters as a group to complete the exercises. For example, in the first exercise the participants need to know the other participants' message in order to do the exercise. The second exercise required participants to discuss different solutions of the budget planning project, and decide their final decision.

In each session, participants performed two tasks (that is, four exercises), using different instant messaging programs, different finding words games (for example, finding nouns and finding verbs) and different "planning budget" scenarios. The procedure of each session is shown in the table of Figure 3.

In Task 1, Gaim (http ://gaim. sourceforge.net) was chosen as a conventional instant messaging client. Gaim is an open source instant messaging client

implementing multiple messaging protocols including, for example, MSN, AOL, Yahoo. The purpose of this task was to see how participants perform their exercises using a conventional instant messaging client. In Task 2, participants used the instant messaging application described in the embodiment of the present invention to carry out their exercises. Three main top-level tree nodes (message groupings) were pre-defined as a proposed structure of the discussion. A non-exercise related chat node was used for non-exercise related chat between participants, a Finding words node was for the first exercise, and a Marketing campaign node was for the second exercise. Although the three topics were made available, participants could (and did) create more topics as appropriate for their discussion.

At the end of a session, participants filled in a 7-point Likert scale questionnaire (for example, "Coloured keyboard icons show multiple people typing" with the scores ranging from 1 as not useful to 7 as useful), and took part in a group interview. We selected group interviews because not only do group interviews allow us to interact directly with participants as in individual interviews, but they also allow the participants to react to and build upon the responses of other participants.

The results of the user test of the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention reported to this section are organised in correspond with the to three design objectives previously stated, including providing the focal point of a conversation, improving the ease of composing new messages, and supporting turn-taking. In addition, a comparison of Gaim with the instant messaging application according to the present invention in terms of their support for group discussion was also studied.

One design objective of the instant messaging application according to the present invention is to provide the focal point of a conversation which is missing from existing instant messaging applications. To show the focal point, the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention features Message Canvas 206 that uses a familiar metaphor of a linear sequence of messages to monitor the queue of coming messages. In addition, Message Canvas 206 uses coloured icons to associate messages arriving at Message Canvas 206 with topics to which messages belong. Participants' feedback on the usefulness of Message Canvas is shown in the table of Figure 4.

Most of the participants found, to some extent, Message Canvas 206 effective in helping them become aware of new messages coming. A coloured icon in front of each message is designed to inform users of the topic containing that message. However, our observation of the laboratory test showed that participants often discussed one topic at a time and only occasionally posted messages in another topic. As a result, participants mainly used a coloured icon as an indicator when there is a change in a conversation (that is, a new message does not belong to the currently discussed topic). As one participant commented on how he used coloured icons:

"With colours, I could tell that is where we were up to, without having to think about oh! It was not related. You could see the difference. But I wasn 't tracking the colour specifically to the topic, just a matter of the difference ".

As described previously, the utterance rule-based algorithm is used to facilitate the ease of composing messages. To evaluate the usefulness of the utterance rule-based algorithm, the following hypothesis is tested:

[H]: "The users use Chat Area to compose message more than interacting directly with the message tree ".

To test [H], a paired one-tailed t-test was used to compare the number of times participants used the Chat Area 202 to compose messages to the number of times they clicked on the Tree Canvas 204 to compose messages. This was tested at the 0.1% level of significance (α = 0.001). This test was found to be statistically significant, t(17) = 4.579, p < 0.001. The result oft-test suggests that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that participants used the Chat Area 202 to post messages often than using the Tree Canvas 204.

From the logged data, it was found that participants often clicked on the message tree in the message canvas 206 when they posted direct questions and answers to other participants' messages, and when they changed to another topic. As the Chat Area 202 was used by participants as a primary method of posting messages, the user test clearly shows that the utterance rule-based algorithm has been useful in detecting automatically the position of a new message in the tree.

The instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention was found highly useful in organising the content of a conversation in topics. It helps participants to track different posts of the same topic quickly and easily, as commented by participants:

"Unique in its ability to create a real-time message board".

"I like it. When I click on a topic, I can see all responses of other people. I don 't have to look somewhere else because all messages are grouped there".

"I found the instant messaging application useful in structuring the discussion. It makes the discussion more systematic and easier to keep track".

The majority of the respondents (nearly 90%) responded that the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention supported them to structure their discussion, as seen in the table of Figure 5.

In addition, the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention was also found useful in allowing participants to conveniently post answers to questions in a conversation. Even in the case when a question had been posted a reasonably long time ago, the user still could easily post a direct answer to the question by creating a child node under the question. Using the tree layout helps to avoid the old copy-and-paste practice. AU of the participants stated that the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention helped them to answer other people's questions directly (see the table of Figure 5). One participant stated:

"In the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention, I can answer the specific question ".

Another useful feature of the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention is that the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention shows visual indicators when many people are typing at the same time, and includes coloured icons to indicate to which topic a

currently composed message belongs. Almost all of the participants found this feature useful (see the table of Figure 5). As commented by one participant:

"The icons [showing who are typing] are very handy. Often, if I saw the other people were typing in the same topic as mine, I stop typing and waited for them to finish first" .

The comment shows that such a visual cue that shows "Who are typing" and "Where messages go" facilitates the turn-taking control in a conversation. A test was also conducted with two instant messaging systems of different interaction styles: Gaim and the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention. Whilst Gaim is a conventional instant messaging tool that displays messages of group discussion in a linear layout, the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention organises messages in both a tree layout and a linear layout. Analysing the logged data and participants' responses, we compared Gaim and the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention in two aspects: quality of discussion and user satisfaction.

First, the measure of the quality of discussion is based on the number of turns occurred in the discussion, and participants' feedback. The logged data shows that on average, a Gaim conversation included 220.5 turns (std. = 22.2), while a the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention conversation had 149 turns (std. = 30.8), which was found to be significantly different, p = 0.001. Thus, it is fair to conclude that a Gaim conversation took more turns than a conversation using the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention. That means, participants were able to complete the tasks, but less turns were required when the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention was used. Participants acknowledged the usefulness of the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention in supporting their discussion, for example:

"A very cool idea, topics are organised and can be followed easily. ", "Quick question and answer posting. ", "Classify topics of discussion is a good idea ".

Second, user satisfaction is measured based on participants' responses to 7-point Likert scale questions and their comments in the interviews. On the one hand, the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention was slightly more preferred than Gaim in a discussion tool; on the other hand, participants were less satisfied with the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention than with Gaim. The main reason is because many basic features have not yet been implemented in the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention (for example, a word wrap feature is missing, no emoticons, fixed fonts, fixed text colours). This lack of features affected participants' experience, as commented by one participant:

"Your program is quite handy for discussion. For example, the tree saves our group time when we reviewed our discussion. But personally I still find Gaim more fun because it has lot ofsmileys and nicer colours ".

However, these user interface features can be enhanced easily by further development.

In the test, we also looked at how participants adapted to the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention by using 7-point Likert scale questions about the learnability, as shown in the table of Figure 6.

The results show that participants did not experience major issues in learning to use the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention. Our design goal is to use familiar metaphors, such as Message Canvas which is similar to a conventional chat window, and Tree Canvas which is similar to threads of a discussion forum application. But, we found participants' adaptation to the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention is still fairly slow. In some cases, although there were predefined topics, some participants still used one topic for discussing two exercises at the same time. We also found that some participants who had used instant messaging for a long time do not necessarily adapt rapidly to the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention. What became important was the participants' previous experience with group conferences using conventional instant

messaging systems. The test shows that participants, who had used conventional instant messaging systems for group discussion, greatly appreciate the structural conversation built by the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention. We are interested in knowing how participants structured their discussion based on the numbers of branches of a tree and the depth of the tree. This information is useful as it helps us to gain a deeper understanding of how a tree layout was used in organising messages. In the test, although three topics were pre-defined, participants created new topics as appropriate for their discussion. We define "level 0" as the level of main topics, and the level increases every time a child node is created.

Our analysis of a message tree examines three aspects: the number of branches, the centre of the tree, and the depth of the tree. First, the number of branches is calculated based on the number of top level topics. Second, the centre of a tree indicates at which level of the tree that most messages are located. Hence, the centre of a tree is calculated based on the total number of messages at each level. Third, the depth of a tree shows how many levels are nested in the tree. The results of analysing message trees from the test are shown in the table of Figure 7.

On average, participants created five topics in their discussion (mean = 5.33, std. = 1.63). This number shows the diversity of matters discussed is group chat. The centre of a tree shows that most of messages posted at one level below the main topic (mean = 1.23, std. = 0.02). That means, in most cases messages are in a linear order, and in some cases participants created a sub node to answer, question, and/or comment another participant's message. The depth of a message tree is around two (mean = 2.17, std. = 0.75). That means, on average participants used up to two levels below the main topic in their discussion, which is very difficult to support in the conventional linear structure of messages. The results of the user test indicate several suggestions that can be implemented in the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention to improve its usability, and to enhance its awareness support for group chat. The instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention supports the control of turn-taking of a conversation by adding a visual cue showing "Who are typing" and "Where new messages go". This feature was found effective and useful by participants. However, the current cue does not handle the case

when users stop typing while they are composing messages. This is also a problem in conventional instant messaging clients.

For example, when a user is typing a message, and for some reason the user stops typing before completing the message. The visual cue of "who are typing" is still on and showing that the user is typing. When other users see that visual cue appear for a long period of time, it gives them the impression that the user is composing a long message, which can be wrong. This phenomenon is different from idleness, as in this situation the user can still be active. Several participants believed that this problem can affect the sequence of turn-taking. To address this problem participants suggested that the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention could show time out if users stop typing for so long. Figure 8 depicts the mock-up of a solution proposed by one participant showing a clock-like icon next to the keyboard icon. The clock icon is changing from full to blank after a period of time. In the current design of the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention, the focal point of conversation is supported by the Message Canvas 206. However, the user study of the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention shows that it is uneasy for those who paid great attention to the Tree Canvas 204 to follow the conversation, as commented by participants :

"/ didn 't look at Message Canvas much because I often looked at the tree. It is hard to navigate two windows [Message Canvas and Tree Canvas] at the same time".

"It is uneasy to see the update in each topic even though there is Message Canvas window" .

Therefore, it is important to display a focal point within the Tree Canvas 204. From our experience with developing the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is difficult to show latest messages posted by all users in a user's viewport because new messages can be posted at any node of a tree

(for example, one message could be at the first thread while another message could be at the last thread, and two threads are not simultaneous visible in user's viewport).

A fish-eye view can be used to address this challenge of displaying multiple new messages in the Tree Canvas 204. Figure 9 shows the mock-up of a fish-eye view integrated in Tree Canvas. A fish-eye view is able to show a local user and remote users' focal points regardless of the locations of their foci.

The instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention is designed to foster information sharing between participants. For that purpose, we implemented Buddy List in such a way that it shows both active and inactive users. However, one participant suggested that the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention should allow users themselves to decide if they want other late-coming users know that they were participating in the discussion. Also, the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention should establish a protocol to set the level of privacy of topics in discussion. Participants commented that in some cases not all topics of a conversation should be visible to everyone. There should be private and public spaces in the instant messaging application according to the embodiment of the present invention.