Analysing Meeting Records: An Ethnographic Study and Technological Implications

摘要

Whilst there has been substantial research into the support of meetings, there has been relatively little study of how meeting participants currently make records and how these records are used to direct collective and individual actions outside the meeting. This paper empirically investigates current meeting recording practices in order to both understand fundamental collaboration processes and to determine how these might be better supported by technology. Our main findings were that participants create two types of meeting record. Public records are a collectively negotiated contract of decisions and commitments. Personal records, in contrast, are a highly personalised reminding tool, recording both actions and the context surrounding these actions. These observations are then used to informally evaluate current meeting support technology and to suggest new directions for research.