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Preserving Communication Context 233

thing in Japanese groups is face-to-face communication, which cre-
11
ates atmosphere, or kuuki. This is borne out by use experiments of
several CSCW systems which have demonstrated that it is difficult
for a group to use them without having first met to establish an at-
mosphere of mutual trust. “We need to meet once face-to-face before
having such a meeting because without meeting face-to-face we don’t
feel friendly or we don’t feel easy to talk. . . . And once we have met
we can use such kind of machine. But we thought we still need video
images to make the participants feel easy or feel friendly.” 12
The cases presented above illustrate the close relationship be-
tween designers’ preconceptions and frames of reference and the sys-
tems they design. Japanese CSCW researchers consistently invoke
Japanese culture as a justification for decisions to focus on contex-
tual awareness and non-verbal communication in Japanese CSCW
systems. The preferred Japanese approach to CSCW design is to
provide a channel for communication, which can be used to comple-
ment, or supplement, traditional ways of working. This channel
should transmit as much information as possible (hence the wide-
spread use of video and large displays) but should avoid specifying
procedures or ways of doing things. It is not a tool, but another ele-
ment in the working environment that can offer important contex-
tual information to enable coworkers to evaluate a situation and to
respond in accordance with existing social protocols.
While certain characteristics of Japanese CSCW systems can be
explained with reference to the particularities of their society, it is
also significant, in our view, that there is such widespread agree-
ment on what constitutes interesting CSCW research in Japan.
Ishii’s work on gaze awareness and the use of video have been picked
up and pursued by the Japanese CSCW community. Similarly, the
importance of gesture, body language and postures in supporting
awareness between coworkers, and considerations of interpersonal
distance are recurrent themes. Certainly, these issues must strike a
chord as designers try to build systems that will correspond to po-
tential uses and eventual contexts of use as they understand them. 13

Implications

Clearly, the frames of meaning of Japanese CSCW researchers have
a major impact on their design choices. These choices in turn guide
the implementation and eventual use of these systems. Designers
create artifacts to fit into cultural spaces as they understand them.