Influencing group participation with a shared display

During face-to-face interactions, groups frequently overly rely on the dominant viewpoint to lead the group in its decision-making process. We begin with a discussion of this phenomenon and the possibility for technology to assist in addressing it. We then present findings from a behavioral study that examines how a shared display of individual speaker-participation rates can impact the behavior of the group during a collaboration task. The results from the study indicate that the presence of such a display influences the behavior of group participants in the extremes of over and under participation. While influencing the quantity of time someone speaks is not directly equivalent to influencing the topics discussed, we suggest that this approach of providing peripheral displays of social information is promising for improving certain types of group interactions.