Effects of multimedia communication on GUNGEN (groupware for an idea generation support system)

We have developed an idea generation support system with multimedia (video and audio) and text-based chats communication function. The mean frame rate of video screen was about 3-4 and the sound had a bit delay. We compared the result of student experiments on a distributed and cooperative KJ method using it (video, audio, and chats communication function) with using only text-based communication in different rooms on different floors. KJ method is a text-based idea generation method and well-known in Japan. We found no difference between those results in terms of number of ideas, islands and characters of conclusion (sentence). But we also find the frequency of use of a question mark in text-chatting was reduced in multimedia environment and was the same with that of text-based chats communication environment on neighbour environment