Space-Mediated Learning at the Locus of Action in a Heterogeneous Team of Mobile Workers

Abstract

To perform, heterogeneous teams must build a common knowledge base that enables collaboration. This paper explores the opportunity to use shared physical space as the mediator par excellence for learning and information sharing among mobile workers of a heterogeneous team. This research focuses on indoor environments that condition the tasks to be performed. Building on the ideas of location-based services and smart spaces, the user is able to store information in the environment and retrieve it based on the immediate work context. We use an information push strategy to foster learning by non-experts at the onset of a task. Formal and informal collaboration tools are used to build the information base required by the system. The example of an extended team of caregivers working at the patient’s home is used to illustrate the learning process at the locus of action.