ProtoTeams: Supporting Small Group Interactions in Co-Located Crowds

Group facilitators often organize large co-located crowds into small groups where people can more effectively interact and learn from each other. However, current approaches for facilitating small group interactions typically do not capture data about the rapport and future potential of interacting groups. We introduce ProtoTeams, a system designed to facilitate and gather data from small group interactions by dynamically connecting people from larger co-located crowds, such as classrooms and hackathons, through personal mobile devices. The system randomly assigns subjects into groups, then guides them through short activities, at the end of which they evaluate their teammate preferences. We report preliminary results from three deployments in a university-level design studio course where students (N = 50) interact with peers on activities before forming teams for a quarter-long project. Results suggest that the system is intuitive and groups form efficiently. Few subjects report the environment being too hectic and activities too short to accurately evaluate their peers. Future studies will continue investigating the value of this tool in co-located team dynamics.