Even when seated in front of the same computer, group communication
patterns are different. When students work at a table, the space between
them is used for sharing communication cues such as gaze, gesture, and
nonverbal behaviors. If the people are talking about objects on the table,
then the task-space is a subset of the communication space. The
collaborators can see each other and the shared communication cues at
the same time as the objects they are discussing. However, when users are
collaborating in front of a desktop screen, they are often sitting side-byside
and their attention is focused on the screen space. In this case, the
task space is part of the screen space and is separate from the
interpersonal communication space.