In the collaborative sessions, we collect logs of everything typed to the MOO, as well as quicktime movies of the Whiteboard window. Excerpts of the MOO-logs for two of these sessions are shown in Tables 2 and 4. The basic information recorded includes the time a command was typed (shown in [hours:]minutes:seconds from start of the experiment), which subject performed the command (S for Sherlock, H for Hercule), which MOO-room the subject's character was in at the time, and what the subject typed. Further derived columns were also included for typing that was understood as valid commands by the MOO. This includes a column for the action name, one for the other arguments of a command (e.g., what is being looked at, where a player is moving from and too, who is being spoken to, etc.), and, in the case of direct communication, what has been said. This kind of logging allows us to reconstruct aspects of the state of both individuals throughout the collaboration. Table 4 includes some examples of typing that did not result in successful commands. Most of these, such as at 1:12:20, are due to simple typos, but some are due to misconceptions about the domain (at 1:13:55, S tries to read about the gun, but the detective's notebook only presents information gathered according to the witnesses who provided it).
In addition, from the whiteboard movies, we derive logs of all whiteboard creations and manipulations, time synchronized with the MOO logs. This allows us to easily view the relationship between grounding-related actions in the MOO and whiteboard, showing that the pair forms one collaborative system, rather than acting as individual media. This point is elaborated upon in [Dillenbourg et al. 1996].
| time | place | who action | args | said text | typed command | |
| 10:23 | corr | H | *say* | -- | I see you are fast | say I see you are fast |
| 11:23 | blue | S | *who* | who | ||
| 11:56 | blue | S | *page* | H | what are you doing | page hercule what are you doing |
| 12:18 | corr | H | *say* | -- | how do you know about this f.. chair? | say how do you know about this f.. chair? |
| 12:47 | corr | H | *moveto* | corr,blue | walk to blue room | |
| 12:58 | blue | S | *who* | who | ||
| 13:42 | blue | S | *say* | H | do you agree that red and blue room do not communicate? | say do you agree that red and blue room do not communicate? |
| 14:05 | blue | S | *who* | who | ||
| 14:37 | blue | S | *say* | H | why dont you never answer my messages? | say why dont you never answer my messages? |
| 15:13 | blue | S | *look* | blue | look | |
| 15:24 | green | S | *moveto* | blue,green | s | |
| 15:35 | blue | H | *say* | -- | because I am trying to draw the obvious exits of blue room, I | say because I am trying to draw the obvious exits of blue room, I |
| 17:27 | blue | H | *page* | S | because I am trying to draw the obvious exits of blue room, I | page sherlock because I am trying to draw the obvious exits of blue room, I |