CComputerSSupportedCCollaborativeWWork
Henrry Rodríguez
Introduction The term was coined by Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz in
October 4, 1978. [3]. "Groupware is often used to specifically denote the
technology that people use to work together, whereas CSCW refers to the field that studies the use of that technology." Tom Brinck [2]
Concept: A class of software that helps groups of colleagues (workgroups) attached to a local-area network organize their activities [1].
CSCW and Groupware HCI: Single user-computer and CSCW: User-computer-user
performing co-operative activities Groupware refers to the technology used by people while
working together. System that support groups of people engaged in a common
task or goals and that provide an interface to a shared environment.[Ellis, Gibbs, Rein, 1991]
CSCW focus on groupware CSCW is the study of the tools and techniques of groupware as
well as the psychological, social, and organisational effects.
When planning a collaborative work [4] it should be take into account the following elements:
General goals and specific goals Tasks to be performed
Activities or steps group/individual Focus on
Acting Group (or Group Interaction Process) Behaviour Setting.
properties of the individuals, the standing group (or group structure), the task/situation, and the properties of the environment.
McGrath J.E: his view on groupware
Examples of CSCW systems
Email Shared database/hypertext Videoconferencing Chat systems Real-time shared application
Aspects collaborative writing Drawing Games
Core stones of group activity Communication
Support for ongoing and direct communication among people Text, voice, video, and Face to face communication
Collaboration The act of joint co-operation in solving a problem or
undertaking a task - e.g. finding a place and a time to meet, decision making.
Support for sharing info such as awareness of others’ activities Co-ordination
Orchestra the communication and the collaboration Adjusting individual contributions to fit into the overall task Includes distributing tasks to team members, and reviewing
their performance
Computer mediated communication
distributing information increasing organizational efficiency creating electronic democracy challenging traditional hierarchies.
Computer mediated communication (cont.)
+networking ---> promote long-distance collaboration
Branching Emotions, Flaming, free rider Distance learning Virtual communities
Time-space matrix
Same time Different times
Sameplace
Face to faceAsynchrounousinteraction
Differentplaces
Synchrounousdistributed
Asynchrounousdistributed
Same place same time
Meeting face-to-face. Brainstorming, voting, and ranking.
Managers spent about half of their time in meetings
Difficult to keep a fixed focus and decision making
E-whiteboard, WYSIWIS, Meeting rooms (1981 Arizona)
Same place different times
Usually it needs a shared space
Co-ordination tools Project scheduling
Different places same time
Distance Video conferencing Desktop conferencing
Replication on others’ screen Chat, IRC, ICQ, CuSeeMe, Instant messager,
Shared-Editor session, Lectures
Different places different times
Electronically file transfer Durable messages WWW in CSCW
E-groups, BSCW, Newsgroups E-mail
Awareness
Who is/was who Who does/did what What is done Are you there? From E-mail to F2F Couple/Uncouple awareness.
Other issues
Departure/adding users to the team Anonymity Distinct roles Users who need each other to complete a task Security
Discussion
Email- what is shared? Group vs. Community From Here and Now to Everywhere and Forever
[5] Human-human interaction
References [1] http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/g/groupware.html [2] http://www.cs.tcd.ie/Sotirios.Terzis/CSCW.html [3] http://www.awakentech.com/ search for Groupware:Coining and Defining It.
We [Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz ] first coined the term "groupware" in our research notes on October 4, 1978 during our work with Murray Turoff and S. Roxanne Hiltz on the Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. We wrote about it in an informal paper, "On CC and Citizen Participation," dated February 2, 1979, that we made available on EIES ("CC" = computer conferencing).
[4] McGrath, J. E., 1984, Groups, interaction, and performance. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall.
[5] Jonathan Grudin, Group Dynamics and Ubiquitous Computing. Comm. ACM 45, 12 (Dec. 2002), 74-78.