COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS What is collaboration? What should a group tool support? What is a meeting? What is known/unknown about group dynamics? Time and space should be a non-issue. Asynchronous tools Synchronous tools Interaction among participants The user/group environment Group memory tangible/intangible knowledge Group decision support systems Group support systems email behavior tasks/task complexity media research multimedia group support systems virtual rooms desktop videoconferencing group sketchpads/white boards shared space privacy =================== COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK Some terms: Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) -- electronic communication in real time or delayed time delayed time (asynchronous) CMC -- allows users to send, retrieve, and disseminate messages at convenient times. real time (synchronous) CMC -- supports the simultaneous interaction of two or more users. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) -- a broader term that denotes group collaboration using technology Groupware -- CSCW products Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs) -- systems that enable group collaboration, enhance decision making, supports meeting configurations Physical and/or geographic and time dispersed factors should not influence communication or quality of communication ======================== What Users Expect From Communication: 1. Users have specific communicative goals that they desire to achieve in a given communicative event 2. Users anticipate certain expected and/or unexpected outcomes will occur on the basis of their interaction with others. ======================= Functionality Ellis et al (1991) recommendations of system functions that could enhance group CMC activity: 1. group operations that can occur both synchronously and asynchronously 2. concurrency control 3. communication protocols that support multi-party and multi-casting communication 4. access control mechanisms that allow users to specify changes easily during any group communication session Other things, too: 5. reliable and clear cut system accessibility 6. optimal response time (Valachich et al, 1991) 7. minimal user cost for connection 8. flexibility or tailorability for user coordination of message exchange (Turoff, et al, 1988) 9. ability to communicate with others in the same location or remotely and at varying time sequences. ================ THE GOAL: Keep the technology transparent from the group process still offer new mechanisms for flexibility and support when group meetings cannot be conducted in traditional face-to-face mode. ====================== WHERE RESEARCH ON CMC STARTED Englebart (1968) Hiltz et al (1980 ...) New Jersey Institute of Technology Kiesler et al (1982....) Carnegie Melon University Hesse, Werner, & Altman (1988) -- temporal aspects Mackay (1988) MIT ================= GROUPWARE AND CSCW TODAY Shared Video Spaces Electronic Classroom - Nova Southeastern University Capture Lab - Ann Arbor, MI Group Systems -- University of Arizona Information Lens -- MIT Lotus Notes Collaborative Writing Systems -- PREP/GROVE Group Calendaring Systems Client/Server -- file servers, database servers MANTEI (1992): "It is extremely difficult to introduce a technology that is expected to supplant face-to-face communication and collaboration when we know so little about the mechanisms underlying collaboration." =============== Unanswered Questions in Spatially Distributed CSCW environments: (Mantei) 1. What types of communication environments create a sense of presence? 2. Is a sense of presence needed? 3. How much control do we give each individual over video? 4. How important is privacy of video records? 5. Will distributed shared workspaces really improve productivity and collaboration? ============= BEYOND BEING THERE -- Hollan (1992) Solve the telecommunication problem by creating a sense of "being there." "It is tempting to think that with perhaps a little more screen resolution, a little more fidelity in the audio channel, a little more tweaking to bring the machinery in conformance with subtle and long-established social mechanisms such as eye contact, telecom. systems will achieve a level of information richness so close to face-to-face that for most needs it will be indistinguishable. But will they ever be close enough?" ============= FUTURE RESEARCH -- Shneiderman CSCW Questions: What ways do people work together in an organization? How would facilitating communication improve or harm teamwork? Where does the community of users stand on centralization versus decentralization? What pressures exist for conformity versus individuality? How is privacy compromised or protected? What are the sources of friction among participants? Is there protection from hostile, aggressive, or malicious behavior? Will there be sufficient equipment to support equal access for all participants? What network delays are expected to be tolerable? What is the level of technological sophistication or resistance? Who is most likely to be threatened by CSCW? How will high-level management participate? Which jobs will have to be redefined? What are the additional costs or projected savings? Is there an adequate phase-in plan with sufficient training? How will we evaluate success? COLLABORATIVE WORK (Khoshafian and Buckiewicz, 1995) The Individual word processing personal spreadsheets and databases authoring and presentation calendaring and personal notification project planning financial applications faxing and modems for interchanging information The Small Team corporate database access email and workflow systems document management systems group calendaring group coauthoring group meetings The Enterprise email Internet newsgroups accessibility of "corporate memory" Corporate or Organizational memory: a knowledge base of all the association and reasoning of an organization's accumulated knowledge, procedures, and processes. TIME AND PLACE INTERACTIONS (Sprague and Watson) (Khoshafian and Buckiewicz) Same Time/Same Place Electronic whiteboards PC and a projector Team rooms Group Decision Support Systems Same Time/Different Places Telephone conference calls Video conferencing (one-to-one or many-to-many) Satellite downlinks (one-to-many) Electronic whiteboards Different Times/Same Place Shared files Electronic bulletin boards Virtual meeting rooms Kiosks (key-osks) Different Times/Different Places Messaging in general Electronic mail Electronic bulletin boards Faxing