What Counts as Success? Rhythmic Patterns of use in a Persistent Chat Environment

paper presents a case study of a globally distributed work group's use of an online environment called "Loops." Loops is a web-based persistent chat system whose aim is to support collaboration amongst corporate work groups. We describe the ways in which the group turned the system's features to its own ends, and the unusual usage rhythm that corresponded with the team's varying needs for communication as it moved through its work cycle. We conclude with a discussion of design implications, and a suggestion that "community" may not always be the best way to think about groups' use of online systems.

[1]  James D. Herbsleb,et al.  What is chat doing in the workplace? , 2002, CSCW '02.

[2]  Mike Robinson,et al.  Diaries at work , 1998, CSCW '98.

[3]  E. Goffman,et al.  Forms of talk , 1982 .

[4]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  Interaction and outeraction: instant messaging in action , 2000, CSCW '00.

[5]  Wendy A. Kellogg,et al.  Socially translucent systems: social proxies, persistent conversation, and the design of “babble” , 1999, CHI '99.

[6]  Dewayne E. Perry,et al.  People, organizations, and process improvement , 1994, IEEE Software.

[7]  T. Erickson,et al.  Knowledge Communities: Online Environments for Supporting Knowledge Management and its Social Contex , 2001 .

[8]  Volker Wulf,et al.  Sharing Expertise: Beyond Knowledge Management , 2002 .

[9]  Wendy A. Kellogg,et al.  The adoption and use of BABBLE: A field study of chat in the workplace , 1999, ECSCW.

[10]  Thomas Erickson.  Social interaction on the net: virtual community or participatory genre? , 1997, SIGG.

[11]  Elizabeth D. Mynatt,et al.  Design for network communities , 1997, CHI.

[12]  Sara A. Bly,et al.  Virtual environments at work: ongoing use of MUDs in the workplace , 1999, Workshop on Cross-Organisational Workflow Management and Co-ordination.

[13]  Victoria Bellotti,et al.  Walking away from the desktop computer: distributed collaboration and mobility in a product design team , 1996, CSCW '96.

[14]  Steve Whittaker,et al.  The character, functions, and styles of instant messaging in the workplace , 2002, CSCW '02.

[15]  Alexander L. Wolf,et al.  Proceedings of the international joint conference on Work activities coordination and collaboration , 1999 .

[16]  Wendy A. Kellogg,et al.  Social translucence: an approach to designing systems that support social processes , 2000, TCHI.

[17]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  Distributed Work , 2002 .

[18]  Jennifer Preece,et al.  Lurker demographics: counting the silent , 2000, CHI.

[19]  P. Kollock,et al.  Managing the virtual commons : Cooperation and conflict in computer communities , 1996 .