Towards flexible support for cooperation: group awareness in shared workspaces

In the last decade since computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) constituted as a research area on its own many interesting findings about groups of cooperating individuals, cooperative work, and technical support thereof have been made and a huge variety of groupware applications have been built. However, there is a discrepancy between the theoretical concepts elaborated and the functionality of the groupware applications and shared workspace systems built. Actually most groupware systems and shared workspace systems support only highly specific tasks, situations and forms of group interaction. This paper argues for more flexible groupware applications and shared workspace systems, which adhere to those theoretical concepts, which are integrated smoothly through the provision of group awareness information, and which respect the interdependencies and interplay among them.

[1]  Carl Gutwin,et al.  Workspace Awareness in Real-Time Distributed Groupware: Framework, Widgets, and Evaluation , 1996, BCS HCI.

[2]  Elihu M. Gerson,et al.  Analyzing due process in the workplace , 1986, COCS '86.

[3]  Daniel G. Bobrow,et al.  Beyond the chalkboard: computer support for collaboration and problem solving in meetings , 1988, CACM.

[4]  Norbert A. Streitz,et al.  DOLPHIN: integrated meeting support across local and remote desktop environments and LiveBoards , 1994, CSCW '94.

[5]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  ClearBoard: a seamless medium for shared drawing and conversation with eye contact , 1992, CHI.

[6]  Douglas C. Engelbart.  Authorship Provisions in Augment , 1984, COMPCON.

[7]  Alan Borning,et al.  Two approaches to casual interaction over computer and video networks , 1991, CHI.

[8]  A. Strauss.  Work and the Division of Labor , 1985 .

[9]  Judith S. Donath,et al.  Visual Who: animating the affinities and activities of an electronic community , 1995, MULTIMEDIA '95.

[10]  Paul Dourish,et al.  Portholes: supporting awareness in a distributed work group , 1992, CHI.

[11]  Lucy Suchman.  Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication , 1987 .

[12]  James D. Palmer,et al.  Multigroup decision-support systems in CSCW , 1994, Computer.

[13]  Mike Robinson,et al.  Design for Unanticipated Use , 1993, ECSCW.

[14]  Terry Winograd,et al.  A language/action perspective on the design of cooperative work , 1986, CSCW '86.

[15]  Morten Kyng,et al.  COMPUTER SUPPORT FOR COOPERATIVE DESIGN , 1988 .

[16]  Carl Gutwin,et al.  Supporting awareness of others in groupware , 1996, CHI Conference Companion.

[17]  Clarence A. Ellis,et al.  Groupware: some issues and experiences , 1991, CACM.

[18]  Alan Dix.  Computer Supported Cooperative Work: A Framework , 1994 .

[19]  Kjeld Schmidt,et al.  CSCW: Four Characters in Search of a Context , 1989, ECSCW.