C S C W C omputer S upported C ollaborative W ork Henrry Rodríguez

Introduction n CSCW focus on the design of computer system to support co-operative activities n The term was coined by Grief and Cashman who in 1984 organised a workshop among researcher in Office Information System, Hypertext, Computer Mediated Communication. Support ensembles of people in their work activities.

The need for CSCW n Change in the nature of work u Emerging new forms of the organisation of work u More active participation and flexibility among the work force (i.e.management) u Much closer knowledge with the work process

The need for CSCW (cont.) n Taylorism==>Fordism==> Post-Fordism n Workers need to become F more skilled F more aware of the whole process of production F More capable of taking part in planning design, quality control and error retrieval

The need for CSCW (cont.) n Change in computing u Cost of hardware and processing capacity were the main constraints u Program development u Fulfilling the needs of users u Network. Internet, High bandwidth network services u Wireless communication

CSCW and Groupware n Groupware refers to the technology used by people while working together. u System that support groups of people engaged in a common task or goals and that provide an interface to a shared environment. n CSCW focus on groupware u CSCW is the study of the tools and techniques of groupware as well as the psychological, social, and organisational effects.

Examples of CSCW systems n n Shared database/hypertext n Videoconferencing n Chat systems n Real-time shared application u Aspects collaborative writing u Drawing u Games

Corestones of group activity n Communication u Support for ongoing and direct communication among people u Text, voice, video, and Face to face communication n Collaboration u 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. u Support for sharing info such as awareness of others’ activities n Co-ordination u Orchestra the communication and the collaboration u Adjusting individual contributions to fit into the overall task u Includes distributing tasks to team members, and reviewing their performance

Computer mediated communication n distributing information n increasing organizational efficiency n creating electronic democracy n challenging traditional hierarchies.

Computer mediated communication (cont.) n +networking ---> promote long-distance collaboration n Branching n Emotions, Flaming, free rider n Distance learning n Virtual communities

Time-space matrix

Same place same time n Meeting face-to-face. Brainstorming, voting, and ranking. n Managers spent about half of their time in meetings n Difficult to keep a fixed focus and decision making n E-whiteboard, WYSIWIS, Meeting rooms (1981 Arizona)

Same place different times n Usually it needs a shared space n Co-ordination tools n Project scheduling

Different places same time n Distance n Video conferencing n Desktop conferencing u Replication on others’ screen n Chat, IRC, ICQ, CuSeeMe, Instant messager, Shared-Editor session, Lectures

Different places different times n Electronically file transfer n Durable messages n WWW in CSCW u E-groups, BSCW, Newsgroups n

Awareness n Who is/was who n Who does/did what n What is done n Are you there? From to F2F n Couple/Uncouple awareness.

Other issues n Departure/adding users to the team n Anonymity n Distinct roles n Users who need each other to complete a task n Security