Computer Supported Cooperative Work CSCW

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Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)

• Jim Eales

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CSCW

• Computer
• Supported
• Cooperative
• Work

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CSCW definition

• CSCW should be conceived as an endeavour to
  understand the nature and characteristics of
  cooperative work with the objective of designing
  adequate computer-based technologies.
• - Bannon and Schmidt (1991)

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Groupware

• GROUPWARE intentional GROUP processes and
  procedures to achieve specific purposes
  softWARE tools designed to support and faciltate
  the groups work

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Cooperation

• Cooperation acting together, in a coordinated
  way in the pursuit of shared goals

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History

• Engelbart (1960s) Augmented Knowledge Workshop
• CSCW - Grief Cashman (1984)
• Groupware P T Johnson-Lenz (1980)
• CSCW86 conference
• First ECSCW conference 1989

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Connections

• CSCW HCI
• Networks
• World Wide Web
• Mobile - wireless

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Face-to-face communication

• Eye contact / gaze
• Gestures / body language
• Back channels confirmation and interruption
• Turn-taking

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Time/space classification
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Time/space classification
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A shared workspace system
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NetMeeting
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Chat
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Shared whiteboard
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A video communication system
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DVC in education
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Collaborative Virtual Environments
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Collaborative Virtual Environments
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Why groupware fails (Grudin)

• Organisational factors that influence the
  acceptance of groupware.

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Why groupware fails 1

• Disparity in work and benefit additional work
  may be required from individuals who do not
  perceive a direct benefit.
• Critical mass and Prisoners dilemma problems
  groupware may not enlist a critical mass of users
  to be useful or it may not be to any individuals
  benefit to use.

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Why groupware fails 2

• Disruption of social processes it may violate
  social taboos or threaten existing power
  structures.
• Exception handling it may not support the wide
  range of exception handling and improvisation
  associated with group activity.

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Why groupware fails 3

• Unobtrusive accessibility features that support
  group activity are usually used less frequently
  and need to be unobtrusively integrated with
  other features.
• Difficulty of evaluation difficulty of
  generalisation makes it hard to learn from
  experience.

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Why groupware fails 4

• Failure of intuition intuition in product
  development is poor for multi-user applications.
• The adoption process groupware requires more
  careful introduction in the workplace.