CSCW

toc =Computer Supported Cooperative Work (Groupware)=

This term was first coined in 1984 by Irene Greif and Paul M. Cashman. It initially refered to the use of technology to assist in a person with work. Through time, however, the name has grown to refer to "how collaborative activities and their coordination can be supported by means of [|computer systems]" (Wikipedia, 2006). It is how people work in groups that utilize technology to collaborate and cooperate. In addition to studying how the technology benefits a group, this field is also concerned with the psychological, social, and organizational effects of its usage. Consider the use of virtual reality in the workplace. If this were the only area in which co-workers were able to interact with each other, a type of social bond may be created. Being able to see a representation of someone else, known as an avatar, may increase thier bonds with each other, which would be different if they were only able to communicate via email.

A general example of CSCW can be seen with the WIKI you are reading right now or as a CAVE and further exemplified with other collaborative software. Everyday, people who are possibly isolated from one another are able contribute to eachothers work. This not only builds the knowledge that is made available, but also creates a sense of community.

=Key Issues=

(Dix, 1996)
 * Group Awareness**

When designing for a CSCW environment, certain tradeoffs must be considered. One needs to decide what will be visible, time delays, how many people see the same information, and any alternative views of the system (Waterson, 2006).

Aside from the design, users of the system must also be aware of who is using the system and what they are doing with it. It is also important that users be aware of where everyone is located within the CSCW environment (Waterson, 2006).

Most interfaces that have been created for CSCW are two-dimensional (Billinghurts et al., 1997), but work is being done in virtual environments to break this barrier. A virtual environment is created with a computer, and it is a three-dimensional representation of reality. Users are even represented by virutal 'selves', refered to as avatars. This type of environment also provides users with the benefit of mimicking the real world, as they are able to virtually 'see' each other. 'Shared Space' is a current topic exploring this type of interface (Billinghurts et al., 1997).
 * Multi-user interfaces**

Two-dimensional interfaces, as a contrast, provide users with a common environment that they share, but do not see virutal representations of themselves. Shared spaces are the most common way to achieve this multi-user interface (Antunes & Guimaraes, 1994). This is essentially some type of graphical display, say on a computer monitor, in which everyone can see the same types of information. Issues regarding this interface include whether everyone will see the same information, or possible restrictions and management on certain users (Antunes & Guimaraes, 1994). Another key design issue of the interface is how the information will be displayed, whether everyone see's the same layout from the same perspectives, or possibly multiple views (Antunes & Guimaraes, 1994).

Concurrency control problems relate to issues such as events occuring out of order, thus producing inconsistencies within the environment (Greenberg & Marwood, 1994). Users expect a system like CSCW to behave like the real world, with changes being updated on their screens in real time. However, time delays are a natural occurance of computers (Greenberg & Marwood, 1994). Environments such as this WIKI minimize elements such as time delays since users are only able to update a page one at a time. Multiple users are not interacting with the same page at the same time. Thus, the issue of concurrancy control increases as more users are able to work with a system at the same time (Greenberg & Marwood, 1994).
 * Concurrency control**

(Dix, 1996) The design of a CSCW environment must also consider how users are going to interact with eachother. Although they can communicate directly with one another externally, such as a phone, it may be necessary for them to communication through the system (Dix, 2006). The coordination aspect of this issue also relates back to that of concurrency control. Tasks must be done in a specified order for data to be shared (Amiour, 1998).
 * Communication and coordination within the group**

Research into CSCW is currently increasing, and it has been shown that the need for a common space will soon be needed. Currently, stand-alone systems, which use a standard operating system, are being used to support this collaborative work, there is a need for multimedia capabilities, such as video, through networks (Wilde, 1994). This is not to be confused with video conferencing, as this type of information sharing does not support data manipulation (Wilde, 1994). The only information that can be shared is visually or through sound.
 * Shared information space**

=Grudin's Eight Challenges for CSCW Developers=

- From 'Groupware and Social Dynamics: Eight Challenges for Developers'


 * **Challenge 1. The disparity between who does the work and who gets the benefit**
 * Different work roles and individuals in CSCW recieve different benefits
 * Some people have to contribute additional effort or change their work habits
 * Use of as shared diary system - Everyone is expected to be disciplined and to put their appointments or etc. in the system
 * Grudin proposes a commitment by meeting organizers to act on participants ideas
 * Another might be an agreed limit of no more than a certain number of meeting hours per person per week - something that would be easy to calculate from the shared diary

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 * **Challene 2. Critical mass and prisoner's dilemma problems**
 * CSCW needs a critical mass of people to participate
 * The shared diary is worse than useless if one or two people have to be chased up in person
 * Instances of the reversedifficulty have appeared - too many people using a CSCW technology for too many purposes, resulting in a huge overload of information
 * Email is a good example
 * Originally email is a quick unobtrusive means of coordinating work, it is now the default means of communication about everything in many workplaces
 * It's so easy that people are copied into messafes without much real thought as to whether they really need to share the information

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 * **Challene 3. Social, political and motivational factors**
 * Work is a socially contructed practice, with all the shifting, conflicting motivations and politicking that this implies
 * We navigate through this environment using our knowledge of other people and guided by social conventions
 * Acceptance will be influenced social conventions
 * Acceptance of CSCW and its organizational consequences are unpredictable
 * Grudin suggests a recognition of the scoial complexity of work as a neccessary foundation for design, coupled with involvement of end users from the target organization

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 * **Challene 4. Exception handling in workgroups**
 * As work is social it is supported by informal procedures as well as formal ones
 * Many work procedures have a set of steps
 * However sometimes it may be neccessary to bend certain rules to get things done efficiently and effectively
 * Human beings are good at improvising to make things work, computers are not
 * Disasters can happen when co-working technologies enforce standard procedures regardless of exceptional circumstances
 * Designers need to consider how work is actually done and design around this


 * **Challenge 5. Designing for infrequently used features**
 * Day-to-day tasks do not require constant communication even if it is collaborative
 * Technology should help people switch fluidly from individual to co-working modes
 * Unfortunately CSCW tools tend to emphasize cooperation at the expense of support for individual working
 * Grudin recommends that the design of co-working features should enhance existing single-user applications ranther then to enforce a switch to CSCW mode

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 * **Challenge 6. The underestimated difficulty of evaluating groupware**
 * Group applications are more difficult to evaluate
 * Users in different roles will have different experiences of the tool


 * **Challenge 7. The breakdown of intuitive decision-making**
 * Grudin contrasts CSCW systems with single user apps where intuitive decisions could be made with a reasonable degree of success
 * Designers haverecognized the complexity of even single-user activities as technologies move out from the workplace
 * Intuitive decisions in CSCW design are well designed

> > >
 * **Challenge 8. Managing acceptance: a new challenge for product developers**
 * User acceptance is an issue for many new technologies
 * Acceptance issues are crucial to CSCW design
 * It is suggested that add-ons to successful single user products may foster acceptance, as well a good understanding of the work environment

**References:**
Amiour, M. (1998). A Support for Communication in Software Processes. http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/update/569638 Retrieved on December 6, 2006.

Antunes & Guimaraes, (1994). Multiuser Interface Design in CSCW. http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/update/415935 Retrieved on December 2, 2006.

Benyon, David, Turner, Phil, and Susan Turner. //Designing Interactive Systems: People, Activities, Contexts, Technologies.//

Billinghurst, M., Baldis, S., Miller, E., & Weghorst, S. (1997). Shared Space: Collaborative Information Spaces. http://www.hitl.washington.edu/publications/p-96-5/ Retrieved on December 3, 2006.

Dix, Alan. (2006). Challenges and Perspectives for Cooperative Work on the Web. http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/dixa/papers/CSCW+WWW/issues.html#slide3 Retrieved on December 8, 2006.

Greenberg, & Marwood. (1994). Real Time Groupware as a Distributed System. http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/cachedpage/245768/2 Retrieved on December 2, 2006.

Sarah Waterson. Awareness. http://guir.berkeley.edu/courses/cscw/fall2001/lectures/awareness.shtml Retrieved on November 28, 2006.

Computer Supported Collaborative Work. TUM Informatik XI. http://www.telekooperation.de/cscw/ Retrieved on November 28, 2006.

Wikipedia: CSCW. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSCW Retrieved on November 21, 2006.

Wilde, E. (1994). Supporting CSCW Applications with an Efficient Shared Information Space. http://dret.net/netdret/docs/wilde-tikrep94b.pdf Retrieved on December 6, 2006.