Computer-supported cooperative work

The term computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) was first coined by Irene Greif and Paul M. Cashman in 1984, at a workshop attended by individuals interested in using technology to support people in their work.[1] At about this same time, in 1987 Dr. Charles Findley presented the concept of Collaborative Learning-Work.[2] According to Carstensen and Schmidt,[3] CSCW addresses "how collaborative activities and their coordination can be supported by means of computer systems." On the one hand, many authors consider that CSCW and groupware are synonyms. On the other hand, different authors claim that while groupware refers to real computer-based systems, CSCW focuses on the study of tools and techniques of groupware as well as their psychological, social, and organizational effects. The definition of Wilson (1991)[4] expresses the difference between these two concepts:

“ CSCW [is] a generic term, which combines the understanding of the way people work in groups with the enabling technologies of computer networking, and associated hardware, software, services and techniques. ”

Contents

Central concerns of CSCW

CSCW is a design-oriented academic field bringing together social psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and computer scientists, among others. Despite the variety of disciplines, CSCW is an identifiable research field focused on understanding characteristics of interdependent group work with the objective of designing adequate computer-based technology to support such cooperative work.

Over the years, CSCW researchers have identified a number of core dimensions of cooperative work. A non-exhaustive list includes:

These concepts have largely been derived through the analysis of systems designed by researchers in the CSCW community, or through studies of existing systems (for example, Wikipedia). CSCW researchers that design and build systems try to address core concepts in novel ways. However, the complexity of the domain makes it difficult to produce conclusive results; the success of CSCW systems are often so contingent on the peculiarities of the social context that it is hard to generalize. Consequently, CSCW systems that are based on the design of successful ones may fail to be appropriated in other seemingly similar contexts for a variety of reasons that are nearly impossible to identify a priori.[11] CSCW researcher Mark Ackerman calls this "divide between what we know we must support socially and what we can support technically" the socio-technical gap and describes CSCW's main research agenda to be "exploring, understanding, and hopefully ameliorating" this gap.[12]

CSCW has traditionally held a conference every two years, supported by the ACM. Beginning in 2010, the conference will be held annually.

CSCW Matrix

One of the most common ways of conceptualizing CSCW systems is to consider the context of a system's use. One such conceptualization is the CSCW Matrix, first introduced in 1988 by Johansen; it also appears in Baecker (1995).[13] The matrix considers work contexts along two dimensions: first, whether collaboration is co-located or geographically distributed, and second, whether individuals collaborate synchronously (same time) or asynchronously (not depending on others to be around at the same time).

Same time/same place

Face to face interaction

Same time/different place

Remote interaction

Different time/same place

Continuous task

Different time/different place

Communication + Coordination

See also

CSCW most cited papers

The 47 CSCW Handbook Papers.[14] This paper list is the result of a citation graph analysis of the CSCW Conference. It has been established in 2006 and reviewed by the CSCW Community. This list only contains papers published in one conference; papers published at other venues have also had significant impact on the CSCW community.

The “CSCW handbook”[14] papers were chosen as the overall most cited within the CSCW conference <...> It led to a list of 47 papers, corresponding to about 11% of all papers.

  1. Dourish, P.; Bellotti, V. (1992). "Awareness and coordination in shared workspaces". Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 107–114,. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=143457.143468. 
  2. Grudin, J. (1988). "Why CSCW applications fail: problems in the design and evaluation of organization of organizational interfaces". Proceedings of the 1988 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 85–93. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=62266.62273. 
  3. Root, R.W. (1988). "Design of a multi-media vehicle for social browsing". Proceedings of the 1988 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 25–38. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=62269. 
  4. Patterson, J.F.; Hill, R.D.; Rohall, S.L.; Meeks, S.W. (1990). "Rendezvous: an architecture for synchronous multi-user applications". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 317–328. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99332.99364. 
  5. Greenberg, S.; Marwood, D. (1994). "Real time groupware as a distributed system: concurrency control and its effect on the interface". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 207–217. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192844.193011. 
  6. Nardi, B.A.; Whittaker, S.; Bradner, E. (2000). "Interaction and outeraction: instant messaging in action". Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 79–88. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=358916.358975. 
  7. Hughes, J.A.; Randall, D.; Shapiro, D. (1992). "Faltering from ethnography to design". Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 115–122. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=143469. 
  8. Tang, J.C.; Isaacs, E.A.; Rua, M. (1994). "Supporting distributed groups with a Montage of lightweight interactions". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 23–34. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192861&dl=GUIDE,. 
  9. Neuwirth, C.M.; Kaufer, D.S.; Chandhok, R.; Morris, J.H. (1990). "Issues in the design of computer support for co-authoring and commenting". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 183–195. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99354. 
  10. Crowley, T.; Milazzo, P.; Baker, E.; Forsdick, H.; Tomlinson, R. (1990). "MMConf: an infrastructure for building shared multimedia applications". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 329–342. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99332.99365. 
  11. Roseman, M.; Greenberg, S. (1992). "GROUPKIT: a groupware toolkit for building real-time conferencing applications". Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 43–50. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=143457.143460. 
  12. Shen, H.H.; Dewan, P. (1992). "Access control for collaborative environments". Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 51–58. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=143461. 
  13. Gaver, W.W. (1992). The affordances of media spaces for collaboration. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. 
  14. Orlikowski, W.J. (1992). Learning from Notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. 
  15. Sun, C.; Ellis, C. (1998). "Operational transformation in real-time group editors: issues, algorithms, and achievements". Proceedings of the 1998 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 59–68. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=289469. 
  16. Bly, S.A. (1988). "A use of drawing surfaces in different collaborative settings". Proceedings of the 1988 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 250–256. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=62286. 
  17. Leland, M.D.P.; Fish, R.S.; Kraut, R.E. (1988). "Collaborative document production using quilt". Proceedings of the 1988 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 206–215. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=62266.62282&type=series. 
  18. Conklin, J.; Begeman, M.L. (1988). "gIBIS: a hypertext tool for exploratory policy discussion". ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS) 6 (4): 303–331. doi:10.1145/58566.59297. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=59297. Retrieved 2007-08-03. 
  19. Bentley, R.; Hughes, J.A.; Randall, D.; Rodden, T.; Sawyer, P.; Shapiro, D.; Sommerville, I. (1992). "Ethnographically-informed systems design for air traffic control". Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 123–129. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=143470. 
  20. Mantei, M. (1988). "Capturing the capture concepts: a case study in the design of computer-supported meeting environments". Proceedings of the 1988 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 257–270. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=62266.62287&type=series. 
  21. Lantz, K.A. (1986). "An experiment in integrated multimedia conferencing". Proceedings of the 1986 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 267–275. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=637069.637106. 
  22. Harrison, S.; Dourish, P. (1996). "Re-place-ing space: the roles of place and space in collaborative systems". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 67–76. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240193. 
  23. Roseman, M.; Greenberg, S. (1996). "TeamRooms: network places for collaboration". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 325–333. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240319. 
  24. Ishii, H. (1990). "TeamWorkStation: towards a seamless shared workspace". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 13–26. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99337. 
  25. Ressel, M.; Nitsche-ruhland, D.; Gunzenhäuser, R. (1996). "An integrating, transformation-oriented approach to concurrency control and undo in group editors". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 288–297. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240305. 
  26. Edwards, W.K. (1996). "Policies and roles in collaborative applications". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 11–20. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240080.240175. 
  27. Bellotti, V.; Bly, S. (1996). "Walking away from the desktop computer: distributed collaboration and mobility in a product design team". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 209–218. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240080.240256&type=series. 
  28. Ackerman, M.S. (1998). "Augmenting Organizational Memory: A Field Study of Answer Garden". ACM Transactions on Information Systems 16 (3): 203–224. doi:10.1145/290159.290160. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=290159.290160. Retrieved 2007-08-03. 
  29. Abbott, K.R.; Sarin, S.K. (1994). "Experiences with workflow management: issues for the next generation". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 113–120. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192886. 
  30. Resnick, P.; Iacovou, N.; Suchak, M.; Bergstrom, P.; Riedl, J. (1994). GroupLens: an open architecture for collaborative filtering of netnews. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. 
  31. Prakash, A.; Shim, H.S. (1994). "DistView: support for building efficient collaborative applications using replicated objects". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 153–164. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192895. 
  32. Streitz, N.A.; Geißler, J.; Haake, J.M.; Hol, J. (1994). "DOLPHIN: integrated meeting support across local and remote desktop environments and LiveBoards". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 345–358. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192844.193044. 
  33. Foster, G.; Stefik, M. (1986). "Cognoter: theory and practice of a colab-orative tool". Proceedings of the 1986 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 7–15. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=637069.637072. 
  34. Shen, C.; Lesh, N.B.; Vernier, F.; Forlines, C.; Frost, J. (2002). "Sharing and building digital group histories". Proceedings of the 2002 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 324–333. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=587124. 
  35. Sohlenkamp, M.; Chwelos, G. (1994). "Integrating communication, cooperation, and awareness: the DIVA virtual office environment". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 331–343. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192844.193041&type=series. 
  36. Olson, J.S.; Teasley, S. (1996). "Groupware in the wild: lessons learned from a year of virtual collocation". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 419–427. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240080.240353. 
  37. Reder, S.; Schwab, R.G. (1990). "The temporal structure of cooperative activity". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 303–316. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99332.99363. 
  38. Fish, R.S.; Kraut, R.E.; Chalfonte, B.L. (1990). "The VideoWindow system in informal communication". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 1–11. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99332.99335. 
  39. Haake, J.M.; Wilson, B. (1992). Supporting collaborative writing of hyperdocuments in SEPIA. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. 
  40. Hudson, S.E.; Smith, I. (1996). "Techniques for addressing fundamental privacy and disruption tradeoffs in awareness support systems". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 248–257. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240080.240295. 
  41. MacKay, W.E. (1990). "Patterns of sharing customizable software". Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 209–221. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=99332.99356&type=series. 
  42. Trigg, R.H.; Suchman, L.A.; Halasz, F.G. (1986). "Supporting collaboration in notecards". Proceedings of the 1986 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 153–162. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=637069.637089. 
  43. Patterson, J.F.; Day, M.; Kucan, J. (1996). "Notification servers for synchronous groupware". Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 122–129. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=240080.240232. 
  44. Myers, B.A.; Stiel, H.; Gargiulo, R. (1998). "Collaboration using multiple PDAs connected to a PC". Proceedings of the 1998 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 285–294. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=289444.289503. 
  45. Ackerman, M.S.; Halverson, C. (1998). "Considering an organization's memory". Proceedings of the 1998 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 39–48. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=289461. 
  46. Teasley, S.; Covi, L.; Krishnan, M.S.; Olson, J.S. (2000). "How does radical collocation help a team succeed?". Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 339–346. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=359005. 
  47. Kuzuoka, H.; Kosuge, T.; Tanaka, M. (1994). "GestureCam: a video communication system for sympathetic remote collaboration". Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press New York, NY, USA. pp. 35–43. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=192866. 

References

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  2. ^ .Findley, Charles A. 1989. Collaborative Learning-work. Presentation at the Pacific Telecommunications Council 1989 Conference, January 15–20, Honolulu, Hawaii.Collaborative Networked Learning Project – Digital Equipment Corporation. Primary documents stored on Internet Archive
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  4. ^ Wilson, P. (1991). Computer Supported Cooperative Work: An Introduction. Kluwer Academic Pub. 
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  6. ^ Schmidt, K.; Bannon, L. (1992). "Taking CSCW seriously". Computer Supported Cooperative Work 1 (1): 7–40. doi:10.1007/BF00752449. 
  7. ^ Strauss, A. (1985). "Work and the Division of Labor". The Sociological Quarterly 26 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1985.tb00212.x. 
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  12. ^ "Ackerman, M." (2000). "The Intellectual Challenge of CSCW: The gap between social requirements and technical feasibility". Human-Computer Interaction 15 (2): 179–203. doi:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_5. 
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External links