Computer-Supported Collaborative Work : Encyc...

Computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) incorporates computer technology into systems that help people work together more effectively. Established in the 1980s, this revolutionary field is closely related to an approach to information-systems development that is based on sociological studies of everyday work practices.

RECONSIDERING PLACE AND TIME

Traditionally, having a meeting has meant gathering people in the same location at the same time. Sometimes that's the case with CSCW, but it does not have to be. With computer technology, the issues of time and place are no longer constraints. If everyone interacts at the same time, the meeting is synchronous. Asynchronous meetings, in contrast, don't resemble what most people think of when they think of meetings. The interaction among participants do not occur simultaneously; instead, people participate on the task when they can, whether anybody else in the group is currently doing so or not. Just as the time element has become more flexible with CSCW, so too has meeting location. Computer technology can support workers at different locations (distributed meetings) as well as the more traditional meetings in which people are in the same location (collocated meetings). They can even allow workers to attend multiple meetings simultaneously.

CSCW can be classified along the dimensions of place and time to create four different types of collaborations. Same place/same time (SPST) efforts look most like a traditional face-to-face meeting. Different place/same time (DPST) meetings require participants to coordinate schedules just as with traditional meetings, but they can literally be anywhere in the world. Same place/different time (SPDT) means that people ultimately find themselves in a common location, but not simultaneously. In different place/different time (DPDT) projects, people on opposite sides of the world can interact without having to worry about time zone differences, working outside normal business hours, or how to get to a particular location.

Some analysts take things further and add a fifth type of collaboration: any place, any time (APAT). Wireless technologies let people send and receive messages no matter where they are; equipped with laptops, they are ready to become immersed in a task whenever the need arises.

GROUPWARE: THE ENABLER OF CSCW

Groupware refers to any application/technology supporting multiple users in their quest to collaborate on a task. The groupware concept is the brainchild of Douglas Engelbart—the same man who invented the mouse and pioneered the commercial implementation of hypertext. Though Englebart experimented with groupware technologies in the 1960s, the term groupware was not used until the 1980s. Designed to facilitate human-human communication, the best groupware maximizes effective interaction among group members without introducing much technological interference. Many forms of groupware are available; one of the most famous examples is Lotus Notes. Four commonly used types of applications are:

Computer (or Data) Conferencing. Computer conferencing or data communication can take several forms. Some, such as chat rooms, operate in real time and are STDP. Others, including electronic mail (email), bulletin-board software, and discussion groups, are asynchronous (DTSP, DTDP, ATAP).

Group Calendaring and Scheduling. These applications help groups organize, prioritize, order, and assign tasks. They can facilitate anything from simple meeting agendas to coordinating the completion of time-sensitive, interdependent, complex, multi-stage processes. They can take any time/place configuration.

Group Document Handling. A variety of applications support collaborative work on traditional text-based documents, databases, and spreadsheets. When the emphasis is on hand-generated content such as drawing and handwriting, electronic whiteboards are preferred. These hardware/software configurations represent in a virtual environment the standard white-board found in conference rooms all over the world. Though they utilize the whiteboard metaphor, some can support activities well beyond merely working with manually generated figures. They can take any time/place configuration.

Electronic Meeting Systems. Often referred to as Group Support Systems or Group Decision Support Systems, Electronic Meeting Systems (EMSs) can incorporate any combination of groupware applications.

Like all CSCW applications, EMSs are designed to encourage communication and to improve performance. They are usually STSP or STDP. Most systems include a networked computer terminal for each person. This personal workspace is coupled with a public screen to display material to the entire group. With most EMSs, users can type comments into the system for public display, respond to posted comments, and send private messages to each other. All but the last type of message are anonymous. These communication tools are supplemented with tools designed to help the group manage information, by storing, retrieving, finding, and otherwise processing information. Most systems are designed to provide further task support while the group generates, refines, evaluates, and selects ideas or alternatives. These decision-support functions include, among others, brainstorming and voting. Many systems encourage rational decision-making by providing a logical procedure to structure deliberations.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CSCW

A wide variety of benefits or advantages have been attributed to computer support in collaborative work. Face-to-face meetings can occur less frequently. People can make better decisions, faster, with more complete consensus. Information flow within an organization can be increased.

With an EMS, comments can remain anonymous, which supports a focus on ideas rather than people. It encourages shy—or lower status—group members to participate more fully. EMSs help ensure fuller, more democratic participation; domination of the process by a few members becomes more difficult. In addition, because everyone can use their keyboards simultaneously, they also allow everyone to “talk at once”; people are not as likely to forget what they wanted to say just because they could not say it right away.

A major benefit of groupware is that it relieves time and place constraints. Companies don't incur travel expenses, travel time is not lost, and jet lag and other ill effects are eliminated. International collaboration is facilitated. Even on a local level, avoiding one round trip across town during rush hour could yield several extra productive hours per person.

Additionally, responding to written communication with written communication can allow for a more reflective response. People can think about what they have read and respond when they are prepared, rather than having to make an immediate response in a face-to-face communication situation. Written messages can be more carefully crafted and edited than spoken ones.

Groupware encourages flexibility in organizations; it allows for what have been called dynamic teams—teams that are assembled when required, for only as long as required.

However, there are also disadvantages to group-ware. Most people can come right into a new meeting situation ready to get to work. That is not the case with computer-supported collaborative work. By definition, computer-based tools require at least some degree of computer literacy, and some, such as electronic meeting systems, only become understood after several exposures. Because facility with such systems requires multiple uses, the first few meetings may be less satisfying and less productive. Groups using EMSs often take longer than others to accomplish their task, although some studies have shown the opposite result.

While it is nice that most people can read faster than they listen, and hence can process more text more quickly, the fact remains that even very good typists usually can not keep pace with their rate of speech. When people have to key in the content of their messages, it slows them down. Just as computer-supported collaborations can encourage the more shy group members to fuller participation, those individuals who can not type well or who are not comfortable with the technology may become inhibited.

Further, the more removed that people are from face-to-face interaction, the less “rich” the information is that they receive. When communicating, listeners rely on facial expressions, gestures, pauses, and vocal attributes such as volume, pitch, and rate of speech to understand the full meaning of what the speaker is trying to convey. If these nonverbal cues are not supported by the technology, people have only the words to draw upon. This can make communication more challenging and misunderstandings more likely. People engaged in CSCW need to understand the differences among channels of communication. As valuable and revolutionary as the technology is, there are times when nothing beats an old-fashioned face-to-face conversation.

—Rebecca Ann Lind

Entry Citation:

Lind, Rebecca Ann. "Computer-Supported Collaborative Work." Encyclopedia of New Media. 2002. SAGE Publications. 4 Apr. 2010. .