Working with Groupware: Understanding and Evaluating Collaboration Technology (Computer Supported Cooperative Work)

This publication has grown out of two frustrations. One is the experience that so many applications in the area of information and communication technology (lCT) are built without an eye to what the users can handle or need for their work, systematic user oriented evaluation of new tools is therefore limited. The video recorder provides a good general example of this phenomenon, but more worryingly so do many software tools designed for use in organisations. The other frustration arises from the fact that the people and the theories that can be used to provide this much needed user orientation are scattered over many disciplines and communities. There is considerable knowledge available about task performance, human communication and group interaction and the way in which new ICT -tools can be used to support these processes, but scientists do not know each other, the studies, theories, journals and conferences are produced by different communities in isolation and little cross fertilisation takes place. In this book I have tried to bring together knowledge from various disciplines, as the basis for constructing a design oriented evaluation approach that hopefully contributes to providing a user orientation for new (technical) systems.

This book looks at the social aspects of how virtual and geographically dispersed groups work together using information and communication tools
(groupware). It introduces the basic concepts and brings together ideas from various disciplines to provide an integrated approach to the evaluation and design of groupware technology.
Key topics include:
=B7Why some collaboration technologies succeed and others fail
=B7The conditions needed for successful distributed collaboration
=B7How to take a systematic, user-oriented, design-related approach to the evaluation of computer supported collaboration Primarily intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Information and Communication Technology, Human-Computer Interaction,
Communication Sciences, Human Factors, Interface Design and Multimedia Systems, this book will also be of interest to researchers, practitioners and lecturers in social and organisational sciences.

This book looks at the social aspects of how virtual and geographically dispersed groups work together using information and communication tools (groupware). It introduces the basic concepts and brings together ideas from various disciplines to provide an integrated approach to the evaluation and design of groupware technology. Key topics include: =B7 Why some collaboration technologies succeed and others fail =B7 The conditions needed for successful distributed collaboration =B7 How to take a systematic, user-oriented, design-related approach to the evaluation of computer supported collaboration Primarily intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Information and Communication Technology, Human-Computer Interaction, Communication Sciences, Human Factors, Interface Design and Multimedia Systems, this book will also be of interest to researchers, practitioners and lecturers in social and organisational sciences. "This book looks at the social aspects of how virtual and geographically dispersed groups work together using information and communication tools (groupware). It introduces the basic concepts and brings together ideas from various disciplines to provide an integrated approach to the evaluation and design of groupware technology." "Key topics include: why some collaboration technologies succeed and others fail, the conditions needed for successful collaboration, and how to take a systematic, user-oriented, design-related approach to the evaluation of computer supported collaboration." "Primarily intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Information and Communication Technology, Human-Computer Interaction, Communication Sciences, Human Factors, Interface Design and Multimedia Systems, this book will also be of interest to researchers, practitioners and lecturers in social and organisational sciences."--Jacket Groupware is a technology designed to help people working in groups to communicate their ideas more easily. While traditional technologies such as the telephone qualify as groupware, the term is usually used to refer to a specific class of technologies that rely on modern computer networks, such as email, newsgroups and videophones. Working with Groupware introduces the basic concepts and brings together ideas from various disciplines to provide an integrated approach to the evaluation and design of groupware technology. Key features include an analysis of the successes and failures of collaborative technology. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Social Processes and Support Tools....Pages 3-18 Implications of Collaboration Technology....Pages 19-42 The Role of Technology in Society....Pages 43-52 Front Matter....Pages 53-53 Technology Acceptance....Pages 55-74 System Match Theories....Pages 75-87 Group Processes....Pages 89-124 Innovation and Implementation....Pages 125-137 Integration for Evaluation....Pages 139-153 Back Matter....Pages 155-191