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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
- From: groupware@arch.ping.dk (Groupware FAQ)
- Newsgroups: comp.groupware,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: comp.groupware FAQ: Posting guidelines for Comp.groupware
- Supersedes: <comp-groupware-faq/guidelines_865330427@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Followup-To: comp.groupware
- Date: 11 Jun 1997 12:21:58 GMT
- Organization: University of Copenhagen
- Lines: 839
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Expires: 3 Jul 1997 12:21:42 GMT
- Message-ID: <comp-groupware-faq/guidelines_866031702@rtfm.mit.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu
- Summary: Guidelines for posting to the Usenet newsgroup comp.groupware.
- Keywords: CSCW, orgware, group, interactive, shared, environments
- X-Last-Updated: 1995/08/08
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.groupware:10090 comp.answers:26471 news.answers:104685
-
- Archive-name: comp-groupware-faq/guidelines
- Posting-Frequency: weekly
- Last-modified: 1995.8.8
- Version: 2.9.1
- Copyright: 1990 - 1995 (C) David S. Stodolsky, PhD
-
- This is the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) list for comp.groupware.
- ====================================================================
-
- Please read carefully:
-
- Any article posted to comp.groupware uses a MINIMUM of TEN hours of
- readers' time.
-
- Do not post responses to ABUSIVE or INAPPROPRIATE articles.
- See (2h) in the FAQ List.
-
- Do not post TEST messages to comp.groupware (see question 2f below).
-
- LOTUS-NOTES specific material goes to comp.groupware.lotus-notes.misc.
- Crosspost or post Lotus Notes related material to comp.groupware only if
- the post is also of interest to users of other types of groupware. If a
- follow-up you post is also of interest to Lotus Notes users add
- comp.groupware.lotus-notes.misc to the Newsgroups (and Follow-ups To)
- header.
-
- Before asking for HELP, read at least this part of the FAQ List.
- Send an e-mail message to rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu with the subject
- "archive send getting-help" (no quotes) and read "The art of getting
- help" to avoid embarrassment and improve your chances of receiving
- useful feedback.
-
- Information for TEACHERS is given under the question on class activity
- (1d).
-
- All posts to comp.groupware are archived and PUBLICLY accessible. Do not
- post anything you would not want a (future) employer to read.
-
- This FAQ list may be cited as:
- Stodolsky, David S. (1995). Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) List for
- comp.groupware. _Comp.groupware_ [Usenet]. (Available by anonymous FTP
- from rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers/comp-
- groupware-faq.)
-
- The latest version of this document can also be accessed by sending an
- e-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "help" and "index" in
- the body on separate lines.
-
- John Faughnan <jfaughnan@medinfo.labmed.umn.edu> writes:
- The correct URL (and it's great) is: http://www.cis.ohio-
- state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/comp-groupware-faq/top.html
-
- This article is posted automatically every 8 days to introduce the group
- to new users. This FAQ list is intended to cut down on the number of
- "Frequently Asked Questions" posted to comp.groupware.
-
-
- **** TABLE OF CONTENTS: ****
- ============================
-
- 1a) What is comp.groupware?
- 1b) How many people read comp.groupware?
- 1c) Should I post if I am not a "groupware professional"?
- 1d) Should comp.groupware be used as a class activity?
- 1e) What do I do if an e-mail reply to an author fails?
- 1f) How do I get information about a specific book or product?
- 1g) How do I post long articles?
- 1h) What if I don't follow the guidelines for posting to comp.groupware?
-
- 2a) What should I do before posting to comp.groupware?
- 2b) How do I ask a question?
- 2c) How do I get the answer to a question someone else posted?
- 2d) What should I use as a subject for my post?
- 2e) Why should I bother with Subject, Summary, and Keyword headers?
- 2f) How do I post test messages?
- 2g) What is the best way to post a follow-up message?
- 2h) What should I do about inappropriate articles?
-
- 3a) Can more than one person use an account name for posting?
- 3b) What is the best way to sign an article?
-
- 4a) What is the proper setting for my distribution header?
- 4b) What if my distribution is restricted?
- 4c) How can I post if I have read-only access to comp.groupware?
- 4d) Can I get comp.groupware by e-mail?
-
- 5) What is groupware?
-
- 6a) Where is comp.groupware archived?
- 6b) What is FTP?
-
- ***What is needed to improve comp.groupware?
-
- ***How do I post copyrighted work?
- ***This document's copyright.
-
- ***What is the easiest way to read this FAQ?
-
- ***Additions.
- ***Corrections, comments, and suggestions.
-
- Additional contents information may be found in other parts of the FAQ
- list.
-
-
- 1a) What is comp.groupware?
- ===========================
- Comp.groupware is a Usenet conference for professional level discussion
- of groupware. A conferencing system is a type of groupware application,
- and this part of the FAQ list suggests how to use this newsgroup most
- effectively. Please help demonstrate the effective use of a newsgroup by
- reading this part completely before posting.
-
- 1b) How many people read comp.groupware?
- ----------------------------------------
- Comp.groupware is read by over 40,000 people (Brian Reid posts
- readership statistics at the beginning of each month to the newsgroup
- news.lists).
-
- 1c) Should I post if I am not a "groupware professional"?
- ---------------------------------------------------------
- Consider the cost to readers of any post. If even an obviously
- inappropriate article is distributed, one that just takes readers a few
- seconds to scan, and then skip or kill, the total time used is still
- large. With 36,000 readers, a post that takes an average of 1 second for
- each reader to deal with (i. e., examining the subject line) means a
- total of ten hours used (36,000 seconds / 3,600 seconds/hour = 10
- hours). If the article uses up an average of four seconds, then the
- total time expenditure is 40 hours, the equivalent of a work week. This
- is probably the minimum time expenditure on any article that is even
- selected for scanning. So, if you spend a week preparing an article and
- then post it to comp.groupware, there will be a balance between your
- time investment and that used by readers, even if they only scan your
- article and make no response. The lack of a separate feedback channel is
- an unfortunate deficiency in the Network News system as it is currently
- structured.
-
- The above analysis should not discourage anyone from posting a simple
- question to comp.groupware. Some of the most interesting and valuable
- exchanges in comp.groupware have resulted from such questions. However,
- authors must not make such requests unnecessarily. On the other hand, a
- carefully prepared article or a report of an extensive project may not
- receive any comment at all. This could mean that the article is clear
- and error free. It could also mean it was not of sufficient interest to
- anyone to be read in detail. What can be assumed is that it was
- seriously considered. This is a result of the currently low traffic
- level in comp.groupware and high quality of articles posted. Please read
- this FAQ list completely so you can help maintain the high quality of
- this group.
-
- Many people have to pay for their news feed *by the byte*. Be
- considerate, be brief, and *think* before you post.
-
- 1d) Should comp.groupware be used as a class activity?
- ------------------------------------------------------
- Teachers should not make use of comp.groupware a class activity. If a
- class is made aware of comp.groupware, this FAQ list should be made
- required reading, so inappropriate use is minimized. Instructional use
- of the news system is best practised in a local newsgroup established
- for that purpose. This also permits establishment of a better
- environment for instructional purposes. See the article "Protecting
- expression in teleconferencing: Pseudonym-based peer review journals"
- {Stodolsky, D. S. (1990). _Canadian Journal of Educational
- Communication_, 19, 41-51. ([1989, May 9]. _Communication Research and
- Theory Network [CRTNET]_, No. 175 [Semi-final draft available by
- electronic mail from LISTSERV@PSUVM.BITNET at University Park, PA: The
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Speech Communication and
- COMSERVE@Vm.ecs.rpi.edu at Troy, NY: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
- Department of Language, Literature, and Communication.])} This article
- also available in compressed format as file "prot.express.tele" on
- ftp.EU.net in
- ~documents/authors/Stodolsky.
-
- Retrieve and examine the file by typing, for example
- (characters before and including ":" or ">" indicate machine's prompting
- for input):
-
- > ftp ftp.EU.net
- login:ftp
- password:<your e-mail address here>
- ftp> bin
- ftp> cd documents/authors/Stodolsky
- ftp> get prot.express.tele.Z
- ftp> bye
- > uncompress prot.express.tele.Z
- > view prot.express.tele
-
- URL: ftp://ftp.eu.net/documents/authors/Stodolsky/prot.express.tele.Z
-
- 1e) What do I do if an e-mail reply to an author fails?
- -------------------------------------------------------
- If your e-mail reply to an author fails, try again using information in
- the signature lines. A directory information server can be consulted to
- find a person's e-mail address. Read the informational article, "How to
- find people's e-mail addresses" (in the newsgroup "news.answers"), so
- you know to contact the postmaster at the site of the person you are
- trying to reach, and so on. Do not post a reply until you have tried to
- reach the author by telephone, facsimile, or paper mail. If these fail,
- ask yourself if getting the reply through is worth ten hours of readers'
- time. If so, post the message. Do not post a message asking a person to
- send you an e-mail address, unless your letter must be kept private (If
- this is true, consider using encryption). If it is not of general
- interest, use only the person's name as the subject (e.g., "To: Foo
- Bar"). If other readers might find it interesting, also give full
- subject information.
-
- 1f) How do I get information about a specific book or product?
- --------------------------------------------------------------
- Do not broadcast requests for information you can obtain from a known
- source. Requests such as, "What are the contents of book Foo published
- by Bar" are not appropriate. This information can normally be obtained
- by a short telephone call and a few minutes of work by someone being
- paid to provide that service. Let's not deprive someone of a job and at
- the same time get comp.groupware readers fired because they are wasting
- all their time reading unnecessary articles :-).
-
- 1g) How do I post long articles?
- --------------------------------
- Post long articles as a single unit if they are less than 30,000
- characters. Otherwise, post separate sections as follow-ups to the
- first, breaking at meaningful places. This permits the sections to be
- treated as a single unit, thus minimizing expenditure of attention on
- the article. The cost of transmitting articles is negligible, so long
- posts that take one second to delete "cost" the same as short ones.
-
- 1h) What if I don't follow the guidelines for posting to comp.groupware?
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Disregarding the guidelines or a lack of self discipline in following
- them will result in defensive attention management. That is, certain
- authors will not be read at all by many readers or valuable discussions
- will take place by e-mail instead of being posted. This would have the
- unfortunate effect of fractionating the joint awareness that permits the
- comp.groupware readership to function as a group. Thus, it is
- recommended that authors who prefer entertainment to rigor in their news
- reading, post to other newsgroups.
-
- Inexperienced users who, for example, post replies instead of using
- e-mail to reach an author are typically labelled "Newbies" and not taken
- very seriously. Make sure you know how to use your newsreading program
- well enough to avoid this mistake. Continuing abuse results in the
- person being regarded as inconsiderate. Most newsreading software
- permits you to enter names of such persons in a "kill" file, thus
- automatically suppressing display of their posts. This is one mechanism
- for defensive attention management.
-
- When many inappropriate posts appear in a group, people unsubscribe and
- authors loose their potential audience. Typically, it is the more
- professional people unsubscribe first. The group then becomes much less
- useful, even for new people with simple questions.
-
-
- 2a) What should I do before posting to comp.groupware?
- ======================================================
- New readers would be wise to examine the archives to get an idea of type
- of articles normally posted to comp.groupware. Notice which articles are
- responded to and which are ignored (see archive information).
-
- Read "Welcome to news.newusers.questions" in that newsgroup before
- posting for the first time. This helps to avoid common mistakes and
- inadvertent abusive behavior that can cause your articles to be ignored.
- Be careful which keys you hit when reading news -- you could be posting
- a follow-up instead of replying directly to the author.
-
- Authors should refer to "Guidelines for posting on Usenet" in the
- newsgroup "news.announce.newusers" to make sure they know to spell check
- their articles, etc. "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions",
- "Introduction to news.announce", "Hints on writing style for Usenet"
- available in the same newsgroup also contain information for new users.
-
- 2b) How do I ask a question?
- ----------------------------
- If you ask a question, your subject line should include "question",
- "query", "(Q)" or should end with a "?". Questions should clearly
- explain your problem and surrounding issues. Otherwise, you will simply
- waste the time of those who want to help you. Tell people the kind of
- work you are doing or contemplating doing. This helps them provide the
- information you need. Indicate what efforts, if any, you have made thus
- far, and what information was found.
-
- Indicate that you will summarize and post the information you receive,
- and only do so if you receive useful information. Do not post saying you
- did not receive any useful information.
-
- 2c) How do I get the answer to a question someone else posted?
- --------------------------------------------------------------
- If that person did not indicate they would post the information they
- received, send mail asking for a summary. If enough people ask, the
- author will likely post the summary. Never post a follow-up to an
- article saying only that you are also interested in the answer to their
- question.
-
- 2d) What should I use as a subject for my post?
- -----------------------------------------------
- Always use your Subject line to state the *topic* of your article as
- completely as possible (e.g., "Macintosh II voice-mail based real-time
- meeting software ready.", rather than "Meeting software"). Summary lines
- should indicate *what* your message says about the topic (e.g., "New
- meeting coordination software available via anonymous FTP"). Statements
- should always end with periods, questions with question marks
- (typically), and high energy, high impact declarations with exclamation
- points. These rules makes articles much easier for recipients to handle
- appropriately.
-
- 2e) Why should I bother with Subject, Summary, and Keyword headers?
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- Subject, Summary, and Keyword headers are scanned by many news reading
- programs, thus permitting readers to find your article easily. You will
- have your articles read more often if you select these carefully.
-
- 2f) How do I post test messages?
- --------------------------------
- Do not post test messages to comp.groupware. There are special groups
- for testing. And tests should be as limited in their distribution as
- possible. This is basic information from "Guidelines for posting on
- Usenet". Posting of test messages inappropriately is considered abusive
- and will cause a loss of readership for your articles.
-
- 2g) What is the best way to post a follow-up message?
- -----------------------------------------------------
- When you reply to a message, do not change the subject line or redirect
- follow-ups (unless you are changing the subject). Such changes make it
- harder for some news readers to follow the threads in a discussion.
- Include a "Summary" line which indicates specifically what your message
- says. This permits your article to be found even if it is a follow-up to
- an article with poorly chosen subject and keyword information. If a
- follow-up you post is also of interest to users of other newsgroups, add
- them to the Newsgroups (and Follow-ups To) header. Similarly, if these
- headers include newsgroups you are sure would not be interested in your
- follow-up, remove them from the headers.
-
- Never post a "me too" message or one that says you "agree" or "disagree"
- with the original post. Use e-mail for this type of response. Posted
- articles should contain information of interest to all readers, not just
- the original author.
-
- 2h) What should I do about inappropriate articles?
- --------------------------------------------------
- Please, do not post responses to articles you feel are inappropriate or
- abusive. (If you can not resist, consider alt.flame as an alternative
- newsgroup for your article [it has greater readership than
- comp.groupware]). If the author is not saying anything worth reading,
- enter the name in your "kill" file, and then no more of your time will
- be wasted by that person. If you feel that the author is saying
- something worth reading, but in an inappropriate way, respond by mail.
- Tell the author what you think is incorrect about the article. If
- possible, suggest how to accomplish the objective in an appropriate way
- (e. g., post to another newsgroup). If you have responded to a person by
- mail a few times without the desired effect, and you feel that the group
- as a whole could benefit by a solution to the problem, only then should
- you post an article. The nature of your article should be a suggestion,
- if possible, of how such problems can be avoided in the future.
-
- 3a) Can more than one person use an account name for posting?
- =============================================================
- Each name should have one and only one user. If an article is a joint
- product, indicate this at the beginning and end of the article. Some
- news reading programs allow certain names to be to be automatically
- selected. Help the reader by using the same name at all times. This will
- improve the chances that people will read your articles.
-
- 3b) What is the best way to sign an article?
- --------------------------------------------
- The signature should include complete name, address, and telephone
- number (this allows quick verification in case forgery is suspected).
- E-mail addresses ought to be included in the signature in case headers
- get munged. Another nice feature is geographical coordinates, so the
- time zone can be determined (useful in telephoning). The signature
- should be limited to four lines as is suggested practice on Usenet.
-
-
- 4a) What is the proper setting for my distribution header?
- ==========================================================
- Set your distribution to world by leaving the "Distribution" header
- blank. Comp.groupware is delivered to all continents. Do not limit your
- chances for feedback by restricting distribution. Restricted
- distribution can cause confusion when people read responses to articles
- they have not seen. If you notice an article has a restricted
- distribution, inform the poster by mail.
-
- 4b) What if my distribution is restricted?
- ------------------------------------------
- If you are restricted from posting to "world" by your administrator,
- request a change in your privileges, at least for this newsgroup. If
- refused, determine what your rights are in terms of appeal, based upon
- information available at your site. An alternative is to use the Net to
- find information and persons to contact concerning your rights.
- Try the newsgroups:
-
- comp.org.eff.news
- comp.org.eff.talk
- misc.legal.computing
- alt.society.civil-liberty
- alt.comp.acad-freedom.news
- alt.society.cu-digest
-
- Information about the rights of network users is available from the
- Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Information about the Electronic
- Frontier Foundation can be requested from eff@eff.org. You can also
- retrieve information about EFF and its projects via anonymous FTP from
- ftp.eff.org.
-
- As a final resort, send a summary of your case to:
-
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- 155 Second Street
- Cambridge, MA 02141, USA
- Tel.: +1 (617) 864-0665
- Fax: +1 (617) 864-0866
- URL: mailto: ask@eff.org
-
-
- 4c) How can I post if I have read only access to comp.groupware?
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
- If you can send e-mail off-site, you can post using a Usenet-news mail
- server. E-mail to "comp-groupware@cs.utexas.edu" is posted with the
- subject line of your letter becoming the subject line of the article.
- (Note: "." in the newsgroup name is written as "-".) This allows you to
- post to a newsgroup even if you have read-only access to Network News.
- Other servers
- that use the normal period "." in the group name are:
-
- group.name.usenet@decwrl.dec.com
- group.name@news.demon.co.uk
- group.name@news.cs.indiana.edu
-
- E-mail to "comp.groupware@anon.penet.fi" will post your article
- anonymously (but see the information on using a single user name and
- signing your articles). Send a message to "help@anon.penet.fi" for more
- information on this service.
-
- 4d) Can I get comp.groupware by mail?
- -------------------------------------
- You may be able to arrange this with a local administrator, but there is
- no central mailing list maintainer. There is a Group Support Systems
- List you can subscribe to by sending mail to LISTSERV@uga.cc.uga.edu
- with the message "SUBSCRIBE GSS-L <your full name here>".
-
- 5) What is groupware?
- =====================
- Groupware is software and hardware for shared interactive environments.
-
- The term "environment" includes software and hardware that sets the
- context for interaction. Hardware can include specially designed
- furnishings and architectural spaces that are considered integral to
- correct utilization of a given software application. A groupware
- application may require a specific organizational environment to
- function as expected. More powerful applications can adapt to, or
- overcome limitations of, their environments.
-
- The term "interactive" is used to indicate that time constraints are
- managed by the system. Many groupware applications appear to support
- real-time interaction. Others merely enforce deadlines that can span
- weeks. In either case, the technical limitations on the pace of
- interaction are made (to appear) negligible in terms of the objectives
- of the application. Systems that exclude reference to real time are not
- groupware applications.
-
- The term "shared" indicates that two or more participants interact with
- one another in such a manner that each person influences and is
- influenced by each other person. No upper limit in the number of
- participants is indicated, because mediated groups, as opposed to
- natural ones, can maintain joint awareness with very large numbers of
- persons. (Joint awareness is one way that "group" is defined.) An
- objective of some groupware applications is to increase the number of
- persons that can interact "as a group".
-
- Some definitions of groupware include the notion of a common goal. While
- all systems require some agreement among participants (at minimum that
- they should be jointly used), interactions can be predominately
- conflictual. Management of conflict is often a crucial feature of a
- groupware system. Vote collecting systems are an example.
-
- Definitions:
- ------------
- Group - Two or more persons who are interacting
- with one another in such a manner that each person
- influences and is influenced by each other person
- (Shaw, M. E. _Group dynamics: The psychology of
- small group behaviour_. 1976, p. 11).
-
- Ware - 1 a) manufactured articles, products of art
- or craft.... b) an article of merchandise.... 3) an
- intangible item (as a service) that is a marketable
- commodity. (_Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary_,
- 1976, p. 1319).
-
- Related terms:
- CMC -> Computer Mediated Communication
- CSCW -> Computer Supported Cooperative Work
- EIS -> Executive Information Systems
- EMS -> Electronic Meeting Systems
- ESS -> Executive Support Systems
- GCSS -> Group Communication Support Systems
- GDSS -> Group Decision Support Systems
- GSS -> Group Support Systems
- Orgware
-
-
- Origin of the term "Groupware"
- ------------------------------
- Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz coined the term `Groupware' in 1978,
- they defined it as a whole system `of intentional group processes
- plus supporting software'.
-
-
- Software meant to help group interaction
- ----------------------------------------
- In Quarterman's (, John. S. [1990]. The matrix: Computer networks
- and conferencing systems worldwide. Bedford, MA: Digital Press)
- discussion of conferencing systems history and future (pp. 155-
- 156), groupware is placed under the "Mature, 1990-1995" period:
-
- "There also seems to be increasing emphasis on _groupware_ -- i.e.,
- software meant to help group interaction (refs deleted). This is a
- rather general term and is used to refer to anything from
- electronic mail to distributed databases that facilitates groups
- working together (ref deleted). In other words, it includes both
- CMC and resource sharing. Perhaps this is a sign of eventual better
- communication between the conferencing and networking communities."
-
- In his first substantive chapter, Quarterman (1990, p. 12) presents
- an overview of the area that categorizes services along a resource
- sharing versus CMC dimension (the other dimension is batch vs
- interactive). Thus, according to his analysis, groupware, is a
- concept uniting the different technologies for supporting group
- work. It makes sense that the as the area matures, the focus will
- move from technologies to the services they support, since this is
- what is important to the users. This analysis suggests that
- groupware will play an increasingly important role.
-
-
- Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW)
- ------------------------------------------
- CSCW takes as its starting point the fact that many of the working
- activities we take part in are collective. Its focus on the work
- environment makes it a subset of groupware, as does its focus on
- cooperation (often expressed as a common task or goal). However,
- some CSCW application are outside the scope of groupware, in that
- the environment they create is not totally "shared." For instance,
- an enterprise wide workflow management system may compartmentalize
- the environment of a unit so it is not directly shared with other
- work units. Similarly, interactivity may be weaker in CSCW than in
- groupware. For instance, e-mail is considered to be CSCW below,
- while it may not qualify as groupware given the above definition.
- However, Kling sees CSCW to include products (groupware) and a
- related social movement.
- --------------
-
- Cooperation and Control in Computer Supported Work
-
- Rob Kling
- Information and Computer Science
- University of California,
- Irvine, Ca 92717
- 714-856-5955
- Draft 3.0
- April 19, 1991
-
- Sidebar for an article in a special issue of Communications of the
- ACM devoted to CSCW. "Cooperation, Coodination and Control in
- Computer Supported Work." Communications of the ACM 34(12)(Dec,
- 1991):83-88.
-
-
- A. The Technologies for Computer Supported Cooperative Work
- The term "CSCW" was publicly launched in 1986 as the title of a
- conference jointly sponsored by Xerox-PARC and MCC. Like other important
- computing terms, such as artificial intelligence, it was coined as a
- galvanizing catch-phrase, and later given more substance through a
- lively stream of research. A community of interest formed around the
- research programs and conferences identified with the term and advanced
- prototype systems, studies of their use, key theories, and debates about
- them. CSCW is best characterized as an arena rather than a "field" since
- most of the active participants maintain primary identities in other
- fields, such as human-computer interaction, information systems, and
- social impact studies. Even though most CSCW researchers participate in
- multiple research communities, CSCW offers special excitement: it is a
- term in the making and a way of conceiving of fundamentally new
- possibilities of computer support for work.
-
- CSCW denotes at least two kinds of things: special products (groupware),
- and a movement by computer scientists who want to provide better
- computer support for people, primarily professionals, to enhance the
- ease of collaborating. The earliest groupware focussed on products which
- were enriched forms of electronic mail or systems to help people
- schedule meetings more efficiently by having access to their colleagues'
- calendar.
-
- But the CSCW movement (Kling & Iacono, 1988) has rapidly advanced new
- technological visions. Today, a group of professionals can use
- sophisticated text processors, graphics displays, spreadsheets and other
- analytical programs, and software development systems, to develop
- software or a complex report on workstations in their private offices.
- However, if they hold a meeting to discuss their work, their underlying
- technological support is much weaker. When they walk into a typical
- seminar room, they leave their computers behind. They pick up ruled pads
- and meet in rooms which provide, perhaps, whiteboards and and overhead
- projectors. If two or more group members wish to discuss documents or
- programs, they also have to meet face to face in one of their offices if
- they want to use their best computer tools. Today's computer tools are
- designed for one person's work at a time. Even shared systems like
- electronic mail or databases, are based on models of one user at a time
- accessing certain information.
-
- Some computer scientists feel that the speed and ease of intellectual
- teamwork would be enhanced if computerized systems could provide
- seamless platforms for people to use their best computerized tools
- regardless of the their locations (Ishii and Miyake, this issue). These
- applications would enable people to have the electronic equivalents of
- shared blackboards and notepads, with all the capabilities added by
- computer storage, retrieval, and manipulation, in their private offices
- and in their meeting rooms. Some system designers have gone further
- after noting that communication limited to telephone and computer is
- relatively low bandwidth. They have enhanced their shared computer
- systems with two-way interactive video channels so that participants
- could see each other or documents on each others' desks. Other CSCW
- researchers are interested in providing special software to make
- meetings more effective. These special systems help brainstorm, organize
- agendas, and provide computational support for group decision making
- strategies. Schrage's (1990) vivid book title, Shared Minds, captures
- some of the underlying sensibility, (although "sharing" misses the
- concerns for privacy of information in some systems).
-
- The slogans of this computer-based social movement help distinguish it
- from other movements: "cooperative work," "shared minds," "seamless
- systems," "collaborative systems," "intellectual teamwork" resonate with
- positive social imagery. Further, the computer scientists who build CSCW
- systems often focus on the fine grained organization of features, the
- design of interfaces, and the way that people could actually use their
- systems (see for example, Ellis, 1990; Kyng, this issue). There is an
- intimate quality to these concerns, with a focus on the practical
- activity of groups. Kyng (this issue), for example, coins the term
- "mutual learning" to denote a relationship of professional parity
- between system designers and system users. One of the striking features
- of the CSCW literature is the way that designers try to be respect the
- ways that people actually organize and use information. There is
- significant attention to the pragmatics of communication and information
- handling -- as in concerns over whether people prefer to point by hand
- or with a mouse. These concerns lead to "usability" being a preeminent
- concern of CSCW application designers.
-
- In the past five years, participants in the CSCW movement has produced
- numerous prototypes and a few commercial systems. The prototypes have
- served as platforms for interesting technological experiments and for
- some systematic behavioral studies of how people can work while using
- these new systems (Kraemer and Pinsonneault, 1990). But many groupware
- applications have not taken off commercially. Much depends upon how one
- counts "groupware applications." Electronic mail has arguably been the
- most successful application, and the CSCW movement would have no
- unarguable successes if participants did not include electronic mail
- (Ellis, et. al., 1991). On the other hand, group calendaring systems,
- which are part of several widely adopted commercial "office automation"
- systems, are rarely used (Bullen and Bennett, 1991).
-
- But CSCW researchers' ambitions reach far beyond the boundaries of
- communication with discrete messages. Many CSCW system advocates would
- like to transform the way that people work. After all, why invest time
- and money in new technologies, if they don't produce magnificent
- effects?
-
- [...]
-
- D. References
-
- 1. Bullen, Christine and John Bennett. 1991."Groupware in Practice: An
- Interpretation of Work Experiences." in Charles Dunlop & Rob Kling
- (Eds.) Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social
- Choices. Boston, Academic Press.
-
- 2. Burgess-Yakemovic, K.C. and E. Jeffrey Conklin. 1990. Report on a
- Development Project Use of an Issue based Information System. CSCW'90
- Proceedings. (Oct.) pp. 105-118.
-
- 3. Dunlop, Charles and Rob Kling. 1991. "The Dreams of Technological
- Utopianism" pp. 14-30 in Charles Dunlop & Rob Kling (Eds.)
- Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social Choices.
- Boston, Academic Press.
-
- 4. Ellis, Clarence, S.J. Gibbs, and G.L. Rein. 1991. Groupware: Some
- Issues and Experiences. CACM 34(1)(Jan):38-58
-
- 5. Grudin, Jonathan. 1989. "Why Groupware Applications Fail: problems in
- design and evaluation." Office: Technology and People, 4:3, pp. 245-264.
-
- 6. Ishii, Hiroshi and Naomi Miyake. TeamWorkStation. An Open Shared
- Workspace. CACM This issue.
-
- 7. Kling, R. 1987. "Defining the Boundaries of Computing Across Complex
- Organizations. in Critical Issues in Information Systems, R. Boland and
- R. Hirschheim (eds.). John-Wiley.
-
- 8. Kling, R. "Computerization and Social Transformations" Science,
- Technology and Human Values. 16 (in press).
-
- 9. Kling, R. and S. Iacono. 1988. "The Mobilization of Support for
- Computerization: The Role of Computerization Movements" Social Problems,
- 35(3)(June):226-243.
-
- 10. Krasner, Herb, Bill Curtis, and Neil Iscoe. 1987. "Communication
- Breakdowns and Boundary Spanning Activities on large Programming
- Projects." in Empirical Studies of Programmers: Second Workshop Gary
- Olson, Sylvia Sheppard & Elliot Soloway (Ed.) Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub Co.
-
- 11. Kyng, Morton "Designing for Cooperation" CACM This issue.
-
- 12. Kraemer, Kenneth L. and Alain Pinsonneault. 1990. "Technology and
- Groups: Assessments of Empirical Research" in Galegher, Jolene, Robert
- Kraut, and Carmen Egido (Ed.)Intellectual Teamwork: Social and
- Intellectual Foundations of Cooperative Work. Erlbaum.
-
- 13. Perin, Constance. Electronic Social Fields in Bureaucracies. CACM
- This issue.
-
- 14. Schrage, Michael. 1990. Shared Minds: New Technologies of
- Collaboration. New York, Random House.
-
-
-
- 6a) Where is comp.groupware archived?
- =====================================
- Archives of comp.groupware from 92.10.6 to 93.4 are available by
- anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) from:
- avs.ncsc.org
-
- in the directory:
- ~newsgroups/comp.groupware
-
- The archives are in mail folders named MONTH_YEAR.
- For example, to peruse all of the postings in the month of
- October, you could download the archive Oct_92, and execute
-
- % Mail -f Oct_92
-
- Some more recent articles can be FTPed from gorm.ruc.dk. They are
- numbered sequentially in the directory:
- ~groupware/art/comp/groupware
-
-
- 6b) What is FTP?
- ----------------
- FTP is a way of copying files between networked computers. If you
- need help in using or getting started with FTP, send e-mail to:
- mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
-
- with:
- send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq
-
- in the body to find out how to do FTP.
-
- Those without FTP access should send e-mail to:
- mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
-
- with:
- send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources
-
- in the body to find out how to do FTP by e-mail.
-
-
- What is needed to improve comp.groupware?
- =========================================
- An additional archive site, preferable in North America is needed. Also,
- a WAIS index would be a valuable addition. There are archives that
- currently are not publicly accessible that could be made available at a
- site that would like to maintain a more complete set of articles.
-
-
- What is the easiest way to read this FAQ?
- =========================================
-
- Setext viewer
- -------------
- This text is wrapped as a setext. For more information send e-mail to:
- setext@tidbits.com
-
- A file will be returned shortly.
-
-
- Network Information Retrieval Tools
- -----------------------------------
- The FAQ can be accessed with the following network information retrieval
- tools:
-
- WWW
- http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/comp-groupware-
- faq/top.html
-
- Gopher
- The following gopher sites have FAQs:
- cc1.kuleuven.ac.be port 70
- jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca port 70
- gopher.univ-lyon1.fr, port 70
- ftp.win.tue.nl, port 70
- gopher.win.tue.nl, port 70
-
- WAIS
- Periodic posting archives on rtfm.mit.edu are also accessible
- via WAIS (the database name is "usenet" on port 210).
-
-
- What about Copyrights?
- ======================
-
- How do I post copyrighted work?
- -------------------------------
- If you are posting someone else's copyrighted work, indicate at the
- beginning of the article whether permission has been obtained. If you do
- not want an article reproduced, indicate this (e.g., Copyright - Net
- distribution only). All original articles posted to comp.groupware
- remain copyrighted by their authors.
-
- This document's copyright.
- --------------------------
- Copyright 1990 - 1995 by David S. Stodolsky, PhD. All rights reserved.
-
- Copyright for parts this document are held by others.
- Consult those authors directly for further information.
- Publication, product, and company names may be registered trademarks.
-
- Changing this FAQ?
- ==================
-
- Additions.
- ----------
- If you have a book or product list, etc., I will be glad to attach it to
- a this FAQ and post it regularly. Short additions can be send to me for
- integration into the FAQ list. Additions to yellow pages, article and
- book lists, etc., must be sent to their authors directly.
-
-
- Corrections, comments, and suggestions.
- ---------------------------------------
- This article compiled with assistance from numerous readers of
- comp.groupware.
- Corrections, comments, and suggestions to:
-
-
- David S. Stodolsky Euromath Center University of Copenhagen
- david@euromath.dk Tel.: +45 38 33 03 30 Fax: +45 38 33 88 80 (C)
-