Groupware

In this paper, we describe our demo system the Language Grid Toolbox. The Language Grid Toolbox facilitates multi-language-mediated collaboration by extending machine translation functionality with a local dictionary that enables users to create and maintain dictionaries for local jargon iteratively. We present the theoretical background of the Language Grids Toolbox design and the system itself.

We report on a fruitful combination of applying academic experience with formal modelling and verification techniques to an industrial case study. The goal of the case study was to investigate a priori, i.e. before implementation, the effects of adding a lightweight and easy-to-use publish/subscribe (event) notification service to thinkteam r ○ —an asynchronous and dispersed groupware system which was developed by think3. Researchers from the Formal Methods and Tools (FM&T) group of ISTI–CNR—with a longstanding experience in research on the development and application of formal methods, notations, and software tools for the specification, design, and verification of complex computer systems— therefore teamed up with think3—a global provider of integrated product development solutions that provides mechanical design and Product Data Management (PDM) software catering the product management needs of design processes in the manufacturing industry. The technical details of this joint re...

This Lecture Note talks about Collaborative Software and how it can be important to help teamwork. Firstly, the concept Collaboration is explained. Then, a model based on communication, cooperation and coordination is presented. Next, some examples of teamwork based on that model are shown, and finally some problems about groupware are given. It is referred also how collaborative software helped in this Lecture Note in Computer Science development.

This book (free on my website) was stored as one file on Academia by a non-author (Thu le) and i cannot modify that.  However, i have listed the table of contents and if you go to my website you can get any of the chapters and papers you want.
http://is.njit.edu/turoff

In this paper we report a case study examining the communication processes engaged in by virtual project teams and their management. Twenty-two teams, using widely available groupware to communicate, work together, share documents, discuss ideas, and solve problems, designed and implemented a database. These teams were managed by a geographically-distributed management team. The case study is analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively, from two perspectives-working in, and managing, virtual teams-using a framework that integrates virtual team dynamics and project management practices. Through the critical examination of communication content from the longitudinal experiences of multiple virtual project teams and their virtual management team, we identify successful project practices and uncover underlying interaction processes. Specifically, we found that high performing project teams differed from low performing teams in terms of process management, relational development, and proactive technology use behaviors. The five-person management team paralleled the project teams in evolving its own process management and relational development over time.

RESUMEN
Revisión bibliográfica sobre el software para trabajo colaborativo. Se define un
marco conceptual y se describen algunas de sus aplicaciones. Se distinguen
las de uso para intranets y las diseñadas para Internet (denominada web 2.0):
blogs, wikis, sindicación de contenidos, para finalmente esbozar un panorama
alrededor de lo que se está dando en llamar la Biblioteca 2.0. Para concluir, se
plantean algunas cuestiones acerca de los usos y utilidades que las bibliotecas
puedan darle a estas herramientas en pos de un mejor servicio, incluyendo la
colaboración del usuario.

ABSTRACT


Bibliographical revision on software for collaborative work. A conceptual frame
is defined and some of their applications are described. Those of use for
intranets are distinguished and the designed ones for Internet (denominated
Web 2.0): blogs, wikis, syndication of contents, finally to outline a panorama
around which one is occurring in calling Library 2.0. In order to conclude, some
questions about the uses and utilities consider that the libraries can give him to
these tools after a better service, including the collaboration of user.

The development of groupware systems can be supported by the perspectives provided by taxonomies categorizing collaboration systems and theoretical approaches from the multidisciplinary field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). In the last decades, multiple taxonomic schemes were developed with different classification dimensions, but only a few addressed the socio-technical perspective that encompasses the interaction between groups of people and technology in work contexts. Moreover, there is an ambiguity in the use of the categories presented in the literature. Aiming to tackle this vagueness and support the development of future groupware systems aware of social phenomena, we present a comprehensive classification model to interrelate technological requirements with CSCW dimensions of communication, coordination, cooperation, time and space, regulation, awareness, group dynamics, and complementary categories obtained from a taxonomic literature review.

Groupware research has long focused on representing gestures as a means to facilitate collaboration. However, this work has not led to wide support of gesturing in commercial groupware systems. In contrast, Dota 2, a popular MOBA game, provides two frequently-used gesturing tools: annotations – freely drawn lines on top of the gamespace – and pings – a combination of animation and sound indicating a point of interest. While gesturing tools are important for quickly coordinating with teammates in Dota 2, there is little information about how and why people use them. To gather this information, we performed two complementary studies: an interaction analysis of eight game replays, and a survey of 167 experienced players. Our findings include: six distinct motivations for the use of gesturing tools; when and how frequently gesture motivations occur during games; and, that players find pings an essential tool for winning, but not annotations. Our findings provide new directions for the design of gesturing tools in groupware and online games.

Recently, an increasing amount of research and literature has focused on knowledge management, organizational learning and virtual teams. Building on Parsons 1950s and 1960s work around general Theory of Actions, this paper uses Schwandt’s (1994; 1995; 1999) dynamic organizational learning model that considers both cognition and action, as a framework, to explore the factors that a virtual project team (the British Petroleum Knowledge Management Team) used to contribute to a multi-national’s learning, along two-dimensions: structural and sense-making dimensions.Despite a growing body of literature in both organizational learning and groupware research, there are few studies on the relationship between the two areas. Exceptions are the empirical study of a groupware implementation by Riggs, Bellinger and Krieger (1996) and Neilson’s (1997) case study exploring the influence of a collaborative technology – this three year case study on BP’s virtual team provides new, qualitative insig...

A forum is a valuable tool to foster reflection in an in-depth discussion; however, it forces the course mediator to continually pay close attention in order to coordinate learners' activities. Moreover, monitoring a forum is time consuming given that it is impossible to know in advance when new messages are going to be posted. Additionally, a forum may be inactive for a long period and suddenly receive a burst of messages forcing forum mediators to frequently log on in order to know how the discussion is unfolding to intervene whenever it is necessary. Mediators also need to deal with a large amount of messages to identify off-pattern situations. This work presents a piece of action research that investigates how to improve coordination support in a forum using mobile devices for mitigating mediator's difficulties in following the status of a forum. Based on summarized information extracted from message meta-data, mediators consult visual information summaries on PDAs and receive textual notifications in their mobile phone. This investigation revealed that mediators used the mobile-based coordination support to keep informed on what is taking place within the forum without the need to log on their desktop computer.

his paper introduces an approach based on the 3C (communication, coordination and cooperation) collaboration model to the development of collaborative systems. The 3C model is studied by means of a detailed analysis of each of its three elements, followed by a case study of a learningware application and the methodology of a web-based course, both designed based on this model. Moreover, this paper describes a component-based system architecture following this 3C approach.

Abstract: The Virtual Math Teams Project is an on-going research effort conducted within the Math Forum online suite of educational services related to school mathematics. It is an iterative effort to evolve an online math discourse community and to design effective software support for collaborative learning within this community. A central research aim is to develop a systematic understanding of how math discourse takes place in an online chat environment. This is part of a larger research agenda of analyzing group cognition, the ability of small groups to engage in high-level intellectual processes like argumentation, problem-solving and inquiry.

This paper is based upon an extensive empirical study of the introduction and use of a groupware application in a large organization. The implementation of the groupware raised a number of conflicts in the organization and it was only partially adopted. We discuss how a model of implementation and change management, which introduces a distinction between an organizational/infrastructural level and a group level perspective might improve how generic technologies for communication and collaboration are adopted in organizations.

 Currently the architecture design involves professionals from different fieds for their achievement which requires an ability to coordinate information in an efficient and orderly way. The tool in the Internet that makes communication between staff of the project is the collaborative portals or Project Extranet. These collaborative environments are structured to assist the management of the documents exchanged during the project development and execution. These portals are used primarly for monitoring large-scale projects with high degree of complexity facing the housing market. Despite the amount of features this systems presents, this research shows how far is utilized by the offices of architecture and engineering which projects that are small. This research shows a detail of this reality through a survey of 109 professionals, pointing ways to configure the system for small-scale projects.

The developers' physical dispersion in Distributed Software Development (DSD) imposes challenges related to awareness support during collaboration in such scenario. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review and mapping that gathered, analyzed, and classified studies that improve awareness support in DSD, providing an overview of the area. Our initial search returned 1967 papers, of which 91 were identified as reporting some awareness support to DSD. These papers were then analyzed, and classified according to the 3 C collaboration model and to the Gutwin et al. Awareness Framework. Our findings suggest that awareness in DSD is gaining increasingly attention, 71 out of 91 papers were published from 2006 to 2010. Most part of the papers presented tools with some awareness support. The classification showed that the coordination is by far the most supported dimension of the 3C model, while communication is the less explored. It also showed that workspace awareness elements play a central role on DSD collaboration.

IT is everywhere and the need for Groupware support of collaborative learning between geographically distributed students working in teams arises. In this paper we focus on the technology acceptance of Groupware in virtual learning teams in part-time adult education. We apply Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in a qualitative fashion to analyze and interpret the chronological sequence of events leading to the acceptance of the Groupware technology. The data were gathered through an in-depth qualitative Action Research study of four virtual learning teams within two different Masters education programs. By extracting empirical date from one of these virtual teams we show that the TAM model can be used in a qualitative fashion to investigate Groupware technology acceptance. We find that the causal relationship between ease of use and perceived usefulness, postulated by the TAM model, is not present in the case of Groupware technology in a virtual learning team setting. Finally we also find that social awareness plays an important role in the acceptance of such technology to support collaboration.

This paper explores the potential of Lotus Notes as a knowledge management tool in small and medium sized firms (SMEs) in developing countries. It argues that, though the use of Lotus Notes has been studied, emphasis has remained primarily on large firms in developed countries. This study employs an interpretive approach using the case study method. It develops a taxonomy of Lotus Notes use involving publishing, searching, maintaining, sharing, creating and exploring within the context of different knowledge management processes; notably communicating, coordinating and collaborating. For the purpose of this paper the case of ComNotes is presented. The key findings suggest that publishing, searching, sharing and maintaining are the use modes for enabling sharing and storing information. Evidence of knowledge creation was found at the departmental level and not at the organizational level. However, the study also finds that small firms may explore more groupware potentials than large organizations. It is argued that this reflects the context of small organizations; implications for further research are identified.

This paper introduces an engineering approach to the modeling, design and implementation of collaborative systems, applied to e- business. This approach, called Groupware Engineering, is based on the 3C collaboration model (Communication, Coordination and Cooperation). Initially, the 3C model is studied by means of an analysis of each one of its three elements. Then, other phases of Groupware Engineering, such

The development of groupware systems can be supported by the perspectives provided by taxonomies categorizing collaboration systems and theoretical approaches from the multidisciplinary field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). In the last decades, multiple taxonomic schemes were developed with different classification dimensions, but only a few addressed the socio-technical perspective that encompasses the interaction between groups of people and technology in work contexts. Moreover, there is an ambiguity in the use of the categories presented in the literature. Aiming to tackle this vagueness and support the development of future groupware systems aware of social phenomena, we present a comprehensive classification model to interrelate technological requirements with CSCW dimensions of communication, coordination, cooperation, time and space, regulation, awareness, group dynamics, and complementary categories obtained from a taxonomic literature review.

Groupware is an effective form of media for knowledge sharing and active open communication. One remaining important issue is how to design groupware in which vast amounts of beneficial content are provided and active discussion is facilitated.
The behavior of information in such a medium resembles public-goods games because users voluntarily post beneficial information that creates media values. Many studies on such games have shown the effects of rewards or punishments in promoting cooperative behavior. In this paper, we show what types of incentive systems of rewards and punishments promote and maintain effective information behaviors or cooperative regimes in actual groupware. Our agent-based simulation demonstrates that a meta-reward system in which rewarders can gain other benefits for their own reward actions will probably encourage cooperation.
Counterintuitively, our simulation also demonstrates that a system that applies sanctioning functions does not necessarily promote cooperation.
Interestingly, a first-order reward system without any second-order incentives impedes the formation of cooperative regimes, while this is not the case with first-order punishment systems without second-order incentives. These findings may elucidate how successful groupware operates.

This paper introduces an approach based on the 3C (communication, coordination and cooperation) collaboration model to the development of collaborative systems. The 3C model is studied by means of a detailed analysis of each of its three elements, followed by a case study of a learningware application and the methodology of a web-based course, both designed based on this model. Moreover, this paper describes a component-based system architecture following this 3C approach.

The development of groupware systems can be supported by the perspectives provided by taxonomies categorizing collaboration systems and theoretical approaches from the multidisciplinary field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). In the last decades, multiple taxonomic schemes were developed with different classification dimensions, but only a few addressed the socio-technical perspective that encompasses the interaction between groups of people and technology in work contexts. Moreover, there is an ambiguity in the use of the categories presented in the literature. Aiming to tackle this vagueness and support the development of future groupware systems aware of social phenomena, we present a comprehensive classification model to interrelate technological requirements with CSCW dimensions of communication, coordination, cooperation, time and space, regulation, awareness, group dynamics, and complementary categories obtained from a taxonomic literature review.

The article discusses the source and pertinence of the term "Social Business". We present the findings from a study of projects that are in the early stages of adoption of Social Software in organisations. Using a qualitative research approach we examine real-world cases of implementations of integrated Enterprise Collaboration Systems. 16 existing cases (desk research) and three new cases (field research) are analysed and the findings are compared and aggregated. We apply the 8C Model as an analytical lens to guide the coding of the case data. The study's results reveal the relations between the different concepts (features, components, collaboration scenarios) that can be identified in the cases. The findings show that the most popular usage scenarios of the software are not very "social" but support people in their daily joint work with a focus on getting the job done. The study also reveals possible beneficial factors for the adoption of Social Software such as improved personal information management, mobile devices and unified communication, and better workspace and presence awareness.

In co-located collaboration, people use the space above the table for deictic gestures, and height is an important part of these gestures. However, when collaborators work at distributed tables, we know little about how to convey information about gesture height. A few visualizations have been proposed, but these have not been evaluated in detail. To better understand how remote embodiments can show gesture height, we developed several visualizations and evaluated them in three studies. First, we show that touch visualizations significantly improve people's accuracy in identifying the type and target of a gesture. Second, we show that visualizations of height above the table help to convey gesture qualities such as confidence, emphasis, and specificity. Third, we show that people quickly make use of height visualizations in realistic collaborative tasks, and that height-enhanced embodiments are strongly preferred. Our work illustrates several designs for effective visualization of height, and provides the first comprehensive evidence of the value of height information as a way to improve gestural communication in distributed tabletop groupware.

A forum is a valuable tool to foster reflection in an in-depth discussion; however, it forces the course mediator to continually pay close attention in order to coordinate learners’ activities. Moreover, monitoring a forum is time consuming given that it is impossible to know in advance when new messages are going to be posted. Additionally, a forum may be inactive for a long period and suddenly receive a burst of messages forcing forum mediators to frequently log on in order to know how the discussion is unfolding to intervene whenever it is necessary. Mediators also need to deal with a large amount of messages to identify off-pattern situations. This work presents a piece of action research that investigates how to improve coordination support in a forum using mobile devices for mitigating mediator’s difficulties in following the status of a forum. Based on summarized information extracted from message meta-data, mediators consult visual information summaries on PDAs and receive textual notifications in their mobile phone. This investigation revealed that mediators used the mobile-based coordination support to keep informed on what is taking place within the forum without the need to log on their desktop computer.

Developing a collaboration solution, that scales to an entire organization, that offers an integrated collection of cooperation tools, that is general enough to address a large range of applications, and that is easy to deploy for most people, is still an open challenge. This paper presents ToxicFarm services that are an integral part of a framework for hosting Internet virtual teams. The originality of this work is in providing a synthesis between contributions from different domains, including version management in software engineering, process management in data engineering, and awareness in groupware tools. The paper describes the overall services offered, discusses design choices for their integration and implementation, presents relations with existing work and describes their use in several emerging e-business application domains, such as e-finance, e-learning and e-telecom.

IT is everywhere and the need for Groupware support of collaborative learning between geographically distributed students working in teams arises. In this paper we focus on the technology acceptance of Groupware in virtual learning teams in part-time adult education. We apply Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in a qualitative fashion to analyze and interpret the chronological sequence of events leading to the acceptance of the Groupware technology. The data were gathered through an in-depth qualitative Action Research study of four virtual learning teams within two different Masters education programs. By extracting empirical date from one of these virtual teams we show that the TAM model can be used in a qualitative fashion to investigate Groupware technology acceptance. We find that the causal relationship between ease of use and perceived usefulness, postulated by the TAM model, is not present in the case of Groupware technology in a virtual learning team setting. Finally we also find that social awareness plays an important role in the acceptance of such technology to support collaboration.

The learning and teaching of Programming can benefit from the principles of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). With that purpose in mind, the COLLECE system was created to support synchronous collaborative programming in learning settings. Unlike other systems with similar objectives, COLLECE incorporates many elements to support group awareness. This article presents an empirical study in which the usefulness of some of the awareness mechanisms included in this system is evaluated. One of the main contributions of this work is the combination of different techniques to evaluate interactive systems, such as questionnaires, laboratory testing, heuristic evaluation, automatic logging and eye tracking techniques. The joint use of these techniques (of both a subjective and objective nature) allows us to carry out a more complete analysis of the system under study and, in particular, about its support of awareness.

In this article a Semantic-based Groupware System (GWS) implemented within the SAKE project (Semantic Agile Knowledgebased E-government) is presented. The overall objective of the SAKE project is to specify, develop and deploy a holistic framework and supporting tools for an agile knowledge-based e-government that will be sufficiently flexible to adapt to changing and diverse environments and needs. Public administration processes are knowledge-intensive, dependant on valid legislation, and experts in specific domains are needed for their management. The core of the whole SAKE system is represented by an integrated knowledge space unifying different perspectives and interpretations of existing knowledge resources. It enables to assign metadata to each knowledge object, allowing thus more sophisticated retrieval. The main objective of the Technical University of Kosice research team was to provide a semantic-based groupware system supporting public servants in sharing their knowledge...

The development of groupware systems can be supported by the perspectives provided by taxonomies categorizing collaboration systems and theoretical approaches from the multidisciplinary field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). In the last decades, multiple taxonomic schemes were developed with different classification dimensions, but only a few addressed the socio-technical perspective that encompasses the interaction between groups of people and technology in work contexts. Moreover, there is ...

Background: Despite the number of empirical studies that assess Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) techniques, more research is required to investigate, for example, how software maintainability is impacted when these techniques are employed. One way to minimize the effort and increase the reliability of results in further research is to systematize empirical studies in Aspect-Oriented Software Maintainability (AOSM). In this context, metrics are useful as indicators to quantify software quality attributes, such as maintenance. Currently, a high number of metrics have been used throughout the literature to measure software maintainability. However, there is no comprehensive catalogue showing which metrics can be used to measure AOSM. Aim: To identify an AOSM metrics suite to be used by researchers in AOSM research. Method: We performed a systematic mapping study based on Kitchenham and Charters' guidelines, which derived a research protocol, and used well known digital libraries engines to search the literature. Conclusions: A total of 138 primary studies were selected. They describe 67 aspect-oriented (AO) maintainability metrics. Also, out of the 575 object-oriented maintainability metrics that we analyzed, 469 can be adapted to AO software. This catalogue provides an objective guide to researchers looking for maintainability metrics to be used as indicators in their quantitative and qualitative assessments. We provide information such as authors, metrics description, and studies that used the metric. Researchers can use this information to decide which metrics are more suited for their studies.

In an organizational sphere of great dynamism and mutability, the effectiveness of group work in companies and institutions is assumed as one of the most important success factors to achieve their objectives. The computer has acquired a strategic task in the support of cooperative work processes, raising a fruitful symbiosis between humans and machines with different functions but strongly interconnected. This article examines the holistic nature of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, an interdisciplinary scientific field that has ...