Changing Documents/Documenting Changes: Using Computers for Collaborative Writing over Distance

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eevi E. Beck

This chapter presents data from a case study of two academic authors writing together across great geographic distance, using telephones and computers connected over an international network. Not only the document being written but also the process itself was continuously changing, with the authors making creative use of the technology available to them. The information they offered each other concerned not only changes in the document, but also the authors' individual context of work. Rules and agreements were open to reinterpretation. The context sensitive interpretation of agreements facilitated a highly flexible process. The observations have implications of how collaboration is conceptualized in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and for what kinds of computer systems would be best suited to support this kind of distributed work. Respondent's comment introducing new section in manuscript draft: This section is an experiment. Bits of it may get broken up, reworded and put somewhere else. I'm making some strong claims here that we've not really discussed, and you might disagree violently! Articulation work amounts to the following: First, the meshing of the often numerous tasks, clusters of tasks, and segments of the total arc. Second, the meshing of efforts of various unit-workers (individuals, departments, etc.). Third, the meshing of actors with their various types of work and implicated tasks. (Strauss, 1985)

Author(s):  
Thomas Ludwig ◽  
Oliver Stickel ◽  
Peter Tolmie ◽  
Malte Sellmer

Abstract10 years ago, Castellani et al. (Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 18, no. 2–3, 2009, pp. 199–227, 2009) showed that using just an audio channel for remote troubleshooting can lead to a range of problems and already envisioned a future in which augmented reality (AR) could solve many of these issues. In the meantime, AR technologies have found their way into our everyday lives and using such technologies to support remote collaboration has been widely studied within the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. In this paper, we contribute to this body of research by reporting on an extensive empirical study within a Fab Lab of troubleshooting and expertise sharing and the potential relevance of articulation work to their realization. Based on the findings of this study, we derived design challenges that led to an AR-based concept, implemented as a HoloLens application, called shARe-it. This application is designed to support remote troubleshooting and expertise sharing through different communication channels and AR-based interaction modalities. Early testing of the application revealed that novel interaction modalities such as AR-based markers and drawings play only a minor role in remote collaboration due to various limiting factors. Instead, the transmission of a shared view and especially arriving at a shared understanding of the situation as a prerequisite for articulation work continue to be the decisive factors in remote troubleshooting.


Author(s):  
Deryn Graham

This case study looks at the creation of a Transnational Framework for e-Learning Technologies. It describes how the original study which aimed to “Develop a Framework for e-Learning” through a given exemplar in a United Kingdom institution, has gone through several iterations. From initially considering e-Tutoring/e-Moderating from a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) point of view, to the adoption of Blended Learning as a solution to problems revealed by the Framework. Proceeding to evaluate e-Learning in terms of PESTE (Political, Economic, Social, Technical and Environmental) factors, restated here in the form of STEP (Social, Technological, Economical and Political) factors, which led to the realization of major external issues for e-Learning. Most recently, the study evolved to revisit e-Learning from an HCI and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) perspective, by applying a Cooperative Work Framework. The resulting final incarnation, a Transnational Framework for e-Learning, is thus presented.


2014 ◽  
pp. 105-112
Author(s):  
Rahat Iqbal ◽  
Anne James ◽  
Richard Gatward

A variety of computer based information systems are used to support the activities in an academic environment. These systems are used for conducting lectures, designing and reviewing modules, designing and writing assignments, laboratory work, and computer based assessment. The systems are typically designed from scratch if the existing systems do not meet the requirements. This incurs significant costs, and inconvenience. This paper reports on work concerning the integration of existing computer based systems which is formally known as computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) in order to support every day activities. A framework for CSCW integration is presented. A integrative methodology based on this framework is proposed. An example application scenario involving integration of asynchronous application of our university is discussed.


Author(s):  
Charlotte P. Lee ◽  
Kjeld Schmidt

The study of computing infrastructures has grown significantly due to the rapid proliferation and ubiquity of large-scale IT-based installations. At the same time, recognition has also grown of the usefulness of such studies as a means for understanding computing infrastructures as material complements of practical action. Subsequently the concept of “infrastructure” (or “information infrastructures,” “cyberinfrastructures,” and “infrastructuring”) has gained increasing importance in the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) as well as in neighboring areas such as Information Systems research (IS) and Science and Technology Studies (STS). However, as such studies have unfolded, the very concept of “infrastructure” is being applied in different discourses, for different purposes, in myriad different senses. Consequently, the concept of “infrastructure” has become increasingly muddled and needs clarification. The chapter presents a critical investigation of the vicissitudes of the concept of “infrastructure” over the last 35 years.


Author(s):  
Kjeld Schmidt

The emergence of practice-centered computing (e.g., Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, or CSCW) raises the crucial question: How can we conceptualize the practices into which the prospective technology is to be integrated? How can we, reasonably, say of two observed activities or events that they are, or are not, instances of the same type? These are crucial questions. This chapter therefore attempts to clarify the concepts of “practice” and “technique.” First, since our ordinary concepts of “practice” and “technique” developed as part of the evolution of modern technology, as tools for practitioners’ and scholars’ reflections on the role of technical knowledge in work, the chapter outlines the major turning points in the evolution of these concepts, from Aristotle (via the scholastics), to enlightenment thinkers such as Diderot and Kant, and finally to Marx and Marxism. The chapter thereafter moves on to analyze the concepts as we use them today in ordinary discourse.


2021 ◽  
pp. 204275302098892
Author(s):  
Liudmila Shafirova ◽  
Kristiina Kumpulainen

Online collaboration has become a regular practice for many Internet users, reflecting the emergence of new participatory cultures in the virtual world. However, little is yet known about the processes and conditions for online collaboration in informally formed writing spaces and how these create opportunities for participants’ identity work. This ethnographic case study explores how four young adults, fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (bronies), negotiated a dialogic space for their online collaboration on a fan translation project and how this created opportunities for their identity work. After a year of participant observation, we collected interviews, ethnographic diaries and participants’ chats, which were analysed with qualitative content and discourse analysis methods. The findings showed how the Etherpad online writing platform used by the participants facilitated the construction of dialogic space through the visualization of a shared artefact and adjustable features. It was in this dialogic space where the participants negotiated their expert identities which furthered their discussions about writing, translating and technological innovations. The study advances present-day knowledge about online collaboration in affinity groups, engendering the construction of a dialogic space for collaborative writing and participants’ identity work.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (03) ◽  
pp. 199-220
Author(s):  
LUTZ GERICKE ◽  
RAJA GUMIENNY ◽  
CHRISTOPH MEINEL

We present the digital whiteboard system Tele-Board, which automatically captures all interactions made on the all-digital whiteboard and thus offers possibilities for a fast interpretation of usage characteristics. Analyzing team work at whiteboards is a time-consuming and error-prone process if manual interpretation techniques are applied. In a case study, we demonstrate how to conduct and analyze whiteboard experiments with the help of our system. The study investigates the role of video compared to an audio-only connection for distributed work settings. With the simplified analysis of communication data, we can prove that the video teams were more active than the audio teams and the distribution of whiteboard interaction between team members was more balanced. This way, an automatic analysis can not only support manual observations and codings, but also give insights that cannot be achieved with other systems. Beyond the overall view on one sessions focusing on key figures, it is also possible to find out more about the internal structure of a session.


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