| Developing Collaborative Applications on the Web | | BIBA | 1 | |
| Andreas Girgensohn; Alison Lee | |||
| The goal of the tutorial is to provide insights and understanding into how
to develop interactive and collaborative applications using the Web as a rapid
prototyping and development platform. At the end of the tutorial, participants
will have a basic understanding to begin developing collaborative applications
using this platform.
In the tutorial, we will introduce and demonstrate how one can use commonly available Web tools in combination with Web browsers to design, develop, and deploy interactive and collaborative applications. For example, we will discuss how HTML in combination with CGI scripts, JavaScript, and Java can be used to create applications and what kind of tools on the server-side are helpful. | |||
| Real-World Groupware Frameworks: Digital LinkWorks and OpenText LiveLink | | BIBA | 1 | |
| Bruce McIndoe | |||
| The purpose of this tutorial is to provide a full-day, intensive, under-the-hood look at two real-world application integration frameworks: Digital Equipment Corporation LinkWorks and OpenText LiveLink. These frameworks enterprise enable virtually any off-the-shelf or custom application through the creation of business aware objects using framework services such as workflow, electronic filing, versioning, sharing, and security. The framework provides a consistent environment in which to deploy enterprise-wide applications, implement organizational policy and have it consistently applied, and support virtual workgroups regardless of geographic location. It will also be shown how these frameworks can be used to create extranets with partners while still controlling application access and the information created. | |||
| Construction Search and Retrieval of a World-Wide Web (WWW) Expert Knowledge Base | | BIBA | 1 | |
| Mark Ginsburg | |||
| Too often, expert groups form, work together, and then disband within an organization and leave no record of their collaboration. This tutorial describes, in the World-Wide Web (WWW) context, approaches to capturing individual contributions in an extensible (accommodating multiple media types) and flexible (allowing various choices for categorizing the submissions) manner to form an expert knowledge base. Furthermore, techniques are described to allow efficient search and retrieval of the knowledge base. | |||
| Using Social Network Analysis to Study Computer Networks | | BIBA | 1 | |
| Barry Wellman | |||
| Our aim is to demonstrate the usefulness of social network analysis -- its
principles, techniques and findings -- for understanding how people and groups
interact using computer-mediated communication. When a computer network
connects people or groups, it is a social network. Social network analysis can
help researchers and developers to go beyond studying individuals and small
groups. The approach traces patterns of connectivity among individuals and
groups, and links these patterns to variations in social and technical
outcomes.
We first provide an overview of the basic concepts of social network analysis and present relevant findings; we demonstrate where social network data can be, and have been used to study computer-mediated communication. We show how to design social network research, collect social network data, and use software packages to analyze these data. The tutorial should be of interest both to researchers and to developers of groupware, enabling them able to deal with loosely-bounded as well as tightly-coupled systems. | |||
| Methods, Tools and Technologies for Coordination and Workflow Management | | BIBA | 2 | |
| Frank von Martial | |||
| The 21st century organization will be organized around processes, not tasks.
Teams, not individuals, will be the focus of organization performance and
design. Customer needs will shape business units. Coordination and workflow
management systems will be the core enablers in building and running these
organizations.
This tutorial is designed for researchers, advanced developers and technical managers interested in coordination and workflow management technology and how it is likely to involve. Coordination technology is viewed both from an organizational and a software engineering point of view. Some questions dealt with are: How can the workflow in a customer oriented organization be modeled? Where is a need for coordination technology in designing and managing modern organizations? What is the role of information technology for (re-)engineering organizations? What are CSFs in managing a workflow management project? What do workflow products and standards offer and where remains research to do? Besides workflow management other techniques for coordination will be presented such as groupware, agent modeling, process design, planning, communication and conflict management. The section on practical aspects of carrying out successful workflow management projects benefits from the lecturers industrial experience in that domain. | |||
| Collaborative Technologies | | BIBA | 2 | |
| Lisa Neal | |||
| The objective of this tutorial is to examine existing and emerging
technologies for collaboration, focusing how to select and deploy tools to
facilitate communication and collaboration amongst co-located and
geographically-dispersed groups, telecommuters, and networked communities.
This tutorial will cover collaborative technologies, including email, videoconferencing, computer-supported meeting rooms, and computer conferencing. The latter category includes electronic whiteboards, application-sharing, screen-sharing, IRC, and the use of the Internet and Web. The tutorial will cover specific examples of tools in each category, using demos, videotapes, and descriptions, and will also cover tools like Microsoft NetMeeting that span multiple categories. The tutorial will cover issues related to selection, deployment, and use of collaborative technologies, including protocols, training, evaluation, and research. | |||
| Tailorable Groupware: Issues, Methods, and Architectures | | BIBA | 2 | |
| Anders Morch; Oliver Stiemerling; Volker Wulf | |||
| The goal of this workshop is to bring together people from academia and
industry who share an interest in groupware systems from the point of view of
tailoring them, and who wish to participate in ongoing discussions with the aim
of broadening the scope and deepening the understanding of some key issues in
this area.
We intend to bring together wide ranging views dealing with all aspects of end user development of groupware systems. The result will be a collection of position papers with subsequent discussions that will be compiled by the workshop organizers. | |||
| The Role for Technology in Knowledge Management | | BIBA | 3-6 | |
| Dirk Mahling; James Bair; William Ives; Nan Lower; David Smith; Rudy Ruggles | |||
| The purpose of this panel is to explore the role of technology in knowledge
management. While it is common wisdom that business and information technology
are becoming intertwined to a degree that makes them inseparable, the driving
forces are not so clearly recognized.
Do we know the needs of the field of knowledge management, which is only emerging, or do we repackage existing technologies to suit a new trend? At which point should technology enter the picture in a knowledge management project? Should technology drive the project or merely serve in the implementation? How can emerging technologies be leveraged? When does technology bias us toward non-optimal solutions? All these questions, and more, must be addressed by practitioners of knowledge management. | |||
| Issues in Technology Supported Learning | | BIBA | 7-8 | |
| Melissa Glynn; Doug Vogel; Robert Briggs; Howard Brown; Debra Cunningham | |||
| This panel will discuss advances in technology supported learning as well the issues of teacher adoption. A body of literature now exists that suggests that technologies like Group Support Systems can have a positive impact on learning outcomes, yet difficulties exist in gaining teacher support for classroom use. A mix of educators from the K-12 level and researchers will discuss the opportunities for building teacher interest and acceptance. | |||
| Using Internet Technology within the Organization: A Structurational Analysis of Intranets | | BIBAK | PDF | 9-18 | |
| Rens Scheepers; Jan Damsgaard | |||
| Many organizations are implementing Internet technology, specifically Word
Wide Web technology, inside the organization in the form of an "organizational
Internet" or intranet. Intranet technology can unify dispersed computer based
information systems in the organization into one rich "system". Thus,
intranets can have a major impact on organizational processes, for example
cross-functional information sharing and collaboration. We focus on the social
aspects surrounding intranet implementation. We seek to answer how intranet
implementations shape and how they are shaped by social structures employed by
organizational agents. We adapt structuration theory into an explanatory
device to analyze intranet implementation and we apply it to four cases. We
conclude that, intranets are initially more shaped by, rather than shaping
social structures, but that this may change over time. The following learning
points are condensed: Firstly, intranets are socially constructed and
implementers need to be cautious when seeking to transplanting Web technology
into an organizational context. Secondly, intranets typically evolve in
sophistication over time. Finally, institutionalization is isolated as the key
challenge in intranet implementation. Keywords: Intranet, Implementation, Social, Structuration theory | |||
| Merging Multiple Perspectives in Groupware Use: Intra- and Intergroup Conventions | | BIBAK | PDF | 19-28 | |
| Gloria Mark | |||
| Intergroup cooperation is characterized by groups having different work
roles and experiences. When cooperating with a flexible groupware system,
groups may face the problem of using conventions that are not congruent. This
paper describes the experience of convention use between heterogeneous groups
using a groupware system in a real work setting. We discovered that intragroup
conventions can transfer from prior work experience and be robust. The method
used in POLITeam for supporting conventions is compared with other methods for
groupware users when heterogeneous groups were involved. Keywords: Groupware, CSCW, Conventions, Intergroup, Shared workspace | |||
| Fostering Interdepartmental Knowledge Communication Through Groupware: A Process Improvement Perspective | | BIBAK | PDF | 29-37 | |
| Ned Kock | |||
| This paper presents a review of the organisational learning literature that
points to process improvement (PI) groups as an appropriate tool for
organisational knowledge communication. Based on that review, the impact of
support provided by a class of groupware systems, e-mail conferencing (EC), on
knowledge dissemination in organisations is examined in the context of PI
groups. The study suggests that, overall, EC support seems to have a positive
impact on knowledge dissemination in organisations, when used in combination
with a group methodology for PI. Keywords: Action research, Groupware, E-mail conferencing, Process improvement groups,
Organisational learning | |||
| Recognising 'Success' and 'Failure': Evaluating Groupware in a Commercial Context | | BIBAK | PDF | 39-46 | |
| Steve Blythin; John A. Hughes; Steinar Kristoffersen; Tom Rodden; Mark Rouncefield | |||
| This paper reports on the installation and use of two commercial 'groupware'
systems, a videolink and electronic document exchange, in a major clearing bank
in the UK. It suggests some of the complexities involved in evaluating
groupware in a business such that recognising and understanding even such gross
terms as 'success' and 'failure' is far from easy. Consequently it argues that
a more nuanced appreciation of success and failure needs to be developed and,
therefore, some form of ethnographic, 'illuminative' evaluation may prove
commercially worthwhile. Keywords: Groupware, Ethnographic studies of work, Evaluation | |||
| CEVA: A Tool for Collaborative Video Analysis | | BIBAK | PDF | 47-55 | |
| Andy Cockburn; Tony Dale | |||
| Video protocol analysis is a standard technique in many research disciplines
including human-computer interaction and computer supported cooperative work.
It is notoriously time consuming, and a variety of single-user computer based
tools have been developed to ease the task.
This paper examines collaborative video analysis. The motivation for groupware tools for video analysis is described, and the desirable features of such tools are identified. The design, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of a prototype synchronous groupware tool for video analysis, CEVA, are described. Keywords: Collaborative video analysis, Evaluation, Groupware, User interfaces, Design | |||
| A First Step to Formally Evaluate Collaborative Work | | BIBAK | PDF | 56-60 | |
| Ricardo Baeza-Yates; Jose A. Pino | |||
| We present an initial attempt to formally evaluate performance measures
related to CSCW applications. In particular, we study the relations between
the quality of the output, the number of people and time spent on the overall
task and the total work done. We introduce a novel application to illustrate
our ideas: collaborative retrieval. We propose a specific heuristic to the
case when many people search for the same information, thereby increasing the
recall and precision of the answer. We apply our evaluation methodology to
this case. Keywords: CSCW, Quantitative evaluation, Collaborative retrieval | |||
| Requirements for a Virtual Collocation Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 61-70 | |
| Steven E. Poltrock; George Engelbeck | |||
| We analyze how physically collocated teams work together now and what
services they require to work together across distances, focusing on real time
interactions because those interactions justify collocating teams today. We
explain how Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) are organized in system development
programs and how their physical collocation facilitates communication,
collaboration, and coordination within the team. Interactions within IPTs take
two forms: scheduled meetings and opportunistic interactions. Scenarios of
scheduled IPT meetings help motivate and identify requirements for supporting
distributed meetings. Opportunistic interactions are far more common than
scheduled meetings, and more difficult to observe and analyze because they are
not scheduled or predictable. Keywords: Virtual collocation, Team work, Computer supported cooperative work,
Requirements, Opportunistic interactions, Collaborative work | |||
| Informing the Design of Collaborative Virtual Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 71-80 | |
| Steve Benford; Dave Snowdon; Andy Colebourne; Jon O'Brien; Tom Rodden | |||
| This paper addresses the design of Collaborative Virtual Environments
(CVEs). More specifically, it considers key design issues concerning the use
of either real world 'facsimile' representations or more abstracted means of
delivering CVEs. We suggest that the use of ethnographic studies of the
context-of-use of the CVE under development is a useful means of informing
these design issues in contrast to more in-principle means of drawing
conclusions. This approach is illustrated by informing the development of a
virtual environment from and ethnographic study of work. Keywords: Information sharing, Ethnographic studies of work, Information
visualisation, Design of CVEs | |||
| Virtual Classrooms and Communities | | BIBAK | PDF | 81-90 | |
| Lisa Neal | |||
| This paper describes how collaborative technologies, including a corporate
intranet, email, videoconferencing, audioconferencing, Internet Relay Chat
(IRC), NetMeeting, Virtual Places, WorldsAway, and other Internet-based
conferencing tools, can be used to teach classes to geographically-dispersed
participants. The paper covers the motivation for virtual classrooms, the
selection and use of delivery technologies, deployment strategies and issues,
participant feedback, and the Virtual University that evolved from the initial
distance learning classes.
We found that the use of a variety of collaborative technologies accommodated the multiple aspects of communication in the class, providing richer communication than any one technology alone and fostering the sense of community that was important to the success of students in class. The virtual classroom provided an effective and cost-saving alternative to face-to-face instruction, allowing us to reach more students in more locations than we would have without distance learning. Keywords: Distance learning, Distance education, Training, Collaborative technologies | |||
| Infrastructure Management as Cooperative Work: Implications for Systems Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 91-100 | |
| Robert J. Sandusky | |||
| This case study looks at the data communications network management
organization (NMO) within a large financial institution and applies concepts
from Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and other domains to develop a
practical framework for describing work within this and other similar
organizations. Network management is one form of infrastructure management,
which is comprised of two kinds of work: real-time supervisory control work and
design work. While many studies of group work focus on the activities of small
groups of people engaged in either real-time supervisory control or design
work, examinations of organizations where both kinds of work occur are
relatively rare. Here the focus is on the work patterns and data forms that
are found within the NMO. Some of the implications of the analysis in regard
to the design of CSCW systems are presented and discussed. Keywords: Real-time supervisory control, Distributed supervisory control, CSCW,
Information compounds, Boundary objects, Communities of practice | |||
| Locating the Scene: The Particular and the General in Contexts for Ambulance Control | | BIBAK | PDF | 101-110 | |
| John C. McCarthy; Peter C. Wright; Patrick Healey; Andrew Dearden; Michael D. Harrison | |||
| Ambulance control involves distributed group work using a mix of computer
and communications technologies. The implementation of computer technologies
has had mixed results in this area, evidenced by serious failures in the London
Ambulance Service in 1992. Often failures are due to inadequate attention to
integration of organisational and technical aspects of work. We report a field
study of the organisation of one aspect of the work of ambulance control,
locating the scene of an emergency. The study was carried out in two ambulance
control centres, one predominantly urban and highly computerised and the other
largely rural and minimally computerised. Our analysis shows that the
particulars of 'locating the scene' are best seen in terms of the use of
different technologies to link representations and represented. This research
has implications for understanding task and context and the integration of
technology and organisation in design, particularly with respect to using
similar computer-based technologies in both ambulance control centres. Keywords: Task, Context, Organisational field study, Representations, Ambulance
control | |||
| Internal Information Brokering and Patterns of Usage on Corporate Intranets | | BIBAK | PDF | 111-118 | |
| Clarie M. Vishik | |||
| Intranets radically changed the character of intermediation in information
retrieval. The increased number of publishers and resources led to the
establishment of new ways to support quality of electronic content and
efficiency of retrieval. New kinds of internal information brokers emerge to
deal with the selection and gathering of resources and to create or adapt
information management, processing, and retrieval tools. The paper discusses
the character of corporate internal information brokering in a networked
environment and examines some information usage and access patterns that affect
internal redistribution of resources, based on the experiences of one of the
groups involved in Schlumberger Intranet work. Keywords: Intranet, Information retrieval, Social informatics, Information brokering,
Access patterns | |||
| Understanding the Role of Documents in a Hierarchical Flow of Work | | BIBAK | PDF | 119-127 | |
| Peter Mambrey; Mike Robinson | |||
| Studies of work and document flow in a German Ministry show that when
documents cross organisational boundaries their status, and associated
responsibilities change. These changes, trajectories, deadlines, are recorded
on the document. Workflow, in this case, is not abstract, pre-specified,
independent, conceptually or physically separated from the artefact whose
movement it controls. It is inscribed, developed, and updated on the artefact
itself. This empirical fusion of workflow with objects has major advantages.
It enables strong bureaucratic rules to be reconciled with local, ad-hoc,
fine-grained contingencies and discretionary action. This is an important
lesson for the design of organisational CSCW systems. Keywords: Workflow, Work practice, Boundary object, CSCW, Organisational processes | |||
| Telework Under the Co-Ordination of a Distributed Workflow Management System | | BIBAK | PDF | 128-137 | |
| Wilhelm Dangelmaier; Stephan Kress; Rudiger Wenski | |||
| Telework is considered as an innovative work organization form for new
decentralized structures. The flexibility of telework in the dimensions time
and location of task execution must make it possible to take advantage of this
work organization for the companies competitiveness. Today, telework is mainly
used for isolated tasks and those with few cross references to others. But
telework will only achieve its full potential, if attention is given to the
fact that work in companies is normally co-operative work. For this
co-operative work business process modeling and workflow management is accepted
as a supporting methodology.
The increasing effort for co-ordination and monitoring is seen to be the main obstacle of co-operative telework. The use of existing workflow management systems for the support of co-operative telework is currently not possible; there is no tool available with specific co-ordination and planning functionality for this purpose. In this paper, we will define a specific business process model which is oriented for the modeling of decentralized structures especially for telework and the direct support by a workflow management system (WFMS). Compared to traditional WFMS, our system is extended by a module for the planning and monitoring functionality required for monitoring of teleworkers and their time management. The system is built using Internet-technology and is using platform-independent WWW-software for the user interface. Keywords: Telework, Workflow management, Co-ordinator, Intranet | |||
| Of Maps and Scripts: The Status of Formal Constructs in Cooperative Work | | BIBA | PDF | 138-147 | |
| Kjeld Schmidt | |||
| The received understanding of the status of formal organizational constructs in cooperative work is problematic. The paper shows that the empirical evidence is not as strong as we may have believed and that there is evidence from other studies that contradicts what we may have taken for granted for years. This indicates that the role of formal constructs is more differentiated than generally taken for granted. They not only serve as 'maps' but also as 'scripts'. | |||
| GSS for Cooperative Policymaking: No Trivial Matter | | BIBAK | PDF | 148-157 | |
| Kees Wim van den Herik; Gert-Jan de Vreede | |||
| Through its intrinsic complexity policy making presents a challenging
supportive process for GSS support. This paper presents two case studies for
GSS to support policy-making. Apart from meeting process and outcome we
measured policy context, preparation and long-term impact. Results suggest
that GSS support reached the limit for effective group support. Idea
generation, visual modeling and anonymity appear highly successful in a multi
party policy environment, whereas lack of expression possibilities of the
support system, divergence of goals and views of participants, and sense of
voting is evaluated less favorable. On method, assessment of the impact long
after the session surfaces new insights, thus stressing the need for more
longitudinal research in GSS. Keywords: Group support, Policy making, Experimental research | |||
| Toward Knowledge Management Systems in the Legal Domain | | BIBAK | PDF | 158-166 | |
| Deborah L. Edwards; Dirk E. Mahling | |||
| This paper reviews the technical and organizational basis for knowledge
management in large law offices. Based on a taxonomy of knowledge consisting
of administrative data, declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and
analytical knowledge a number of relevant knowledge management characteristics
are extracted. Knowledge currency, knowledge dispersion, knowledge
documentation, and the retrieval of implicit knowledge are among the main
issues that constitute the arena for knowledge management in the field of law
offices. Finally, a set of high level specifications for technology based
knowledge management tools in large law firms are provided. Keywords: Knowledge management, Knowledge flow, Workflow, Task analysis | |||
| The CDT mStar Environment: Scalable Distributed Teamwork in Action | | BIBAK | PDF | 167-176 | |
| Peter Parnes; Kare Synnes; Dick Schefstrom | |||
| This paper presents the mStar environment, which creates an environment for
truly scalable distributed teamwork. It can be and is being used on a daily
basis for electronic meetings, distributed electronic education and daily work.
It creates a new teamwork environment which allows users to collaborate even if
they are not present at the same physical location.
The mStar environment includes: the multicast WhiteBoard -- mWB, which allows for collaborative reviewing of text and images; mChat, which allows for text based group chat; mVote, which allows for distributed voting and mWeb for shared WWW objects. These are all desktop and IP-multicast based and symmetric. The mStar environment also includes mMOD, which is a VCR-like tool for recording and playback of teamwork sessions, and mTunnel, which is an application for handling IP-multicast traffic on narrow links in the network (such as ISDN/modem) and network segments that does not support IP-multicast. It allows for scaling and transforming of the network based data in various ways. Keywords: IP-multicast, Desktop conferencing, Distributed presentations, Digital
recoding, Teamwork, Distance education, Better-than-being-there | |||
| Augmenting and Multiplying Spaces for Creative Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 177-186 | |
| Edmundo P. Leiva-Lobos; Giorgio De Michelis; Eliana Covarrubias | |||
| Creative design is a very peculiar work practice that as not been studied
very much from the viewpoint of the cooperation shaping it. In this paper we
present the main findings of a case study conducted on an industrial design
project with the aim of analyzing how its actors cooperate.
The main findings of our field study involve: on the one hand, recognition of the major role played by physical arrangements of the work space in shaping the practice of creative designers; on the other, the distinction between the different work spaces where different phases of a design project are performed. On the basis of discussion of the above we outline the requirements for a cooperative support system for creative design as a system augmenting and multiplying the work spaces where it is performed. Keywords: Creative design, Work spaces, Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW),
Knowledge creation, Learning, Situatedness | |||
| Collaborative Workspace for Time Deferred Electronic Cooperation | | BIBAK | PDF | 187-196 | |
| Uta Pankoke-Babatz; Anja Syri | |||
| This paper proposes collaborative workspaces as an electronic environment
for time deferred team-like cooperation. The design requirements are derived
from an investigation of work practices employing simple collaborative
workspaces in ministerial units. In addition to facilities for sharing of
material among a dedicated group, a collaborative workspace needs to provide
appropriate behavior and awareness information to support cooperation. A
concept for the technical realization proposes CSCW enablers to allow flexible
adaptation of collaborative workspaces to different purposes and to changing
user needs. Keywords: Collaborative workspace, Sharing, Asynchronous cooperation, Awareness,
Electronic behavior setting, CSCW enablers | |||
| Collaborative Virtual Workspace | | BIBAK | PDF | 197-203 | |
| Peter J. Spellman; Jane N. Mosier; Lucy M. Deus; Jay A. Carlson | |||
| Today's collaboration tools fall primarily into two categories:
"session-centric" tools, such as most desktop video teleconferencing, and
"document-centric" tools, such as Lotus Notes and document management systems.
Both have important strengths and several weaknesses. For example,
session-centric tools support synchronous collaboration, but when the session
is over, no trace of the collaboration is left; they don't support
"persistence". Document centric tools may support persistence, but they poorly
support real-time collaboration.
Consequently, a new type of "place-based" system is being developed at MITRE and elsewhere. This paper describes the Collaborative Virtual Workspace (CVW), a MOO-based (Multi-User Dimension, Object Oriented) collaboration framework in which people interact with documents and each other in a shared virtual space, using both synchronous and asynchronous tools. Currently integrated are tools for audio and video conferencing, document management, chat, and whiteboarding. This paper describes current CVW functionality and implementation, discusses initial lessons from deployment within MITRE, and proposes a number of improvements in capability based on those lessons. Keywords: Collaboration framework, Virtual environments, MUD, MOO | |||
| Internet-Based Workflows: A Paradigm for Dynamically Reconfigurable Desktop Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 204-213 | |
| Hemang Lavana; Amit Khetawat; Franc Brglez | |||
| The Internet-based desktop environment as defined in this paper consists of
a cross-platform browser, a number of server icons (host nodes), a number of
application icons (program nodes) and a number of data icons (file nodes). In
contrast to typical desktops of today, where data icons may be dragged and
dropped onto application icons for execution, this environment allows (1)
user-defined and reconfigurable execution sequences by creating dependency
edges between program nodes (application icons) and file nodes (data icons);
(2) data-dependent execution sequences by dynamic scheduling of path as well as
loop executions; (3) host-transparency as to the location of applications and
data (both can reside on any host with a unique IP address).
We argue that the Internet-based workflow paradigm is suitable for creation of dynamically reconfigurable desktop environments. The summary of 450 Internet-based experiments demonstrates (1) the value of making the desktop recordable, and (2) the feasibility of rendering it collaborative. Keywords: Internet, Desktop, Workflows, Reconfigurable, Collaborative, Recordable,
Petri net | |||
| A Web Based Enterprise Workflow System | | BIBA | PDF | 214-220 | |
| Charles K. Ames; Scott C. Burleigh; Stephen J. Mitchell | |||
| A web-based system for the computer mediation of work through an organization was developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A distinctive feature of this system, named "WWWorkflow", is the careful separation of process mediation from product data management. This paper describes the design, functionality, and user interface of the system, discusses the role WWWorkflow fulfills in organizational intranets, and concludes with lessons learned from deployment the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at the Johnson Space Center, Houston. | |||
| Automated Process Support for Organizational and Personal Processes | | BIBAK | PDF | 221-230 | |
| Kevin Gary; Tim Lindquist; Harry Koehnemann; Ly Sauer | |||
| We propose two views on process: an organizational view and a personal
process view. Information technology applies Automated Workflow technology to
define, execute, and track an organization's automated business processes.
Calendaring tools provide a form of personal process view through scheduled
work items. However, the personal, or individual, view of the process space
has largely been ignored. We maintain that as organizations become
increasingly decentralized, a single organization's process space is becoming
difficult to recognize. Individuals of the organization are asked to do work
that spans organizational, functional, and even geographic boundaries. An
integrated view of organizational workflows and personal processes is needed to
address these new demands. In this paper we argue for the need to integrate
organizational and personal processes. We then propose a component-based
process modeling approach and supporting process architecture that integrates
these process spaces. Finally, we describe our recent efforts at developing
Java prototype process tools that realize the proposed modeling technique and
supporting architecture. Keywords: Workflow, Personal process, Components | |||
| From Workplace to Development: What Have We Learned So Far and Where Do We Go? | | BIBA | PDF | 231-240 | |
| Rebecca E. Grinter | |||
| Development methodologies such as user-centered or participatory design require a commitment to the process at the beginning of the development project. However, it is not always possible to introduce a new development methodology. When new methodologies can not be used the question of how research can contribute to the design of systems becomes important. Studies of the workplace have provided one solution by offering insights into the work on a setting-by-setting basis. This paper argues that workplace studies as a corpus can also offer systems designers valuable information to support their decisions. | |||
| Evolving Orbit: A Process Report on Building Locales | | BIBAK | PDF | 241-250 | |
| Tim Mansfield; Simon Kaplan; Geraldine Fitzpatrick; Ted Phelps; Mark Fitzpatrick; Richard Taylor | |||
| The wOrlds project at the DSTC is experimenting with computer-based
collaboration support. Our goal is to provide support for the workaday
activities of distributed groups. To facilitate this we are in parallel
developing a theory of collaborative activity (the locales framework) and a
series of prototypes to test this theory. In this paper we briefly overview
the theory and then describe the evolution of the three versions of our Orbit
prototype. The prototypes focus on providing a range of facilities, including
shared distributed objects, multiple personalizable views, user-controllable
presence and awareness of user activities, and the ability to participate in
multiple activities simultaneously, with varying degrees of intensity. Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work, Locales framework, CSCW, Collaborative
systems, Prototyping | |||
| "I Love the System -- I Just Don't Use it!" | | BIBAK | PDF | 251-260 | |
| Jakob E. Bardram | |||
| This paper addresses how studies of work can provide the basis for
redesigning existing information technology (IT). The paper reports on a field
study of the differences in work practices of hospitals using a computer system
and hospitals not using the system. We shall present the variety of strategies
healthcare workers have adopted to coordinate their widely distributed
activities, and discuss the consequences for these strategies when using the
computer system. The paper concludes that the design of groupware should
recognize the multiplicity of artifacts in the workplace (both manual and
computational) and the need for interconnecting groupware with Information
Systems. Keywords: Computer supported cooperative work, Activity theory, Time coordination,
Workplace studies, Cooperative information systems | |||
| Organizational Metaphors as Lenses for Analyzing Workflow Technology | | BIBAK | PDF | 261-270 | |
| Steinar Carlsen; Reidar Gjersvik | |||
| We analyze possible organizational use of workflow technology based on
contemporary organizational theory for the purpose of understanding flexible
workflow. Organization theory is entered through Gareth Morgan's "Images of
Organization", which describes eight metaphors that can be consciously applied
for the study of organizations. All metaphors contribute to this study, but
some give more important contributions. Based on the brains-metaphor, we show
how workflow is linked to organizational learning and how it can be extended to
actually support aspects of it. Inspired by the culture-metaphor we focus on
social reality construction and how user oriented process models may contribute
to support the construction of shared realities and shared meaning. Utilizing
the flux and transformation-metaphor, we argue against "generic" business
processes except as templates for adaptation. Keywords: Flexible workflow technology, Organization theory, CSCW | |||
| Enhancing Workflows by Web Technology | | BIBAK | PDF | 271-280 | |
| Wolfgang Grather; Wolfgang Prinz; Sabine Kolvenbach | |||
| This paper presents a hybrid approach for the support of workflows in a
ministerial environment that integrates a Web-based interface into a groupware
platform. A scenario of the application area is examined to identify the basic
requirements for an adequate user support. The basic POLITeam approach for the
support of workflows by electronic circulation folders is introduced. Focal
point of the paper is the design of the Web-based interface for the interaction
with electronic circulation folders and its seamless integration into the
groupware platform. Keywords: Workflow, Electronic circulation folder, HTML, Internet, JAVA | |||
| Integrating Synchronous Multimedia Collaboration into Workflow Management | | BIBAK | PDF | 281-290 | |
| Michael Weber; Gerhard Partsch; Siegfried Hock; Georg Schneider; Astrid Scheller-Houy; Jean Schweitzer | |||
| Two different areas of distributed group work are supported by workflow
management systems and real-time collaboration systems. Workflow management
systems support work being structured in steps such that each step can be
handled with the results of former steps and the expertise of the person
working on that step. On the other hand, multimedia collaboration systems are
best suited for unstructured group activities. Audiovisual connectivity and
shared documents enable flexible group processes. All coordination tasks are
left to the conference participants. This paper introduces an integration
concept and prototype system which combines the advantages of both types of
CSCW-systems. Keywords: Workflow management, Teleconferencing, Conference assistant, Brokerage,
Trading | |||
| SOaP: Social Agents Providing People with Useful Information | | BIBAK | PDF | 291-298 | |
| Angi Voss; Thomas Kreifelts | |||
| We describe how a system of communicating software agents can help people in
finding useful information. The agents operate on the Web because it
constitutes an almost universal source of information. Search engines on the
Web provide information with high recall and tolerable precision, but they can
only be as good as the queries asked.
Agents can exploit and supplement search engines by providing information without being asked precise questions or without explicit questions at all. Agents can do that with little overhead for the users by exploiting bookmark collections as sources of self-descriptions on the Web, by recording queries, results, and assessments, and by sharing all this among anonymous users as well as groups of users known to each other. Keywords: Software agents, Recommender systems, Collaborative filtering, Multi-agent
systems, World Wide Web | |||
| WorkWeb System -- Multi-Workflow Management with a Multi-Agent System | | BIBAK | PDF | 299-308 | |
| Hiroyuki Tarumi; Koji Kida; Yoshihide Ishiguro; Kenji Yoshifu; Takayoshi Asakura | |||
| Current office systems independently manage workflows and personal
schedules. However, they cannot be managed independently, because of resource
constraints. The "WorkWeb System" is an expanded workflow system that is able
to manage and control office resources. The "BPT agent" in the system
autonomously manages each workflow process instance, trying to acquire the
necessary resources to complete it in time. The WorkWeb System also provides
visual interfaces to manage and control office goals and several workflow
re-planning algorithms to handle exceptional cases. This paper illustrates how
the resource management and workflow dynamic scheduling are performed, and
discusses issues involved with this system. Keywords: Workflow systems, Multi-agent systems, Schedule management, Dynamic
rescheduling | |||
| Flexible Specification of Workflow Compensation Scopes | | BIBAK | PDF | 309-316 | |
| Weimin Du; Jim Davis; Ming-Chien Shan | |||
| This paper addresses specification issues of workflow process compensation.
The main consideration is to reduce the number of workflow activities that have
to be compensated and re-executed when a failure occurs, as both can be very
expensive. The main contribution of the paper is flexible compensation scoping
strategies that allows process designers to specify compensation scopes in a
simple way based on data dependencies between workflow activities. The
specification helps the workflow engine to avoid unnecessary compensation at
run time. The proposed techniques are simple to implement, but also have the
potential of significantly reducing compensation overhead. Keywords: Workflow, Compensation, Compensation scope | |||
| Facilitating Idea Generation in Computer-Supported Teleconferences | | BIBAK | PDF | 317-324 | |
| Kenneth A. Graetz; Nicole Proulx; Cassie B. Barlow; Laura J. Pape | |||
| In the current study, 2- and 4-person groups brainstormed ideas for new
television shows. Groups then selected and further developed one of their
ideas. Three meeting formats were compared: face-to-face, standard
teleconferencing, and teleconferencing combined with an electronic
brainstorming tool. Results indicated that, although they allocated the same
amount of time to the brainstorming phase of the task, groups using the
electronic brainstorming tool generated significantly more ideas than groups in
the other two conditions. The effectiveness of computer-supported
teleconferencing for facilitating distributed groups is discussed. Keywords: Idea generation, Electronic brainstorming, Distributed collaboration,
Teleconferencing | |||
| An Experimental System for Transactional Messaging | | BIBAK | PDF | 325-330 | |
| Allen E. Milewski; Thomas M. Smith | |||
| With the growing use of electronic mail come challenges in how to aid users
in handling ever-increasing volumes of email. Firsthand experience as well as
the systematic study of users' email patterns suggest that a large fraction of
messages are parts of larger transactions. We have implemented an approach
toward structuring messages that is intended to help users carry out some of
these transactions. Our approach has been to make message structure both
general-purpose and optional. Two studies support the applicability and the
acceptance of the messaging model. The system, which provides capabilities
that are largely absent from conventional email systems, has been deployed in
an internal trial. Keywords: Email, Structured messaging, Media choice | |||
| Bridging the Gap between Face-to-Face Communication and Long-Term Collaboration | | BIBAK | PDF | 331-340 | |
| Stefanie N. Lindstaedt; Kurt Schneider | |||
| During the different phases of a project, stakeholders have different
communication needs and make use of different communication media to satisfy
them. A group memory system must be able to support and capture these
different communication types. We describe two systems, GIMMe and FOCUS, the
integration of which allows us to support and effortlessly capture electronic
mail conversations and structural changes in their organizational hierarchy as
well as face-to-face demonstrations of software prototypes. As media and style
of collaboration change, the emerging group memory goes through a metamorphosis
that parallels group members' changing demands. This approach promises low
initial effort and the potential to grow in value. Keywords: Group memory, Prototype, Design rationale, CSCW, Organizational learning | |||
| Flexible Support for Business Processes: Extending Cooperative Hypermedia with Process Support | | BIBAK | PDF | 341-350 | |
| Jorg M. Haake; Weigang Wang | |||
| In this paper, we present a cooperative hypermedia based process support
system aimed on flexible business processes. An analysis of the communication,
coordination and cooperation requirements of business processes reveals a gap
in current computer support. We propose to address these requirements by
extending a cooperative hypermedia system with process support. The resulting
system called CHIPS uses hypermedia based activity spaces to model the
structural, relational, and computational semantics of both individual tasks
and processes. Application examples demonstrate that the CHIPS system retains
the intuitive usability of hypertext and can support a wide range of business
processes. Keywords: Hypermedia, Cooperative work, Activity space, Flexible workflow | |||
| Developing the Cooperative Mission Development Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 351-357 | |
| Christopher Rouff; Mary Ann Robbert | |||
| The Cooperative Mission Development Environment (CMDE) was developed to
unite independent applications and databases into a cooperating tool set
capable of sharing data. As missions developed stand-alone tools to meet
immediate needs and to automate paper functions, a proliferation of development
and automation tools came into existence. It soon became apparent that data in
one tool could be used by another tool and a significant improvement in
productivity could be obtained by combining the tools and sharing the data
between them. This paper examines: how the independent systems arose, why the
need developed to integrate the independent systems, the integration approaches
considered, the process used for integration, how coordination between tool
developers was handled, challenges faced during integration, plus current
challenges, and future plans. Keywords: Client/server, Middleware, Islands of computing, Integrating databases | |||
| Compositional Features for Promoting Awareness Within and Across Cooperative Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 358-367 | |
| Carla Simone; Stefania Bandini | |||
| The existing computational mechanisms for promoting awareness are based on
Awareness Models referring to spatial metaphors. These models are mainly based
on the notions of focus and nimbus which allow one to compute different
measures of awareness between objects. The point made in this paper is that
these approaches are focused on how awareness information is produced and
perceived but not on how it affects the behavior of the objects. This aspect
is relevant if one takes seriously the issue of making awareness mechanisms
fully visible and accessible to the involved actors for the purpose of
adaptability. We propose the reaction-diffusion metaphor in order to deal with
the above requirements. The related Model of Awareness is presented, compared
with the Spatial Models and illustrated by some examples. Keywords: Models of awareness, Coordination mechanisms, CSCW infrastructures | |||
| Valentine: An Environment for Home Office Worker Providing Informal Communication and Personal Space | | BIBAK | PDF | 368-375 | |
| Shinkuro Honda; Hironari Tomioka; Takaaki Kimura; Takaharu Oosawa; Ken-ichi Okada; Yutaka Matsushita | |||
| In this paper, we propose the virtual office environment which integrates
the natural communication and the secure private space. The features of this
system are described below. 1) This system has virtual shared room which is
based on the idea of "Shared Room Metaphor". 3D graphics on SGI workstation is
used for this system. It uses Ethernet (TCP/IP) for signal connection and FDDI
(UDP/IP) for continuous media (i.e., realtime audio/video streams). 2) This
system realizes the field of view of human being to support natural
communication between members by using our "Around View" technique. 3) "Sound
Effect" are also used to help users feel the presence of other members. For
instance, members hear the opening-sound of the door when someone logs in our
system and the sound of footsteps when someone is walking around our virtual
room. 4) Sometimes this system avoids unlimited flow of awareness. A person
concentrating his/her work may not want to perceive excessive awareness of
others. To support such situation, we define "Awareness Space" which restricts
the field where other member's awareness is transmitted. Awareness Space
changes in size with the degree of concentration which is measured through two
factors; the movement of a chair and the frequency of keyboard typing. 5)
"Headphone Metaphor"; a picture of headphone is attached above his/her image
and changed its color depending on the degree of concentration. The view of
this headphone enables other members to recognize his/her state and it can be a
criterion he is available to communicate or not. Keywords: Virtual office, Informal communication, Personal space, Presence, Awareness
space, Concentration | |||
| SISCO: Providing a Cooperation Filter for a Shared Information Space | | BIBAK | PDF | 376-384 | |
| John A. Mariani | |||
| A rationale for the extension of database technology to support
collaboration through the provision of awareness information gathering and
presentation is presented. The design and implementation of SISCO, a
transparent cooperation filter for a multi-user generic object-oriented
database is described. By trapping all accesses made to the shared objects,
from both cooperation-aware and unaware database clients, awareness information
is gathered. By making the filter responsible for the cooperation mechanisms,
the underlying database is left unaltered. SISCO-D is based on a desktop-based
browser, but is cooperation aware. The shared browser forms a test-bed for the
investigation of awareness presentation techniques. Keywords: Databases, Shared information space, Awareness, Cooperation filter, Shared
desktop | |||
| NYNEX Portholes: Initial User Reactions and Redesign Implications | | BIBAK | PDF | 385-394 | |
| Alison Lee; Andreas Girgensohn; Kevin Schlueter | |||
| The prevalence of audio and video options on computers, coupled with the
promise of bandwidth, have many prognosticators predicting a revolution in
human communications. But what if the revolution materializes and no users
show up? We were confronted with this question when we began deploying and
studying the use of a video-based, background awareness application within our
organization. Repeatedly, new users raised strong concerns about
self-presentation, surveillance, privacy, video snapshots, and lack of audience
cues. We describe how we addressed these concerns by evolving the application.
As a consequence, we are also redesigning the user interface to the
application. Keywords: Awareness, Audience, Collaboration, Design, Glance, Portholes, Privacy,
Reciprocity, Surveillance, Web | |||
| MEDIATE: Video as a First-Order Datatype | | BIBAK | PDF | 395-404 | |
| Steinar Kristoffersen | |||
| This paper describes MEDIATE, a toolkit for developing collaborative
multimedia applications. Fieldwork in a large UK bank indicated that the use
of video conferencing to support distributed work is associated with
expectations and requirements significantly different from telephone or text.
In particular, practices of Flexible Interaction Management are brought to the
fore. To improve support for collaboratively working with, and across a video
link, video needs to be natively supported by groupware applications. MEDIATE
offers video as an integrated, first-order datatype -- capturing, processing
and switching multimedia streams locally -- within a connection-oriented model.
The most important theoretical implication of this work is that MEDIATE
explicates an advanced understanding of cooperative work as Multimedia-Enhanced
Collaborative Situations. On the practical level, MEDIATE supports rapid
development of collaborative multimedia applications. Keywords: Collaborative multimedia, CSCW, Groupware toolkits | |||
| Integration of Face-to-Face and Video-Mediated Meetings: HERMES | | BIBAK | PDF | 405-414 | |
| Tomoo Inoue; Ken-ichi Okada; Yutaka Matsushita | |||
| The design and evaluation of HERMES, the videoconferencing system that
integrates face-to-face and video-mediated meetings, are presented. Spatial
design of the meeting space with an automatic video control mechanism was
employed to support both local and remote communication. The evaluation of the
system revealed that the design was effective in solving the problematic
behavior that participants tend to fix their eyes on the monitor when they use
a conventional system with lined up seats. Keywords: Videoconferencing, Meeting support, CSCW, Groupware, Visual design, Spatial
design | |||
| Team Automata for Groupware Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 415-424 | |
| Clarence (Skip) Ellis | |||
| This paper introduces a mathematical model of groupware systems called Team
Automata. We use this model at the architectural level, to describe components
of a groupware system, and their interconnections. The multiple automata
constituting the team interact via shared actions -- transitions which multiple
automata perform synchronously together. The paper concludes by illustrating
the application of this model to the analysis of real time shared application
groupware. The model suggests that there are design alternatives for shared
application groupware which have mostly gone unexplored. Keywords: Groupware, Automata, Formal models, Architecture, Groupware components, CSCW
systems | |||
| A Generic Operation Transformation Scheme for Consistency Maintenance in Real-Time Cooperative Editing Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 425-434 | |
| Chengzheng Sun; Yanchun Zhang; Xiahua Jia; Yun Yang | |||
| In real-time cooperative editing systems, independent operations on any part
of the shared document may be generated from multiple cooperating sites. It is
very important and technically challenging to ensure that the effect of
executing an operation at remote sites, in the presence of concurrent execution
of independent operations, achieves the same effect as executing this operation
at the local site at the time of its generation, thus preserving its intention
and maintaining system consistency. In this paper, we investigate the
technical issues involved in preserving intentions of concurrent operations,
explain the reasons why traditional serialization-based concurrency control
strategies and existing operational transformation strategies failed to solve
these problems, and propose a generic operation transformation scheme for
intention preservation and consistency maintenance in real-time cooperative
editing systems. The proposed scheme has been implemented in an Internet-based
prototype REDUCE (REal-time Distributed Unconstrained Cooperative Editing)
system. Keywords: Intention preservation, Consistency maintenance, Distributed computing,
Cooperative editing, CSCW | |||
| Serialization of Concurrent Operations in a Distributed Collaborative Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 435-445 | |
| Maher Suleiman; Michele Cart; Jean Ferrie | |||
| In a distributed groupware system, objects shared by users are subject to
concurrency and real-time constraints. In order to satisfy these, various
concurrency control algorithms [4] [11] have been proposed that exploit the
semantic properties of operations. By ordering concurrent operations, they
guarantee consistency of the different copies of each object. The drawback of
these algorithms is that in some situations they can result in inconsistent
copies, a non-respect of user's intentions, and in the need to undo and redo
certain operations.
The principal objective of the this paper is to present an algorithm that overcomes these problems. The algorithm is based on the notion of user's intention, and also on the construction of equivalent histories by exploiting and combining some general semantic properties such as forward/backward transposition. Keywords: Groupware systems, Concurrency control, Distributed systems, Multi-user
editors, Operation transposition | |||