Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) is the study, design, and use of computer technology that enables and enriches group work. While the term "CSCW" may not be commonly known in organizations, CSCW is increasingly a common part of the work world. Factors contributing to the importance of CSCW to contemporary organizations include the following:
- Pervasiveness of networked personal computers.
- Availability of high-bandwidth data transmission and high-quality multimedia.
- The need for more work to be done by fewer employees due to downsizing, shortage of skilled labor, and increasing competition among organizations.
- Decentralization of organizations, with employees and offices working together from different locations.
While research and design work on what were essentially CSCW systems began in the 1960s, it was not until 1984 that the term computer-supported cooperative work was coined. At that time it was used as the title for a conference convened to study issues relating to supporting group work with computers. That conference formalized and advanced CSCW as a legitimate area of research with ramifications for many disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, psychology, computer science, human factors, and organizational design.
There have been two general trends in CSCW research: one focused on human interaction and group dynamics, the other on human-computer interaction and computer technology. The human-focused research seeks to understand how people interact in group settings in order to improve those interactions and to provide guidelines for designing CSCW technologies that fit the way people actually work together. The technology-focused research seeks to understand how people use technology and how technology affects group interaction in order to design CSCW technologies that fit the way people actually use technology, especially in groups.
The human aspects of CSCW have been broken down into four categories:
- Individual aspects: How people communicate and perform their work; human-computer interaction and interface design.
- Organizational aspects: The organization and management of groups.
- Group work design aspects: The study of cooperative work and the design of CSCW systems.
- Group dynamics aspects: The study of how groups function and how people interact and work in groups.
The technical aspects of CSCW, that is, the actual computer (and related) tools that enable people to work together, have also been broken down into four categories:
- Communication systems. Telephones, e-mail, and video-conferencing tools.
- Shared work-space facilities. Facilities enabling people to work together, either in the same physical location (e.g., a computer in a meeting room) or in different physical locations (e.g., a shared screen tool enabling people to see the contents of one computer screen on their own, remote computers).
- Shared information facilities. Facilities enabling people to view, print, and update the same data, whether in a database, a hypertext document, or some other form.
- Group activity support facilities. Facilities enabling people to participate in group work such as brainstorming, planning, and group editing.
Actual CSCW systems have been classified into three general categories:
- Computer-supported meeting environments. Computer-supported meeting environments use computers to enhance real-time meetings in a common location. Computers can be used in meetings to take notes, access information, draft documents, display presentations, and so on. In some computer-supported meeting environments each group member has a personal computer and all the computers are connected to an electronic whiteboard. Information can be entered into the computers and shared on the electronic whiteboard by all group members. The first CSCW system was a computer-supported meeting environment called the On-Line System, which was designed by researchers at the Stanford Research Center in the late 1960s.
- Distributed-shared workspaces. Distributed-shared workspaces enable a group to meet and interact in real time from different locations. Internet chat rooms and instant messaging systems are forms of distributed shared workspace. Other types of distributed-shared workspaces include teleconference systems, shared-window systems, distributed shared-drawing surfaces, and open shared workspaces. Teleconference systems enable multiple group members in different locations to talk to one another on the telephone; teleconference systems may include real-time video images. With shared-window systems, group members can view one group member's computer desktop in a special window on their own computer desktops. Distributed shared-drawing surfaces enable group members in different locations to view images drawn by other group members and to change those images. Such systems are sometimes referred to as "virtual whiteboards." Open shared workspaces are similar to shared window spaces, but include real-time images of group members' physical desktops.
- Messaging systems. Messaging systems allow group members in different locations to communicate with one another at different times. The most commonly used messaging system is e-mail. Internet bulletin board systems are another form of CSCW messaging system.
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