Component-based Groupware Tailorability using Monitoring Facilities

Tailorability has long been recognised as a key issue concerning groupware applications in general and component-based groupware applications in particular. Tailoring activities are usually classified according to three levels, viz., customisation, integration and extension. This paper presents an approach to component-based tailoring based on the use of monitoring extensions. Our approach allows the extension and integration of new components into a legacy groupware application without the need for changes in the existing components

Groupware for Collaborative Tailoring

In everyday work, teamwork in the presence of the tools, the resources, and the processes that enable work is mostly transparent to the workers. They center their attention on performing work. However, a noticeable change in the work conditions, in the required quality of the product, or in the perceived results of work, may be experienced as a breakdown that brings teamwork to the center of attention. To deal with breakdowns it is currently common practice to include tailoring facilities in groupware systems. The extent to which these facilities are provided, and the way in which they are implemented, determine the power users have to change the groupware system. Determining these facilities has been the focus of most research on tailorability in CSCW. How collaborative tailoring (defined as, collaboration for and in tailoring) can be facilitated remains as yet undetermined. This thesis tackles the problem of the lack of computer support for dis- tributed team members that need to perform tailoring in the context of team- work. The challenge of tailoring in the context of teamwork is to understand and support the needs of the group members, from the moment they encounter a breakdown during work until they have enacted the changes they deem nec- essary. This thesis is based on the premise of participation as a means to achieve acceptance of change. The approach to support collaborative tailoring of team- work presented in this thesis consists of a method for collaborative breakdown handling, a selection of specific groupware tools to be used for the deliberation activities defined by the method, and guidance in the form of scaffoldings for the application of the method. Breakdowns can also occur during tailoring. To deal with breakdowns that occur during tailoring, the method, the tools, and the scaffolding can be tailored. The proposed support for collaborative tailor- ing of teamwork is delivered as a stand-alone groupware system for collaborative tailoring. The system can be deployed along existing groupware systems, thus extending them with support for collaborative tailoring. This thesis exceeds related work by approaching tailoring of teamwork as a social system with a model that explains tailoring as the result of collaborative breakdown handling. The requirements of communication, collaboration, co- operation and coordination, and negotiation observed in the social system are supported by the corresponding technical system. The approach in this thesis is not limited to its application in a particular scenario or groupware system. The only requirement is that the target system/scenario can be tailored. The approach has been conceived to enable and support its own evolution as the result of its tailoring.Editorial: FernUniversität in Hagen. Informatik-Berichte Vol. 325.FernUniversität in Hage

Design, Appropriation, and Unanticipated Users: A Series of Studies to Address the Design, Implementation, and Use of Collaboration Technologies in Workplace Settings.

As information technology proliferates all aspects of life, “user experience” and human-centered design approaches become more important. The design process requires the specification of users, their needs, and how technology will support them. Yet, there is evidence that once IT has been released, that there is no control over how it can be used. This research uses the lens of appropriation, a term invoked to describe unexpected or evolving technology use resulting from user adaptation. Literature in the fields of HCI and IS focus mainly on appropriation as an outcome or as a kind of work to be supported, but always within the scope of target users. I argue that the users we specify may not reflect actual end-users. This dissertation investigates the issue surrounding unanticipated users of IT and what they can mean for theories of design, information systems, and computer-supported cooperative work. This work investigates the problem of unanticipated users through a series of studies that investigate how staff members at the University of Michigan have adopted a course management system called CTools and thereafter adapted it to their work practices. A survey study and a user log study examine why and how they generally used the toolkit, often referring from data about faculty and students for comparison. Overall, these two studies ways in which staff differed from faculty and students in terms of what they value the system for and in how they use its tools. The final study uses interview to inform why and how staff appropriated Project Sites into their work lives at a time when there was a large shift in the sociotechnical ecosystem of the university. Findings showed that staff depended on a single narrative of use, when others were possible, highlighting the importance of knowledge and leadership in the process of appropriating IT into practice. I use these findings to show that understanding unanticipated users can help to improve design and can also add value to theory.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102354/1/pabloq_1.pd

Groupware design : principles, prototypes, and systems

Computers are valuable tools for a wide range of work tasks. A substantial limitation on their value, however, is the predominant focus on enhancing the work of individuals. This fails to account for the issues of collaboration that affect almost all work. Research into computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) aims to eliminate this deficiency, but the promise of computer systems for group work has not been met. This thesis presents four design principles that promote the development of successful groupware. The principles identify the particular problems encountered by groupware, and provide guidelines and strategies to avoid, overcome, or minimise their impact. Derived from several sources, the major influence on the principles development is an investigation into the relationship between factors affecting groupware failure. They are stimulated by observations of groupware use, and by design insights arising from the development of two groupware applications and their prototypes: Mona and TELEFREEK. Mona provides conversation-based email management. Several groupware applications allow similar functionality, but the design principles result in Mona using different mechanisms to achieve its user-support. TELEFREEK provides a platform for accessing computer-supported communication and collaboration facilities. It attends to the problems of initiating interaction, and supports an adaptable and extendible set of "social awareness" assistants. TELEFREEK offers a broader range of facilities than other groupware, and avoids the use of prohibitively high-bandwidth communication networks. TELEFREEK demonstrates that much can be achieved through current and widely accessible technology. Together, Mona and TELEFREEK forcefully demonstrate the use of the design principles, and substantiate the claim of their utility

Web-CCAT: a Collaborative Learning Environment for Geographically Distributed Information Technology Students and Working Professionals

This paper describes the underlying concepts, architecture, and design of a Web-enabled CyberCollaboratory (Web-CCAT) for geographically distributed information systems students and working professionals. The primary objectives for Web-CCAT are (1) to provide the opportunity to participate in and enjoy the benefits of cooperative learning without having to coordinate meeting times or come to campus; and (2) to provide a more technologically enriched collaborative environment than is possible in a traditional face-to-face classroom. To meet these objectives, multi-user, collaborative software tools and procedures were designed for use in the asynchronous mode of communication. Web-CCAT is implemented as a tool kit of commercially available applications coupled with software developed at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The system became operational in January 1999

An evolving approach to learning in problem solving and program development : the distributed learning model

Technological advances are paving the way for improvements in many sectors of society. The US education system needs to undergo a transformation of existing pedagogical methods to maximize utilization of new technologies. Traditional education has primarily been teacher driven, lectured-based in one location. Advances in technology are challenging existing paradigms by developing tools and educational environments that reach diverse learning styles and surpass the boundaries of current teaching methods. Distributed learning is an emerging paradigm today that has promise to contribute significantly to learning and improve overall academic success. This research first explores various systems that provide different modes of learning. The problem domain of this research is the difficulty novice programmers\u27 face when learning to program. This paper proposes how distributed learning can be used in a teaching environment to enrich learning and the impacts for the given problem domain

HIVE-MIND SPACE: A META-DESIGN APPROACH FOR CULTIVATING AND SUPPORTING COLLABORATIVE DESIGN.

The ever-growing complexity of design projects requires more knowledge than any individual can have and, therefore, needs the active engagement of all stakeholders in the design process. Collaborative design exploits synergies from multidisciplinary communities, encourages divergent thinking, and enhances social creativity. The research documented in this thesis supports and deepens the understanding of collaborative design in two dimensions: (1) It developed and evaluated socio-technical systems to support collaborative design projects; and (2) It defined and explored a meta- design framework focused on how these systems enable users, as active contributors, to modify and further develop them. The research is grounded in and simultaneously extends the following major dimensions of meta-design: (1) It exploits the contributions of social media and web 2.0 as innovative information technologies; (2) It facilitates the shift from consumer cultures to cultures of participation; (3) It fosters social creativity by harnessing contributions that occur in cultures of participation; (4) It empowers end-users to be active designers involved in creating situated solutions. In a world where change is the norm, meta-design is a necessity rather than a luxury because it is impossible to design software systems at design time for problems that occur only at use time. The co-evolution of systems and users\u2bc social practices pursued in this thesis requires a software environment that can evolve and be tailored continuously. End-user development explores tools and methods to support end users who tailor software artifacts. However, it addresses this objective primarily from a technical perspective and focuses mainly on tailorability. This thesis, centered on meta-design, extends end-user development by creating social conditions and design processes for broad participation in design activities both at design time and at use time. It builds on previous research into meta- design that has provided a strategic overview of design opportunities and principles. And it addresses some shortcomings of meta-design, such as the lack of guidelines for building concrete meta-design environments that can be assessed by empirical evaluation. Given the goal of this research, to explore meta-design approaches for cultivating and supporting collaborative design, the overarching research question guiding this work is: How do we provide a socio-technical environment to bring multidisciplinary design communities together to foster creativity, collaboration, and design evolution? 8 To answer this question, my research was carried out through four different phases: (1) synthesizing concepts, models, and theories; (2) framing conceptual models; (3) developing several systems in specific application areas; and (4) conducting empirical evaluation studies. The main contributions of this research are: \uf0a7 The Hive-Mind Space model, a meta-design framework derived from the \u201csoftware shaping workshop\u201d methodology and that integrates the \u201cseeding, evolutionary growth, reseeding\u201d model. The bottom-up approach inherent in this framework breaks down static social structures so as to support richer ecologies of participation. It provides the means for structuring communication and appropriation. The model\u2bcs open mediation mechanism tackles unanticipated communication gaps among different design communities. \uf0a7 MikiWiki, a structured programmable wiki I developed to demonstrate how the hive-mind space model can be implemented as a practical platform that benefits users and how its features and values can be specified so as to be empirically observable and assessable; \uf0a7 Empirical insights, such as those based on applying MikiWiki to different collaborative design studies, provide evidence that different phases of meta-design represent different modes rather than discrete levels