Computer-Supported Collaborative Production

This paper proposes the concept of collaborative production as a focus of concern within the general area of collaborative work. We position the concept with respect to McGrath's framework for small group dynamics and the more familiar collaboration processes of awareness, coordination, and communication (McGrath 1991). After reviewing research issues and computer-based support for these interacting aspects of collaboration, we turn to a discussion of implications for how to design improved support for collaborative production. We illustrate both the challenges of collaborative production and our design implications with a collaborative map-updating scenario drawn from the work domain of geographical information systems

A component-based collaboration infrastructure

Groupware applications allow geographically distributed users to collaborate on shared tasks. However, it is widely recognized that groupware applications are expensive to build due to coordination services and group dynamics, neither of which is present in single-user applications. Previous collaboration transparency systems reuse existing single-user applications as a whole for collaborative work, often at the price of inflexible coordination. Previous collaboration awareness systems, on the other hand, provide reusable coordination services and multi-user widgets, but often with two weaknesses: (1) the multi-user widgets provided are special-purpose and limited in number, while no guidelines are provided for developing multi-user interface components in general; and (2) they often fail to reach the desired level of flexibility in coordination by tightly binding shared data and coordination services. In this dissertation, we propose a component-based approach to developing group- ware applications that addresses the above two problems. To address the first prob- lem, we propose a shared component model for modeling data and graphic user inter- face(GUI) components of groupware applications. As a result, the myriad of existing single-user components can be re-purposed as shared GUI or data components. An adaptation tool is developed to assist the adaptation process. To address the second problem, we propose a coordination service framework which systematically model the interaction between user, data, and coordination protocols. Due to the clean separation of data and control and the capability to dynamically "glue" them together, the framework provides reusable services such as data distribution, persistence, and adaptable consistency control. The association between data and coordination services can be dynamically changed at runtime. An Evolvable and eXtensible Environment for Collaboration (EXEC) is built to evaluate the proposed approach. In our experiments, we demonstrate two benefits of our approach: (1) a group of common groupware features adapted from existing single- user components are plugged in to extend the functionalities of the environment itself; and (2)coordination services can be dynamically attached to and detached from these shared components at different granules to support evolving collaboration needs

When Systems Lose Their Identity

This paper reports a longitudinal study of the design and implementation of a Web-based groupware application. We studied the development of three versions of the application, and the preliminary discussions of the forth. We adopt a sensemaking perspective to analyze the dynamics of this process and show that improvisational action and bricolage (make do with the materials at hand) played a vital role in the development process, successfully within a small group of people, but less so when more, distributed people became involved. The paper introduces the problem of distributed sensemaking in IS development

Wikis in the Classroom: An Agenda for Studying Collaborative Writing in Information Systems Research

This paper proposes a research agenda for a relatively new area of research in information systems: wikis in collaborative writing. We introduce wikis and the concept of collaborative writing using four different educational cases of wiki-usage for collaborative writing in the classroom setting. Eight research questions are suggested related to this area of research. We propose that Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) is a useful theoretical framework to study these questions. The paper suggests the importance of this new area of research through four case studies and identifying research questions that need to be addressed using the AST framework and suggesting implications for educational practice

Live Collaboration in App Development

Real-time collaborative editing systems are increasing in popularity, having moved from document editing software to the world of software development. Live collaboration (or real-time collaboration) refers to a synchronous cooperation mechanism, allowing for concurrent changes to be made to the same object by multiple individuals. In recent years, many traditional software development tools have started to incorporate live collaboration. The motivation behind this fast expansion comes from a series of specific use cases propelled even more by the current COVID-19 pandemic, which forces people to stay at home and work in a remote manner. This hinders the possibilities for cooperation between team members during the development of a software project. In this work, we address this problem in the context of the OutSystems low-code platform, and we aim to determine how collaborative features, including real-time collaboration, can be implemented in OutSystems tools to enhance its collaborative experience for users developing applications. In this context, collaboration is defined as the processes and actions that take place between people during software development projects with the OutSystems platform, when trying to execute their work tasks. To test the ideal experience for collaborative features, such as real-time collaboration, in the OutSystems ecosystem, we analyzed the current state of the art of the research done in the fields of CSCW (Computer-supported CooperativeWork) and UX (User Experience) and experimented with other industry standard software to analyze their collaborative features. Because features are made for people, we then moved to the end-users and interviewed several users of the OutSystems platform to understand their issues when cooperating with other people, and finally we generated a series of designs to try to address their issues. These designs were conceptualized and materialized into actual mockups that were part of several usability tests, done with OutSystems users, to realize their potential in enhancing the collaboration experience when using OutSystems.Os sistemas de edição colaborativa em tempo-real estão a ganhar popularidade, tendo transitado do mundo do software da edição de documentos para o mundo do desenvolvimento de software. O título do documento, "Live collaboration in app development", refere-se a mecanismos de colaboração síncrona, que permitem alterações concorrentes a um mesmo objecto por parte de vários intervenientes. Nos últimos anos, várias ferramentas tradicionais de desenvolvimento de software começaram a incorporar colaboração em tempo-real. Esta rápida expansão é motivada por vários casos de uso, que ganham uma maior relevância na atualidade devido à pandemia da COVID-19, em que muitas pessoas têm de trabalhar de forma remota a partir de casa. Esta situação dificulta as possibilidades de cooperação entre colegas de equipa num projeto de desenvolvimento de software. Este trabalho aborda estes problemas no contexto da plataforma de low-code da OutSystems e pretende-se determinar se e como certas funcionalidades colaborativas, como colaboração em tempo-real, podem ser implementadas na plataforma da OutSystems de forma a melhorar a experiência colaborativa para os seus utilizadores. Neste contexto, colaboração refere-se aos processos e ações que ocorrem entre as pessoas durante os projetos de desenvolvimento de software com a plataforma da OutSystems. Para definir e testar a experiência ideal destas funcionalidades colaborativas, como colaboração em tempo-real, no ecossistema OutSystems, analisámos o estado da arte atual da investigação feita nas áreas de CSCW (Computer-supported CooperativeWork) e UX (User Experience) e experimentámos outros programas disponíveis no mercado para analisar as suas funcionalidades colaborativas. Como o software é feito para pessoas, entrevistámos vários utilizadores da plataforma OutSystems para compreender os seus problemas ao cooperarem com outras pessoas no contexto OutSystems e conceptualizámos várias ideias para tentar resolver esses problemas. Essas ideias foram depois materializadas em protótipos reais que fizeram parte de vários testes de usabilidade para perceber o seu potencial em melhorar a experiência de colaboração em OutSystems