Using Shared Workspaces in Higher Education

We evaluate the use of BSCW shared workspaces in higher education by means of a comparison of seven courses in which this environment was used. We identify a number of different functions for which the BSCW environment has been used and discuss the relative success of these functions across the cases. In addition, we evaluate the cases with the 4E model of Collis et al. (2000) which predicts the chances of acceptance of ICT in an educational setting. Effectiveness for the given task appears to be a prime success factor for using ICT. But an effective tool may fail due to other factors like ease of use and organisational, socialcultural or technological obstacles. The particular strength of a shared workspace, for which BSCW is most effective and efficient, is providing a repository for objects of collaborative work. Other types of usage showed mixed results. In the future we expect that learning takes place in an integrated, open ICT environment in which different kinds of tools are available for different purposes and users can switch between tools as appropriate. We could observe this in several of the case studies, where non-use of BSCW did not mean that a particular task was not performed, but, on the contrary, a more efficient solution for the same function was available. Shared workspaces have proven to be highly useful, but it seems advisable that their purpose be limited to what they were originally designed for

Digital information support for concept design

This paper outlines the issues in effective utilisation of digital resources in conceptual design. Access to appropriate information acts as stimuli and can lead to better substantiated concepts. This paper addresses the issues of presenting such information in a digital form for effective use, exploring digital libraries and groupware as relevant literature areas, and argues that improved integration of these two technologies is necessary to better support the concept generation task. The development of the LauLima learning environment and digital library is consequently outlined. Despite its attempts to integrate the designers' working space and digital resources, continuing issues in library utilisation and migration of information to design concepts are highlighted through a class study. In light of this, new models of interaction to increase information use are explored

Hierarchy and Competition in CSCW applications: Model and case study

CSCW applications need to adapt themselves to the functional and organizational structures of people that use them. However they do not usually support division in groups with a certain hierarchical structure among them. In this paper, we propose and study a theoretical model of groupware appliations that reflects those hierarchical interactions. The proposed model is also intended to evaluate the effects in performance derived from competitive and collaborative relationships among the components of a hierarchy of groups. In order to demonstrate the above ideas, a groupware game, called Alymod, was designed and implemented using a modified version of a well-known CSCW Toolkit, namely Groupkit. Groupkit was modified in order to support group interactions in the same CSCW application. In Alymod, participants compete or collaborate within a hierarchical structure to achieve a common goal (completing gaps in a text, finishing numerical series, resolving University course examinations, etc.).Publicad

Mobile support in CSCW applications and groupware development frameworks

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is an established subset of the field of Human Computer Interaction that deals with the how people use computing technology to enhance group interaction and collaboration. Mobile CSCW has emerged as a result of the progression from personal desktop computing to the mobile device platforms that are ubiquitous today. CSCW aims to not only connect people and facilitate communication through using computers; it aims to provide conceptual models coupled with technology to manage, mediate, and assist collaborative processes. Mobile CSCW research looks to fulfil these aims through the adoption of mobile technology and consideration for the mobile user. Facilitating collaboration using mobile devices brings new challenges. Some of these challenges are inherent to the nature of the device hardware, while others focus on the understanding of how to engineer software to maximize effectiveness for the end-users. This paper reviews seminal and state-of-the-art cooperative software applications and development frameworks, and their support for mobile devices

USAge of Groupware in Software Engineering Education at the Cscw Laboratory of University Duisburg-essen: Possibilities and Limitations

This paper analyzes the application level in CSCW laboratory there are Electronic meeting rooms, Video Conferencing, Desktop Conference (Passenger), and BSCW system which conducting in The University Duisburg – Essen Germany. This analysis included short analysis and discussion about possibilities and limitation of each experiment followed by outlook how this lab can be further developed.Multi-user to Multipoint Videoconferences is introduced to cover all of devices join to the conferences. A computer network, PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), ISDN Phone, Wireless Infrastructures (accessed by laptop, smart phone, PDA) and videoconferences systems is proposed to be integrate

Integrating Culture in Designing Groupware Applications as Contribution to Intercultural Collaboration Technology

Many industries are now dealing with the issue of globalization and emphasized the need of the influence of a global marketplace. Globalization extends computing, information, and communication technologies across an increasing number of cultural boundaries, generating a corresponding need for cross-cultural partnerships. Due to globalization, global virtual teams with members from different cultures are an emerging trend. The use of collaborative projects is increasing and affects users’ approach to work in a collaboration application, so called groupware. Groupware is a collaboration application designed to support the work of groups. It can allow globalized industries and organizations greater coordination of activities, reducing and eliminating time and geography barriers, and speeding the decision making process. Groupware users are influenced by demographic, social, cultural, psychological and contextual factors, which complicate the understanding of groupware use. The different backgrounds of users may cause them to have different expectations and attitudes towards their acceptance of using groupware. In order for a specific technology application to be useful, applying technology appropriately to the needs of its users is very important. Groupware that only determines structures of communication, such as floor control, turn-taking, communication procedures, and so on may disadvantage and discourage people from different cultural communication styles. These factors should be considered by designers when designing such groupware application in order to be successful. A groupware targeted for multicultural users should have a flexible intercultural support which means can adaptively manage the cultural differences of its users. A great attention should be given for the cultural element in creating products and interfaces that are culture “fit” to its users. Understanding these social and cultural differences is very important in groupware to support cross-cultural collaboration. This dissertation offers solutions to the design issues in groupware for multicultural user to avoid a failed system. Most software engineers when designing applications focuses only on the technical issues and fail to include the social factors that are very important in developing technologies that serves as social applications. Therefore in this dissertation, two extension layers are introduced extending the well know 7-layers OSI model. These two extension layers of ISO/OSI layer model mainly focus on the end-user of the applications consisting of social layer as the 8th layer and cultural layer as the 9th layer, used to link applications to human needs. The social layer representing the support of groups and the cultural layer representing the communication as it is influenced through different cultural backgrounds of users using the tools. These extension layers help software engineers to develop applications within a socio-cultural deployment context. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is extended in this dissertation to understand the mechanism by which cultural differences could explain users’ behaviors toward the acceptance of groupware applications as a remote collaboration tool for global virtual team. A new approach, called culture-centered design and cultural engineering as the anchor for groupware development in multicultural context is introduced to define the requirements, features and functions that should be included in groupware as an intercultural collaboration tool. An expert system to be embedded in groupware, called Intercultural Collaboration Environment Expert System (ICEES), is also developed in the context of a cross-cultural collaboration and is expected to support PASSENGER 2, a new innovative groupware that is currently under development at the Institute of Computer Engineering, University Duisburg-Essen. ICEES provide advice to the group in selecting the most suitable tools for enhancing the group discussion. This dissertation is expected to serve as a benchmark for future research on groupware design for multicultural users across different countries

Using the Java Media Framework to build Adaptive Groupware Applications

Realtime audio and video conferencing has not yet been satisfactorily integrated into web-based groupware environments. Conferencing tools are at best only loosely linked to other parts of a shared working environment, and this is in part due to their implications for resource allocation and management. The Java Media Framework offers a promising means of redressing this situation. This paper describes an architecture for integrating the management of video and audio conferences into the resource allocation mechanism of an existing web-based groupware framework. The issue of adaptation is discussed and a means of initialising multimedia session parameters based on predicted QoS is described