When computer Supported Cooperative Work or computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) an interdisciplinary Forschungsgebiet from computer science, sociology, psychology, work and organization sciences, management, anthropology, economical informatics, designated economic science and different further disciplines, which is concerned with group work and co-operation and the group work supporting information and communication technologies; the central research articles of the CSCW are thus co-operation between humans and their support barness with computers (Cora Burger).

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is the designation of the Forschungsgebietes, which examines on interdisciplinary basis, how individuals in working groups or teams co-operate and how they can be supported thereby by information and communication technology. A goal of all efforts in the area CSCW is it to examine using all means of the information and communication technology, group processes the available and to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the group work.

The aids for co-operation within groups and teams are called Groupware or Workflow management systems; this closes both hardware (for example cameras) and software in.

With respect to the research to CSCW three coherent closely with one another research ranges are differentiated (after Hasenkamp 1994):

• the development of an understanding of co-operation and co-ordination;
• the development of concepts and tools for the support of arbeitsteiliger processes;
• the evaluation of these concepts and tools.

Colloquially the terms CSCW, Groupware and Workgroup Computing are frequently to a large extent synonymously used.

History

The term CSCW 1984 coined/shaped by a Workshop into Endicott House (mA) of Irene reach and Cashman.

The first international conference found 1986 in Austin, Texas instead of (CSCW '86). The last CSCW (CSCW 2004: http://www.acm.org/cscw2004/) took place 2004 in Chicago, the CSCW 2006 (http://www.acm.org/cscw2006/) in Banff will take place. In the odd years in Europe the ECSCW is organized: 2005 in Paris (http://insitu.lri.fr/ecscw/), 2007 in Limerik, Ireland.

The beginnings of the CSCW research decrease/go back on work of the beginning of the 80's, which are called also euphoric phase.

End of the 80's stopped itself disillusionment due to acceptance lacking; this time is called also cat misery phase.

In the 90's the pragmatic phase, in whose process practicable and usable solutions were compiled, began to set, less on an automation of co-operation processes, but on a flexible support.

A variant of the CSCW beginning is the computer Supported Cooperative Learning (CSCL).

System categories

There are different kinds of systems. In principle you are divided into the following types:

• Conference systems
• Decision support
• Multi-user editors
• Hypermedia
• Co-ordination systems
• Distributed expirations of office

Conference systems

Conference systems are appropriate for the fact that several participants, who are usually at distant places can discuss a common problem. The information and document access seeing information from all participants makes possible. In such systems anonymity is mostly ensured as a feature, so that for example a tuning can take place anonymous. Conference systems can be divided in 3 categories:

• Conference center:

The conference system is central, mostly in an area and/or an office, accommodated. Special audiovisual tools make good presentation technology and information development possible. Also transferring of documents should be possible.

• Teleconferences:

This form of the conference is to be used and/or developed at the easiest one, since it can be furnished for example via ISDN as Telefonkonferenz between several monitoring. In addition, in this sector distributed video conferences are possible.

• Conferences of computer:

Conferences of computer make a distributed asynchronous interaction possible between the individual participants. To different groups of interests individual can be developed, in whose the group participants can exchange themselves among themselves. The most well-known kind of the conference of computer Internet Usenet is probable news.

Decision support

Multi-user editors

Multi-user editors designate systems, which the simultaneous (synchronous) temporally shifted and/or (asynchronous) working on of texts, pictures or other contents by several users makes possible. During synchronous systems of a work area common with the technology (shared view) according to the principle WYSIWIS (What You lake Is What I lake) work in particular, support asynchronous systems co-operation in particular by comments (lists of new publications) and the Nachverfolgbarkeit of changes by Versionierung.

As example of synchronous multi-user editors is so-called Whiteboards (as e.g. in Microsoft Netmeeting). An example of an asynchronous multi-user editor is the Wikimedia editor used for the production of this text.

Hypermedia

Electronic documents, which contain connections (hyper+on the left of) to other media such as diagram, sound or video. They make multimedia information presentations possible and - accessed by means of linkages"Â…

Co-ordination systems

They make the coordination of steps of the individual participants of a group necessary for the solution for a task possible. They model data flow, the function, the interaction or communication within an organisational structure.

Literature

• Schwabe, Gerhard; Streitz, Norbert; Unland, Rainer (Hrsg.): CSCW manual: Lehr and manual to computer-aided cooperative work. Berlin: Springer, 2001. ISBN 3-540-67552-3.
• Burger, Cora: Groupware. Co-operation support for distributed applications. Heidelberg 1997. ISBN 3-920993-60-8.
• Schmalzl, B (Hrsg.): Work and electronic communication of the future: Methods and case studies for the optimization of the work place layout. Springer publishing house, Berlin et al. 2004. ISBN 3-540-00949-3.
• Borrow-hope, Uwe M.; More simply, Johann H.: Computer-aided group work - an introduction to distributed applications. Springer publishing house, 1998, 2.Auflage. ISBN 3-540-62873-8

Related links

• Specialized group CSCW of the society for computer science

Articles in category "Computer Supported Cooperative Work"

We found here 28 articles.