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Collaborative software (also referred to as groupware, workgroup support systems or simply group support systems) is software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals.
[edit] OverviewCollaborative software is a concept that greatly overlaps with computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). Some authors argue they are equivalent. According to Carstensen and Scmidt (1999) [1] groupware is part of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, since CSCW addresses "how collaborative activities and their coordination can be supported by means of computer systems." Software systems such as email, calendaring, text chat, wiki, and bookmarking belong to this category. It has been suggested that Metcalfe's law — the more people who use something, the more valuable it becomes — applies to these types of software. Whereas the more general term social software applies to systems used outside the workplace, for example, online dating services and social networks like Friendster, Twitter and Facebook, the use of collaborative software in the workspace creates a Collaborative Working Environment (CWE) [1]. A Collaborative Working Environment supports people in both their individual and cooperative work thus giving birth to a new class of professionals (eProfesionals) that have to work together whatever is the geographical location of everyone involved [2]. Finally collaborative software relates to the notion of Collaborative work systems which are conceived as any form of human organization that emerges any time that collaboration takes place, whether it is formal or informal, intentional or unintentional [2]. Whereas the groupware or collaborative software pertains to the technological elements of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, collaborative work systems become a useful analytical tool to understand the behavioral and organizational variables that are associated to the broader concept of CSCW [3] [edit] OriginsThe term groupware can be traced as back as the late 1980s, when Richman and Slovak (1987) [4] wrote: "Like an electronic sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims to place the computer squarely in the middle of communications among managers, technicians, and anyone else who interacts in groups, revolutionizing the way they work." In the early 1990s the first groupware commercial products are finally delivering up to its promises, and big companies such as Boeing or IBM use electronic meeting systems to leverage key internal projects. Lotus Notes appeared as a major example of that product category, allowing remote group collaboration when Internet was still in its infancy. Kirkpatrick and Losee (1992) [5] wrote then: "If GROUPWARE really makes a difference in productivity long term, the very definition of an office may change. You will be able to work efficiently as a member of a group wherever you have your computer. As computers become smaller and more powerful, that will mean anywhere." As collaborative software evolves and migrates into the Internet itself, it contributes to the development of the so called Web 2.0 [3] bringing a host of collaborative features that were originally conceived for within the corporate network. These include functionalities such as document sharing (including group editing), group calendar and instanting messaging, web conferencing, among others. The study of computer-supported collaboration includes the study of collaborative software and social phenomena associated with it. [edit] Collaborative software and collaborationThe design intent of collaborative software (groupware) is to transform the way documents and rich media are shared in order to enable more effective team collaboration. Collaboration, with respect to information technology, seems to have several definitions. Some are defensible but others are so broad they lose any meaningful application. Understanding the differences in human interactions is necessary to ensure the appropriate technologies are employed to meet interaction needs. There are three primary ways in which humans interact: conversations, transactions, and collaborations[6]. Conversational interaction is an exchange of information between two or more participants where the primary purpose of the interaction is discovery or relationship building. There is no central entity around which the interaction revolves but is a free exchange of information with no defined constraints. Communication technology such as telephones, instant messaging, and e-mail are generally sufficient for conversational interactions. Transactional interaction involves the exchange of transaction entities where a major function of the transaction entity is to alter the relationship between participants. The transaction entity is in a relatively stable form and constrains or defines the new relationship. One participant exchanges money for goods and becomes a customer. Transactional interactions are most effectively handled by transactional systems that manage state and commit records for persistent storage. In collaborative interactions the main function of the participants' relationship is to alter a collaboration entity (i.e., the converse of transactional). The collaboration entity is in a relatively unstable form. Examples include the development of an idea, the creation of a design, the achievement of a shared goal. Therefore, real collaboration technologies deliver the functionality for many participants to augment a common deliverable. Record or document management, threaded discussions, audit history, and other mechanisms designed to capture the efforts of many into a managed content environment are typical of collaboration technologies. Collaboration in Education- two or more co-equal individuals voluntarily bring their knowledge and experiences together by interacting toward a common goal in the best interest of students' needs for the betterment of their educational success. Collaboration cannot take place in a vacuum, it requires individuals working together in a coordinated fashion, towards a common goal. Accomplishing the goal is the primary purpose for bringing the team together. Collaborative software helps facilitate the action-oriented team working together over geographic distances by providing tools that help communication, collaboration and the process of problem solving by providing the team with a common means for communicating ideas and brainstorming. Additionally, collaborative software should support project management functions, such as task assignments, time-management with deadlines and shared calendars. The artifacts, the tangible evidence of the problem solving process, including the final outcome of the collaborative effort, require documentation, archiving and promotion for potential reuse. This should also include the artifacts of the process itself, such as project plans and schedules noting deadlines and deliverables. Collaborative software should support the individuals that make up the team and the interactions between them during the group decision making process. Today's teams are composed of members from around the globe with many using their second or third language in communicating with the group. This provides cultural as well as linguistic challenges for any software that supports the collaborative effort. The software should also support team membership, roles and responsibilities. Additionally, collaborative support systems may offer the ability to support ancillary systems, such as budgets and physical resources. Brainstorming is considered to be a tenant of collaboration, with the rapid exchange of ideas facilitating the group decision making process. Collaborative software provides areas that support multi-user editing with virtual whiteboards and chat or other forms of communication. Better solutions record the process and provide revision history. An emerging category of computer software, a collaboration platform is a unified electronic platform that supports synchronous and asynchronous communication through a variety of devices and channels. An extension of groupware is collaborative media, software that allows several concurrent users to create and manage information in a website. Collaborative media models include wiki (Comparison of wiki software) and Slashdot models. Some sites with publicly accessible content based on collaborative software are: WikiWikiWeb, Wikipedia and Everything2. By method used we can divide them into:
By area served we can divide them into:
[edit] Collaborative project management toolsCollaborative Project Management Tools (CPMT) definition is very similar to Collaborative Management Tool (CMT) definition except that CMT may only facilitate and manage a certain group activities for a part of a bigger project or task, while CPMT covers all detailed aspects of collaboration activities and management of the overall project and its related knowledge areas. Another major difference is that CMT may include social software while CPMT mostly considers business or corporate related goals with some kind of social boundaries most commonly used for project management. [edit] BackgroundDuring the mid – 1990s Project Management started to evolve into Collaborative Project Management; this was when the process in which a project’s inputs and outputs were carried out started to change with the evolution of the internet. Since the geographical boundaries broadened the development teams increasingly became more remote changing the dynamics of a project team thus changing the way a project was managed. Former chairman of GE Jack Welch believed that you could not be successful if you went it alone in a global economy. Therefore Welch became a driving force behind not only collaboration between organizations, but also collaborative project management. [edit] Difference between Collaborative Management Tools vs. Collaborative Project Management Tools
[edit] DimensionsDifferent frameworks could be established based on a project needs and requirements in order to find the best software. But the best framework is the one in which the characteristics are so well defined that they cover all the aspects of collaboration activities and management of the overall project. [edit] Example of some common Dimension for CPM ToolThe challenge in determining which CPM software to use is having a good understanding of the requirements and tools needed for project development. There are many dynamics that make project management challenging (coordination, collaboration, sharing of knowledge and effectiveness of pm’s to facilitate the process). Choosing the right CPM software is essential to complementing these issues. According to a survey conducted in 2008 to find out what project managers expectations and uses of project management software are, the features most important to project managers with project management software were:
[edit] The Three levels of collaborationGroupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration: (1) communication tools, (2) conferencing tools and (3) collaborative management (Co-ordination) tools. Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. A phone call or an IM Chat discussion are examples of this. Conferencing (or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this. Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation - but everyone is doing something different - in order for the team to win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal: collaborative management. [edit] Electronic communication toolsElectronic communication tools send messages, files, data, or documents between people and hence facilitate the sharing of information. Examples include:
[edit] Electronic conferencing toolsElectronic conferencing tools facilitate the sharing of information, but in a more interactive way. Examples include:
[edit] Collaborative management (coordination) toolsCollaborative management tools facilitate and manage group activities. Examples include:
Gathering applications This functionality may be included in some wikis and blogs, e.g. Wetpaint. Primarily includes:
Wikis Either stand-alone (such as MediaWiki), part of a suite (such as TikiWiki) or web-based such as Wetpaint. A Wiki might include:
[edit] ImplementationOne of the biggest hurdles in implementing groupware applications within an organization is to achieve a high level of adoption from its members. Without clear commitment from top management any groupware implementation risks to fail. Employees can be involved in the design of groupware and be given incentives to contribute: the rewards could be either financial or psychological. Training is required to make people comfortable using it, otherwise they may not use it. In many cases collaboration is at odds with the company's corporate culture so implementation will be disruptive. Shifting a corporate culture from being competitive to being cooperative is no small undertaking. It will require changes at all levels of the organization, including top management and CEO. One of the biggest hurdles in the typical large enterprise is the desire to standardise knowledge practices across that enterprise and to implement tools and processes which support that aim. Much greater value and quicker implementation can be achieved by avoidance of the "one size fits all" meme. Driving people to adopt the same active role (for example: contribution measured by number of uploads) only produces the behaviour driven by the metric - "the game exists of the rules by which it is played". Cultivate the practice of collaboration where it flourishes of its own volition to gain the quickest return. Carefully designed collaborative work systems will achieve this goal. [edit] Voting methodsSome collaboration software allows users to vote, rate, and rank choices, often for the purpose of extracting the collective intelligence of the participants. The votes, ratings, and rankings can be used in various ways such as:
In the case of decision making, Condorcet voting can combine multiple perspectives in a way that reduces intransitivity. Additional uses of collaborative voting, such as voting to determine the sequence of sections in a Wikipedia article, remain unexplored. It's worth noting that no matter what voting method is implemented, Arrow's Impossibility Theorem guarantees that an ideal voting system can never be attained if there are three or more alternatives that are voted upon. In addition to allowing participants to rank pre-existing choices, some collaboration software allows participants to add new choices to the list of choices being ranked.[7] Voting in collaboration software is related to recommendation systems that generate appreciated recommendations based on ratings or rankings collected from many people. [edit] See also[edit](in alphabetical order)
[edit] Groupware type of applications(in alphabetical order)
[edit](in alphabetical order) [edit](in alphabetical order)
[edit] Lists of collaborative software[edit] References
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