Abstract
Computer-mediated collaboration is examined through the lenses of societal change and the dynamic nature of technology. Trends and contributing factors are reviewed in the context of the difference between going to work and doing work and the implications for collaboration using technology to overcome distance and time. The demand to work in situations where propinquity does not define the relationship of information, resources, and managerial structure is reviewed. The confluence of social changes and new technologies is examined including the emergence of Web 2.0. Four themes are explored as subsets of computer-mediated collaboration: peer review, engaged learning, consensus building and self-reflection. Technology applications related to these themes are addressed. There is a brief section on the future in which emerging technologies are explored as they relate to computer-mediated collaboration, especially mobile devices and other technologies that represent a merger of existing tool sets.
Key Terms in this Chapter
iPod: A brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer and launched in 2001
ICQ: Online, synchronous collaboration tool that allows individuals to chat; it allows subscribers notification when those on their subscription list are online and available to chat.
Folkways: The patterns of conventional behavior in a society, norms that apply to everyday matters. The term comes from the work of William Graham Sumner, 1907.
Telecommuting: Working from home, using technology as the vehicle for productivity and participation in work
Asynchronous: Communications and activities occurring between participants not connected in real time, the opposite of synchronous
Moodle: Acourse management system based on Open Source, free software, used as one tool to create online learning communities.
Moodle: Acourse management system based on Open Source, free software, used as one tool to create online learning communities.
Webinars: Online seminars
IM: Stands for instant messaging, a form of real-time communication between two or more People, based on typed text. The text is conveyed via computers connected over a network or the Internet or by cell phone and other mobile devices.
Asynchronous: Communications and activities occurring between participants not connected in real time, the opposite of synchronous
PDA: Personal digital assistant, an electronic device which can include some of the functionality of a computer, a cell phone, a music player and a camera.
Skype: (IPA pronunciation: rhymes with type) a peer-to-peer voice over IP (VoIP) network founded by the entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, also founders of the file sharing application Kazaa. It competes against existing open VoIP protocols such as SIP, IAX, and H.323. The Skype Group, acquired by eBay in October 2005, is headquartered in Luxembourg, with offices in London, Tallinn and Prague
Folkways: The patterns of conventional behavior in a society, norms that apply to everyday matters. The term comes from the work of William Graham Sumner, 1907.
Social Bookmarking: Tagging or bookmarking sites using personal (folksonomy) strategies rather than existing taxonomies, typically accomplished via a Web-based service such as del.icio.us.com, allowing sharing.
Virtual High Schools: Secondary schools existing on the Internet
Web 2.0: Called the Social Internet because Web 2.0 applications allows users to interact with content on Web sites, producing, in the process, new content; value is added by the users.
Webinars: Online seminars
Blog: A user-generated Web site where entries are made in journal style.
iPod: A brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer and launched in 2001
Social Bookmarking: Tagging or bookmarking sites using personal (folksonomy) strategies rather than existing taxonomies, typically accomplished via a Web-based service such as del.icio.us.com, allowing sharing.
Blog: A user-generated Web site where entries are made in journal style.
Web 2.0: Called the Social Internet because Web 2.0 applications allows users to interact with content on Web sites, producing, in the process, new content; value is added by the users.
Open Source: A free software system that uses distributed peer review and transparency of process, supported by The Open Source Initiative (OSI), a non-profit corporation formed by users to share, support, advocate and disseminate Open Source software for applications.
IM: Stands for instant messaging, a form of real-time communication between two or more People, based on typed text. The text is conveyed via computers connected over a network or the Internet or by cell phone and other mobile devices.
Open Source: A free software system that uses distributed peer review and transparency of process, supported by The Open Source Initiative (OSI), a non-profit corporation formed by users to share, support, advocate and disseminate Open Source software for applications.
ICQ: Online, synchronous collaboration tool that allows individuals to chat; it allows subscribers notification when those on their subscription list are online and available to chat.
Virtual High Schools: Secondary schools existing on the Internet
Wiki: A Web site that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. Wikis are online collaboration tools that allow multiple users to collaboratively create Web-based documents, while each version in the evolution of the final product is preserved; this allows participants to see the contribution of each person and the evolutionary stages of the product. These provide opportunities for all participants to engage in the creative process while being able to see the contributions and feedback for all parties. This focuses attention on the product produced collectively as well as opportunities to observe who contributed what piece or how the edits occurred because each edit is attributed to the contributor, with multiple versions kept on the site.
Skype: (IPA pronunciation: rhymes with type) a peer-to-peer voice over IP (VoIP) network founded by the entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, also founders of the file sharing application Kazaa. It competes against existing open VoIP protocols such as SIP, IAX, and H.323. The Skype Group, acquired by eBay in October 2005, is headquartered in Luxembourg, with offices in London, Tallinn and Prague
Telecommuting: Working from home, using technology as the vehicle for productivity and participation in work
Wiki: A Web site that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. Wikis are online collaboration tools that allow multiple users to collaboratively create Web-based documents, while each version in the evolution of the final product is preserved; this allows participants to see the contribution of each person and the evolutionary stages of the product. These provide opportunities for all participants to engage in the creative process while being able to see the contributions and feedback for all parties. This focuses attention on the product produced collectively as well as opportunities to observe who contributed what piece or how the edits occurred because each edit is attributed to the contributor, with multiple versions kept on the site.
PDA: Personal digital assistant, an electronic device which can include some of the functionality of a computer, a cell phone, a music player and a camera.