Designs for Systems to Support Collaborative Information Behavior

Abstract

Designing systems that support collaborative information behavior (CIB) pose many unique challenges that single-user systems typically do not face. This chapter attempts to take the reader through a variety of notions, design principles, and instantiations of CIB systems. Requirements and guidelines for a good CIB system are provided based on various research studies and projects done in different domains. It is pointed out that in the information seeking field, control, communication, and awareness are some of the most critical aspects of a CIB system that caters to multi-user and multi-session collaborative projects. Several actual implementations of CIB systems are described, and suggestions for designing a successful CIB system are presented.