Cooperation and Conflict in Knowledge-Intensive Computer Supported Cooperative Work

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to outline a method of analysis that can be incorporated into the procedures and practices of systems design in the framework of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) in complex, information-rich environments. Any theoretical background to CSCW must be fundamentally interdisciplinary, drawing input from social psychology, organization theory, anthropology and linguistics, as well as from more computer-orientated disciplines, such as systems theory and design, knowledge engineering and so on. Consequently, it is clearly important to establish the boundaries for CSCW both as a coherent field of study and also as empirically observable human activity amenable to formal characterization. The present study is intended to illustrate what a CSCW-type analysis might look like under the constraint that it is more focused on the social nature of the human activity than, say, systems design; while at the same time being more strongly orientated towards the provision of a computationally-relevant framework than a social science description.KeywordsExpert SystemFault DiagnosisFault RepairComputer Support Cooperative WorkFault ReportingThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.