Computer Supported Collaborative Work Research Articles

A framework and prototype system in support of workflow collaboration and knowledge mining for manufacturing value chains

AbstractIn the field of industrial design and manufacture, computer‐supported collaborative work (CSCW) systems have been widely deployed for better teamwork. However, the traditional CSCW systems have a main drawback in effectively processing and utilising knowledge across different industrial workflows. To bridge this gap, we propose a framework for collaboration between members across the manufacturing value chains to increase efficiency and reduce duplication in team cooperation. The framework contains three parts, namely workflow, knowledge mining, and services. Specifically, the workflow part provides a collaborative environment for multiple users. The knowledge mining part, as the core of the framework, extracts in‐context knowledge from workflows. The part of services can interact with users with different users in each workflow, including information recommendation they need in the future or information retrieval they want to know from other workflows. Furthermore, we develop a prototype system for supporting multiple value chains collaboration to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the framework.

Explanation Strategies as an Empirical-Analytical Lens for Socio-Technical Contextualization of Machine Learning Interpretability

During a research project in which we developed a machine learning (ML) driven visualization system for non-ML experts, we reflected on interpretability research in ML, computer-supported collaborative work and human-computer interaction. We found that while there are manifold technical approaches, these often focus on ML experts and are evaluated in decontextualized empirical studies. We hypothesized that participatory design research may support the understanding of stakeholders' situated sense-making in our project, yet, found guidance regarding ML interpretability inexhaustive. Building on philosophy of technology, we formulated explanation strategies as an empirical-analytical lens explicating how technical explanations mediate the contextual preferences concerning people's interpretations. In this paper, we contribute a report of our proof-of-concept use of explanation strategies to analyze a co-design workshop with non-ML experts, methodological implications for participatory design research, design implications for explanations for non-ML experts and suggest further investigation of technological mediation theories in the ML interpretability space.

Team Dispersion, Emergent States, and Performance in Virtual IT Service Provisioning Teams

Today, virtual teams composed by dispersed team members relying on computer-supported collaborative work are common in the information technology (IT) service provisioning industry. Despite the increasing interest in virtual team research, there is a limited understanding of a multidimensional view of team dispersion and its effect on the performance of virtual teams via the team´s socioemotional states. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of team distribution and variety of work practices on the performance of virtual IT service provisioning teams via the emergent states of trust and cohesiveness. To this aim, an input-process-output framework was adopted to develop a conceptual model and a survey with IT service provisioning professionals was conducted. The results suggest that a variety of work practices constitutes a barrier to the performance of virtual IT service provisioning teams; and that trust and cohesiveness are important mediators in this cause-effect relationship.

Supporting self-regulated language learning skills online: awareness raising approaches for computer-supported collaboration

To assist second language learners in becoming effective, aware, and reflective participants in higher education, support can be provided by integrating structured awareness raising approaches in the language curriculum. Drawing on self-regulation principles, such a structured awareness raising curriculum is most notably sustained by reflective one-to-one dialogue, also known as advising in language learning (ALL). While previous studies have shown that students who received this kind of support in face-to-face settings were able to successfully develop effective learning strategies, little research has demonstrated to what extent students can develop these strategies, supported by ALL, when learning online. This study shows how four groups of second language majors (n = 252) demonstrate knowledge and control of learning and learning strategies when discussing their planning and progress with peers online. This study draws on Google Classroom data (posts and comments: n = 957) collected over two semesters. Using digital conversation analysis and social network analysis, students were found to demonstrate (1) awareness of approaches to learning, (2) awareness of facilities, roles, and resources, and (3) awareness of self when collaborating with peers. This study shows how ALL can support students in effectively applying different learning strategies when engaged in computer-supported collaborative work.

Toward an integrated theory of computer-mediated social interaction

PurposeThis paper aims to describe an integration of the media naturalness theory, the continuum model of impression formation and the social identity model of deindividuation effects. The goal is to determine the compatibility of the central tenets and propositions of the two theories and reconcile their effects under a unified model that can be used to explain and predict changes in perceptions, attitudes and behaviors arising in computer-mediated interaction.Design/methodology/approachA review of the literature was used to determine whether the two theories were compatible. The reconciliation comes by way of a third theory, the motivated tactician theory, which focuses on the effects of cognitive effort on schema use, particularly on those schemas used in social categorization processes.FindingsIt was determined that the two models of focus could be combined via the tenets of the third. The combined model is expected to provide explanatory and predictive capabilities that exceed those of the individual theories and should prove to be relevant in the study of computed-supported collaboration, in the design of collaborative environments and in the analysis of individual and group behaviors in computer-mediated communication.Research limitations/implicationsThe current effort describes the main effects derived from the integration and offers four propositions that describe moderating factors that are derived from each of the three theories. The main effects must be tested and validated and, given support, must be extended to determine the validity of the moderating effects predicted by the propositions. Additionally, media naturalness theory is a relatively recent addition to theories of technology and so needs further empirical support for its propositions. As to the behavioral implications, the social identity model of deindividuation effects has yet to be tested with the specific intention of discovering how media characteristics affect self-concept.Practical implicationsThe model can be used to inform information system designs that favor desirable behavioral outcomes or to prevent undesirable effects from occurring. For example, emphasis can place on media attributes and system features that individuate decision-makers within group decision support environments when consensus is a primary goal as a means to avoid group thinks and polarization. Conversely, attributes and features that are supportive of social categorization processes and deindividuation effects might be used to emphasize group membership, shared effort and to minimize social loafing or the frequency and intensity of inappropriate disparagement of ideas and contributions.Social implicationsThe combined model is principally useful in explaining and predicting human behavior in relation to computer-supported collaborative work such as distributed workgroups and online learning environments. For example, the explanatory elements of the combined theory can be used by managers as a diagnostic tool in problem situations within virtual teams. A specific instance would be to determine why a change to existing systems created a change in work habits. In a more proactive move, managers might use the predicted social categorization effects and subsequent depersonalization, to instill a group identity in an otherwise diverse workgroup.Originality/valueThe combined model is expected to provide explanatory and predictive capabilities that exceed those of the individual theories and should prove to be relevant in the study of computed-supported collaboration, in the design of collaborative environments and in the analysis of individual and group behaviors in computer-mediated communication.

Development of a Drawing Application for Communication Support during Endoscopic Surgery and Its Evaluation Using Steering Law

The purpose of this study is to construct a hands-free endoscopic surgical communication support system that can draw lines in space corresponding to head movements using AR technology and evaluate the applicability of the drawing motion by the head movement to the steering law, one of the HCI models, for the potential use during endoscopic surgery. In the experiment, the participants manipulated the cursor by using head movements through the pathway and movement time (MT); the number of errors and subjective evaluation of the difficulty of the task was obtained. The results showed that the head-movement-based line drawing manipulation was significantly affected by the tracking direction and by the task difficulty, shown as the Index of Difficulty (ID). There was high linearity between ID and MT, with a coefficient of determination R2 of 0.9991. The Index of Performance was higher in the horizontal and vertical directions compared to diagonal directions. Although the weight and biocompatibility of the AR glasses must be overcome to make the current prototype a viable tool for supporting communication in the operating room environment, the prototype has the potential to promote the development of a computer-supported collaborative work environment for endoscopic surgery purposes.

Applying a process for the shared understanding construction in computer-supported collaborative work: an experiment

When a group of people works to achieve a common goal, they refer to collaborative work, which is based on the philosophy of interaction and collaboration, that is about working in conjunction with other individuals to achieve that goal and seeking to reach effective results. For this, it is necessary to start from effective communication, which will lay on the foundations to achieve true collaboration, a non-easy task. A pillar of having such communication is having a shared understanding within the group, since group members may be using the same words for different concepts or different words for the same concepts without realizing. It is for this reason that this paper presents the validation of a process for the shared understanding construction in a problem-solving activity. Specifically, the validation consisted of executing an experiment to statistically contrast whether with the use of the process it is possible to achieve the shared understanding construction when the participants solved a problem related to software process lines. From the statistical analysis, it could be determined that the process is feasible and partly useful. However, some aspects to improve were identified, such as the reduction of the cognitive load that the process involved in its use, and also the incorporation of elements to monitor and assist in the shared understanding construction in such a way that it is maintained throughout the development of the activity.

Decision Support System Methods: A Review

The current information system is the backbone of most companies or agencies. Currently there are various types of information systems including "transaction processing systems (TPS), office automation systems (OAS), knowledge work systems (KWS), management information systems (MIS), decision support systems (DSS), expert systems, groups decision support systems (GDSS), computer support collaborative work systems (CSCW), and executive support systems (ESS) ". Of the various types of information systems that are currently available decision support systems are widely used as aids in making decisions. For this reason, in this study, a study was conducted with a method that can be used in a decision support system. From the study conducted there are three decision support system methods that are often used, namely simple additive weighting (SAW), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and simple multi attribute rating technique (SMART). The third method is a method that has a weighting value and criteria in the calculation process

Collaborative Work in Augmented Reality: A Survey.

In Augmented Reality (AR), users perceive virtual content anchored in the real world. It is used in medicine, education, games, navigation, maintenance, product design, and visualization, in both single-user and multi-user scenarios. Multi-user AR has received limited attention from researchers, even though AR has been in development for more than two decades. We present the state of existing work at the intersection of AR and Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (AR-CSCW), by combining a systematic survey approach with an exploratory, opportunistic literature search. We categorize 65 papers along the dimensions of space, time, role symmetry (whether the roles of users are symmetric), technology symmetry (whether the hardware platforms of users are symmetric), and output and input modalities. We derive design considerations for collaborative AR environments, and identify under-explored research topics. These include the use of heterogeneous hardware considerations and 3D data exploration research areas. This survey is useful for newcomers to the field, readers interested in an overview of CSCW in AR applications, and domain experts seeking up-to-date information.

The Work of Bilingual Parent-Education Liaisons

In this paper, we examine the information work that bilingual parent-education liaisons perform to create connections towards assisting immigrant parents in the United States. As part of formal and informal educational institutions, liaisons operate between different social worlds---within and beyond the domain of education---to maximize immigrant parents' engagement in their children's academic lives. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork with low-income Latino immigrants and their liaisons, we explore how liaisons leverage technology, content, and people to align these worlds; bringing them closer to mutual understanding. We borrow inspiration from the analytical lens of seams suggested by Vertesi to explore how liaisons manage the "seams'' between worlds. This analysis provides a rich and unique perspective of the work that successfully engages immigrant parents with their children's education, as well as the tensions that challenge that engagement. This understanding of the work that liaisons do with and across seams provides insights to inform design directions for technology that could facilitate and amplify their efforts. Finally, we highlight how exploring the seams that liaisons work with can inform the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) on the role of technology in mediation.

Co-Creating Platform Governance Models Using Boundary Resources: a Case Study from Dementia Care Services

Digital labor platforms are gaining in popularity in our societies. Information systems and software engineering disciplines have focused on organizational and technological aspects of these platforms, favoring the views of platform owners. At the same time, extensive knowledge of how workers use these platforms, and how they are affected by them, is emerging within computer-supported collaborative work and human-computer interaction disciplines. These two strands of research, one favoring the views of the platform owners and the other advocating the views of the platform users, are mainly developed in parallel and without influencing each other much. In this paper, we describe a case study of designing a digital labor platform for person-centered dementia care in a small company. Dementia care illustrates an extreme case of a complex type of work. This complexity helps us debate some of the benefits and shortcoming of current platforms and platform governance models. We analyze our case using an adaptation of the platform boundary resources model. This model helps us illustrate the tensions between platform owners and workers. A focus on platform governance models and how we co-create such models can hopefully lead to better designs for both views.

Qualitative and Critical Research in Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction: Divergent and Convergent Paths

Qualitative and Critical Research in Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction explores the history and adoption of qualitative and critical research in Information Systems (IS) and contrasts it with the growth of similar methods/theories in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and, to a lesser, extent Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW). The supposition behind the comparison was that the areas overlap in subject matter and would overlap in methods and authors. However, marked differences were observed in the structure of publications, conferences, and on social media that led to questions about the extent to which the fields shared a common framework. The authors find that the history of each discipline reflects institutional factors that affected the respective timelines for the use of these approaches. This leads them to consider a sociological epistemic framework, which explains the differences quite well. It also supports characterizations of the culture of IS made by members, as having open paradigm and high collegiality, described as an adhocracy. The authors propose that qualitative and critical research developed interdependently in IS. Aside from institutional factors, a further difference in uptake of methods and critical framework comes from the US/Europe divide in research traditions and the political/epistemic climates affecting research in the respective regions. Research from beyond the transatlantic traditions postdates the developments covered here but is touched on at the end of the monograph. The primary goal of Qualitative and Critical Research in Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction is to better understand the ways the IS research community differentiates itself into diverse constituencies, and how these constituencies interact in the field's complex processes of knowledge creation and dissemination. Another goal is to create cross-disciplinary discussion and build on related work in the fields. This is important in the era of platforms with global reach, and the concurrent development of powerful AI and analytics capabilities that both intrude on daily life and try to emulate human intelligence.

The Virtual Collaborator - A Definition and Research Agenda

The interdisciplinary research endeavor of computer-supported collaborative work has already investigated information technology that supports collaboration. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), new forms of collaboration need to be considered that involve AI as an active partner within a collaborative setting. Theories and design guidelines that support collaboration, considering cognitive and social group effects, need to be revised when team members are not solely human anymore. Within this exploratory study, the authors aim to provide insights of team members on their conception of a so-called virtual collaborator. A study with 144 participants was carried out to provide valuable information about collaboration principles, conceptual implementations and requirements. The results indicate that the participants are indecisive about a precise conception but expect an ideal collaborator that rather should not work on relevant tasks or make vital decisions. Based on the results, the authors compose new research questions and possible experiment settings.

Group Management and Affective Dialogue in Collaborative Work

Research and design of information systems in LIS has endeavoured to investigate human grouptasks and the role of creativity. The current study builds on the premise behind ComputerSupported Collaborative Work (CSCW), which is a design field aimed to facilitate group workthrough the application of computer technologies, driven by ever-changing contextual andenvironmental constraints. Using field observation, and a systematic quantification of the contentof group conversation, the study formulates a description of the creative work of musicians, andthe use of group management and affective dialogue during collaboration, with the goal ofinforming design. Results of the quantitative findings are presented with implications for futureresearch. **Awarded Best Practitioner Paper **

Co-Creating the Workplace: Participatory Efforts to Enable Individual Work at the Hoffice

This paper analyzes the self-organizing network Hoffice – a merger between the words home and office – that brings together people who wish to co-create temporary workplaces. The Hoffice concept entails a co-working methodology, and a set of practices inherent in opening up one’s home as a temporary, shared workplace, with the help of existing social media platforms, particularly Facebook. We discuss both the practices of co-creating temporary workplaces, particularly for workers who lack a stable office and orchestrate flexible work arrangements, and the values and rhetoric enshrined in Hoffice. We collected our research materials through interviews, participant observation, and workshops. Our findings draw attention to i) the practical arrangement of Hoffice events, ii) the participatory efforts to get individual work done, and 3) the co-creation of an alternative social model that encourages trust, self-actualization, and openness. To conclude, we discuss how Hoffice is already making change for its members, and how this is indicative of a politics of care. We contribute to research on computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) by highlighting grassroots efforts to create alternative ways of organizing nomadic work and navigating non-traditional employment arrangements.

Classification of collaborative behavior from free text interactions

In a computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) environment, a group of people can work together to fulfill a given assignment. In this context, collaborative problems might naturally arise. The detection of these problems is extremely important for teachers or team leaders to help the team members to improve their collaborative skills and the resolution of the collaboration problems. The observation and analysis of the interaction process of several groups is a time-consuming and difficult task for any teacher or team leader. In this article, we propose a multi-phase classification approach to automatically classify free text observed form the chat of a CSCW environment into different collaborative categories of behavior. We obtained promising results that can be used to help teachers or team leaders with the interaction process analysis in order to focus only in the resolution’s actions of the problems that might arise.

O impacto da aplicabilidade das técnicas do trabalho colaborativo suportado por computador nas compras do governo federal – pregão eletrônico

This article aims to analyze the extent to which public procurement can be speeded up by introducing collaborative work techniques to consistently control information, eliminate unproductive tasks and unnecessary bureaucracy and, as a consequence, increase efficiency and The quality of the process. In order to prove the data, a case study was carried out in the purchasing section of a Federal Institution with the purpose of introducing the techniques of computer supported collaborative work (CSCW) through the workflow tool, In government purchases that practice the electronic bidding modality. The data collected and tested showed that the implementation of this tool will make the purchasing process of the Institution faster and more efficient, indicating that it is possible to break the paradigm of bureaucratic culture that permeates government procurement.

The influence of visual feedback and gender dynamics on performance, perception and communication strategies in CSCW

Abstract The effects of gender in human communication and human-computer interaction are well-known, yet little is understood about how it influences performance in the complex, collaborative tasks in computer-mediated settings – referred to as Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) – that are increasingly fundamental to the way in which people work. In such tasks, visual feedback about objects and events is particularly valuable because it facilitates joint reference and attention, and enables the monitoring of people's actions and task progress. As such, software to support CSCW frequently provides shared visual workspace. While numerous studies describe and explain the impact of visual feedback in CSCW, research has not considered whether there are differences in how females and males use it, are aided by it, or are affected by its absence. To address these knowledge gaps, this study explores the effect of gender – and its interactions within pairs – in CSCW, with and without visual feedback. An experimental study is reported in which mixed-gender and same-gender pairs communicate to complete a collaborative navigation task, with one of the participants being under the impression that s/he is interacting with a robot (to avoid gender-related social preconceptions). The study analyses performance, perceptions and communication strategies. As predicted, there was a significant benefit associated with visual feedback in terms of language economy and efficiency. However, it was also found that visual feedback may be disruptive to task performance, because it relaxes the users’ precision criteria and inflates their assumptions of shared perspective. While no actual performance difference was found between males and females in the navigation task, females rated their own performance less positively than did males. In terms of communication strategies, males had a strong tendency to introduce novel vocabulary when communication problems occurred, while females exhibited more conservative behaviour. When visual feedback was removed, females adapted their strategies drastically and effectively, increasing the quality and specificity of the verbal interaction, repeating and re-using vocabulary, while the behaviour of males remained consistent. These results are used to produce design recommendations for CSCW systems that will suit users of both genders and enable effective collaboration.

Using Technology to Facilitate Collaboration in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

ABSTRACTThis study explores the use of Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) technologies, by way of a computer-based system called iCohere. This system was used to facilitate collaboration conducting Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Data was gathered from 13 members of a Community Collaborative Board (CCB). Analysis revealed that iCohere served the following functions: facilitating communication, providing a depository for information and resource sharing, and allowing for remote meeting attendance. Results indicated that while iCohere was useful in performing these functions, less expensive technologies had the potential to achieve similar goals if properly implemented. Implications for future research on CSCW systems and CBPR are discussed.

ICT capabilities for supporting collaborative work on business processes within the digital content industry

The digital content industry requires the integration of specialized information and communications technology (ICT) capabilities to support collaborative work for planning and executing its business processes. In particular, this knowledge-intensive industry lacks for adequate control on product documentation, inter and intra organizational resources management, and process monitoring which is required for supporting the high demand of projects typically constrained in time, costs, and quality. This paper presents a defined maturity model named DigiCoMM to assess collaboration and interoperability capabilities that are specific to pre-production, production, and post-production processes within the digital content industry. It also presents MONO, a computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) software for supporting the incremental transition of companies through the different levels of the maturity model. MONO was developed in the context of the DAVID research project (Strategic Programme for the Research and Development of the Colombian Animation and Video Games Industry), during the period of 2012–2015. This model and software were used to assess and support the collaborative capabilities of several animation and video game companies in Colombia.