Online Collaboration Tools Research Articles

A Framework to Identify Best Practices

Social media is used in a variety of domains, including emergency management. However, the question of which technologies are most appropriate for a given emergency remains open. We present a framework of dimensions of emergencies that can assist in selecting appropriate social media for an emergency situation. Social media is not a panacea but can be used effectively given the proper functions available from the particular services provided by each of the Web 2.0 technologies available. The main objective of this article is to identify the best practices for social media to leverage its ability given the complexities that coincide with events. This is a conceptual article based on the results of preliminary studies involving group interactions with emergency professionals with various backgrounds. In addition, emergency management students who are professionals in the field followed by another interview soliciting information from information systems scientist were surveyed. We found that each situation called forth various dimensions where only sub phases of the stated dimension may be used given the task type derived from the event characteristics. This lays a foundation upon which a more formal approach can be taken to help tame the social media mania into a manageable set of ‘best practices’ from which emergencies can be managed more effectively given Web 2.0 technologies and social collaborative online tools.

Stitching science together

Google Wave is the kind of open-source online collaboration tool that should drive scientists to wire their research and publications into an interactive data web, says Cameron Neylon.

Effectiveness of ICT for Construction Information Exchange among Multidisciplinary Project Teams

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) has been commonplace in the construction industry, with the increased functionalities of intranets and extranets in a web-based environment. Yet, human and organizational hindrances bring about consequences which affect the effectiveness of these online collaboration tools. Through a cross-sectional study of six construction-related organizations via interviews with ICT developers and users, these hindrances and consequences are highlighted against contextual backgrounds which depict a wide spectrum of ICT use in the construction industry. The results underpin a questionnaire survey which identified the most frequently encountered hindrances, such as self-discipline, technical support, and system capacity, both for internal and external information exchanges. These hindrances, together with undesirable behaviors such as the tendency to forward information to irrelevant parties and ignore information, would result in double handling and missing of time targets. Results also show that public organizations seem to be less prone to the discipline problems. While ICT advances, it is imperative that users make the best use of it by understanding and avoiding the pitfalls.

A Benefit Measurement Framework for an Online Contract Change Management System

The contract change management (CCM) system is an online collaboration tool, which supports the contract change management process of new engineering contract (NEC) contract. It is currently used in practice on a wide range of civil, power, and building projects in the UK. The aim of this study is first to identify the tangible and intangible benefits of the system through a user survey; then to develop a framework to measure these benefits. A questionnaire survey is conducted, which reveals that CCM can help project teams improve process effectiveness, reduce risk of process failures, and increase the compliance with NEC requirements. Subsequently, a spreadsheet tool is developed to allow CCM users to calculate the tangible cost savings as a result of using the system. For intangible benefits, a change management maturity model (CM3) is developed, which provides a measurement framework for assessing the improvement of a project team's capability in dealing with contract changes.

A New Day for Global Environmental Health

A New Day for Global Environmental Health

Designing for e-science: Requirements gathering for collaboration in CiteSeer

It is unclear if and how collaboratories have enhanced distributed scientific collaboration. Furthermore, little is known in the way of design strategies to support such collaboration. This paper presents findings from an investigation into requirements for collaboration in e-science in the context of CiteSeer, a search engine and digital library of research literature in the computer and information science disciplines. Based on a survey and follow-up interviews with CiteSeer users, we present four novel implications for designing the CiteSeer collaboratory. First, visualize query-based social networks to identify scholarly communities of interest. Second, provide online collaborative tool support for upstream stages of scientific collaboration. Third, support activity awareness for staying cognizant of online scientific activities. Fourth, use notification systems to convey scientific activity awareness. We discuss how these implications can broadly enhance e-science usability for collaboratory infrastructures based on digital libraries.

Video-Conferencing with Audio Software

An online conference is illustrated using the format of a TV talk show. The conference combined live audio discussion with visual images spontaneously selected by the moderator in the manner of a TV control-room director. A combination of inexpensive online collaborative tools was used for the event, based on the browser-based audio-conferencing software, iVocalize. The exercise illustrates how an impression of a fully featured online video-conference can be created without the need for complex video-conferencing software and high bandwidth.

Social networks, communication styles, and learning performance in a CSCL community

The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between communication styles, social networks, and learning performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) community. Using social network analysis (SNA) and longitudinal survey data, we analyzed how 31 distributed learners developed collaborative learning social networks, when they had work together on the design of aerospace systems using online collaboration tools. The results showed that both individual and structural factors (i.e., communication styles and a pre-existing friendship network) significantly affected the way the learners developed collaborative learning social networks. More specifically, learners who possessed high willingness to communicate (WTC) or occupied initially peripheral network positions were more likely to explore new network linkages. We also found that the resultant social network properties significantly influenced learners’ performance to the extent that central actors in the emergent collaborative social network tended to get higher final grades. The study suggests that communication and social networks should be central elements in a distributed learning environment. We also propose that the addition of personality theory (operationalized here as communication styles) to structural analysis (SNA) contributes to an enhanced picture of how distributed learners build their social and intellectual capital in the context of CSCL.

Peer‐to‐peer solution to support group collaboration and information sharing

In this study, we propose and develop an opensource groupware system called NetIsle. NetIsle is a general purpose groupware system for uniform open groups that integrate a number of tools for online collaboration to ensure fast information exchange and sharing, increase the productivity of working groups, and reduce maintenance and administration costs. The main technologies used for the construction of the system are peer‐to‐peer (P2P) and push, which are best fitted to those principles and beliefs we build our system upon.

Advanced Accessibility Features for Inclusive Distance Education

Report #32 in this series has considered the special attention required to make online collaborative tools fully accessible. The particular challenge for software developers is to optimize the accessibility of online education for persons with disabilities. In the process, the software's efficiency for all users is likely to be increased. The current paper expands on Report #32, by the same author, in reviewing specific software products that are rising to the online accessibility challenge: Allen eC, iCommunicator, and OpenCampus.

The Effects of Peer-Controlled or Moderated Online Collaboration on Group Problem Solving and Related Attitudes

Abstract. This study investigated the relative benefits of peer-controlled and moderated online collaboration during group problem solving. Thirty-five self-selected groups of four or five students were randomly assigned to the two conditions, which used the same online collaborative tool to solve twelve problem scenarios in an undergraduate statistics course. A score for the correctness of the solutions and a reasoning score were analyzed. A survey was administered to reveal differences in students' related attitudes. Three conclusions were reached: 1. Groups assigned to moderated forums displayed significantly higher reasoning scores than those in the peer-controlled condition, but the moderation did not affect correctness of solutions. 2. Students in the moderated forums reported being more likely to choose to use an optional online forum for future collaborations. 3. Students who reported having no difficulty during collaboration reported being more likely to choose to use an optional online forum in the future.

Knowledge Compass: Opening Windows, Punching Holes in Stovepipes, Forming Communities, Connecting People to People

Knowledge Compass: Opening Windows, Punching Holes in Stovepipes, Forming Communities, Connecting People to People

A Convergent Participation Model for Evaluation of Learning Objects

The properties that distinguish learning objects from other forms of educational software - global accessibility, metadata standards, finer granularity and reusability - have implications for evaluation. This article proposes a convergent participation model for learning object evaluation in which representatives from stakeholder groups (e.g., students, instructors, subject matter experts, instructional designers, and media developers) converge toward more similar descriptions and ratings through a two-stage process supported by online collaboration tools. The article reviews evaluation models that have been applied to educational software and media, considers models for gathering and meta-evaluating individual user reviews that have recently emerged on the Web, and describes the peer review model adopted for the MERLOT repository. The convergent participation model is assessed in relation to other models and with respect to its support for eight goals of learning object evaluation: (1) aid for searching and selecting, (2) guidance for use, (3) formative evaluation, (4) influence on design practices, (5) professional development and student learning, (6) community building, (7) social recognition, and (8) economic exchange.

OfficeTech®: A New Paradigm in Office Services?

officeTech® is a start-up company providing office assistance over the Internet. It certifies assistants’ skills, matches them with potential clients, supervises the quality of the work done and provides software tools for on-line collaboration. The founder, Gayle Barr, believed that this type of assistance would soon be the predominant model due to a convergence of several trends. First, advances in the Internet technology GroupWare and their acceptance by managers and professionals coupled with growth in the amount of coordination across time zones due to globalization and expansion of the number of telecommuting workers indicated that clients would be willing and able to work in a virtual relationship with their assistants. Second, extensive corporate downsizing and a large number of home-based new business start-ups had created a large pool of clients who did not have adequate permanent assistance available. In addition, many companies were now using large numbers of part-time and contract workers on an ongoing basis for clerical and professional positions. Thus, Barr reasoned, the technology was accessible, the need for part-time and temporary administrative assistance was apparent and clients were now sufficiently comfortable with such arrangements that the officeTech® concept should be feasible.