Enhancing Group Collaboration Through Technology

1. CCT 333: Imagining the Audience in a Wired World Class 11: Special Topics: Supporting collaboration in group work

2. Collaboration Technologies • CSCW - structured group communication technologies to share knowledge • Knowledge management as emergent field in computing • But it is all just computer-based? Broader definitions of technology apply here - organizational learning often not computer mediated

3. Group Communication Concepts • Forming - figuring out task, administrative requirements - often tenuous, anxiety high • Storming - brainstorming, conflict, can be rebellious • Norming - cohesion and stability arrive, norms for conflict resolution • Performing - task-directed work • (Decay - task done, group dissolves)

4. Compliance and Conformity • People have urge to belong, will comply to stated norms (even to the point of extremes - Zimbardo study and current examples) • Power of suggestion from opinion leaders - Auch study of line length • Both can easily lead to groupthink and mob mentality if not monitored

5. Social Loafing and Compensation • “tragedy of the commons” - the larger the group, the more individuals might feel it possible to act in a selfish manner and/or be lazy • Social compensation - group cohesion and leadership role might increase commitment even in the face of loafing

6. Computing and groupwork • Can allow for individual contributions to be heard equally, but leadership still emerges over time • Accountability, anonymity and loafing • Can perhaps be isolating, taking longer to form group cohesion

7. Awareness, Technology and Groupwork • Who is doing what where when and why? • Any technology for collaboration has to answer at least some of these questions - without answers, it’s hard to collaborate • Privacy and disruption issues

8. Grudin’s 8 Challenges • Challenges common to many design issues, not just CSCW • FSAE racecar study: very much about resolving these issues technologically and organizationally • Required organizational buy-in - integration into politics of space

9. Who works, who benefits? • Sharing information takes time • If costs of sharing outweigh benefits, people quickly stop • Short and long term cost-benefit • FSAE: report writing, testing procedures issues - but also extraordinary examples of information sharing

10. Critical Mass • Collaboration technologies must be used by critical mass, or it ceases to be effective • Too much mass can be confusing though - email in particular • FSAE: Email system (over)use and database issues, also importance of f2f

11. Political and Social Factors • Technologies for collaboration exist within social and political contexts and often influences them - new technologies can create enemies quickly • FSAE: issues in selling safety and testing procedures

12. Exception Handling • Computing technologies in particular - rule driven and formalized • Humans - random, contingent, able to sort out new ideas on the fly • Handling exceptions necessary • FSAE: move to searchable full text data vs. formal database architecture

13. Group Communication as Exception • Some technologies compel sharing, create significant demands on time • Individual work important - sharing should supplement but not trump it • FSAE: meetings - make them efficient, necessary and few

14. Evaluating success • Hard to tell if a particular collaboration strategy is working • What works changes over time and changes in organizational culture • FSAE: annual reports with recommendations, some of which were contradictory

15. Collective intuitiveness • People intuitively know how to represent information - shared representations are harder without common language and symbols though • FSAE: issues in notation of data, storage of shared resources; use of physical models as instructive tools

16. Managing acceptance • Without organizational buy-in, even the best technologies may fail • FSAE: buy-in at leader and faculty advisor level, but also on the ground level; management by walking around

17. Technologies and Collaboration • Same time/place - meetings, support tools • Same time, different place - IM, collaborative whiteboards, tele/videoconferencing • Different time, same place - project management artefacts, post-its • Different time/place - discussion forums, email, wikis

18. Meetings Artefacts Lab notebooks Trial and Error Email Alumni contact Industry contact Telephone Past Reports Books/articles Gossip and Informal Chat Reverse Engineering Corporate Intelligence A few FSAE learning mechanisms

19. Specialized vs. Common Technologies • Some argue for specialized technologies (e.g., integrated databases like Notes, PeopleSoft) • Can be powerful and tailored to org. needs • Can be expensive to design and maintain • FSAE: very little financial or human resources to maintain complex systems, off the shelf components easier to coordinate and use

20. The “right” mix? • Multiple avenues of learning • Avenues can contradict each other • Individual preferences play a role • Information generally follows path of least resistance (for better or worse) • Design for multiple complimentary channels, minimizing noise or error but encouraging discussion and debate

21. Next week • David with a bit on CSCL, and test discussion • Presentations - come ready to show off your redesign work and answer questions