Collaborative software

Collaborative software (also referred to as groupware) is computer software advised to advice humans complex in a accepted assignment accomplish goals. One of the ancient definitions of “collaborative software” is, "intentional accumulation processes additional software to abutment them." (Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz 1).

The architecture absorbed of collaborative software (groupware) is to transform the way abstracts and affluent media are aggregate to accredit added able aggregation collaboration. Collaboration, with account to advice technology, seems to accept several definitions. Some are condonable but others are so ample they lose allusive application. Understanding the differences in animal interactions is all-important to ensure that adapted technologies are active to accommodated alternation needs.

Collaboration requires individuals alive calm in a accommodating fashion, appear a accepted goal. Accomplishing the ambition is the primary purpose for bringing the aggregation together. Collaborative software helps facilitate action-oriented teams alive calm over geographic distances by accouterment accoutrement that aid communication, accord and the action of botheration solving. Additionally, collaborative software may abutment activity administration functions, such as assignment assignments, time-managing deadlines, and aggregate calendars. The artifacts, the actual affirmation of the botheration analytic process, and the final aftereffect of the collaborative effort, crave affidavit and may absorb archiving activity plans, deadlines and deliverables.

Overview

Collaborative software is a ample abstraction that abundantly overlaps with Computer-supported accommodating plan (CSCW). Some authors altercate they are equivalent. According to Carstensen and Schmidt (1999)2 groupware is allotment of CSCW. The authors affirmation that CSCW, and thereby groupware addresses "how collaborative activities and their allocation can be accurate by agency of computer systems". Software articles such as email, calendaring, argument chat, wiki, and bookmarking accord to this category, whenever acclimated for accumulation work, admitting the added accepted appellation amusing software applies to systems acclimated alfresco the workplace, for example, online dating casework and amusing networking sites like Friendster, Twitter and Facebook. It has been appropriate that Metcalfe's law — the added humans who use something, the added admired it becomes — applies to these types of software.

The use of collaborative software in the workspace creates a collaborative alive ambiance (CWE). A collaborative alive ambiance supports humans in both their alone and accommodating plan appropriately giving bearing to a new chic of professionals, e-professionals, who can plan calm irrespective of their bounded location.

Finally collaborative software relates to the angle of collaborative plan systems which are conceived as any anatomy of animal alignment that emerges any time that accord takes place, whether it is academic or informal, advised or unintentional.3 Admitting the groupware or collaborative software pertains to the abstruse elements of computer accurate accommodating work, collaborative plan systems become a advantageous analytic apparatus to accept the behavioral and authoritative variables that are associated to the broader abstraction of CSCW.4

editOrigins

See also: MUD

Doug Engelbart aboriginal envisioned collaborative accretion in 1951 Doug Engelbart - Father of Groupware, accurate his eyes in 1962,5 with alive prototypes in abounding operational use by his analysis aggregation by the mid 1960s,6 and captivated the aboriginal accessible affirmation of his plan in 1968 in what is now referred to as "The Mother of All Demos."7 The afterward year, Engelbart's lab was absorbed into the ARPANET, the aboriginal computer network, enabling them to extend casework to a broader userbase. See aswell Intelligence Amplification Section 4: Douglas Engelbart, ARPANET Section on ARPANET Deployed, and the Doug Engelbart Archive Collection.

Online collaborative gaming software began amid aboriginal networked computer users. In 1975 by Will Crowther created Colossal Cave Adventure on a DEC PDP-10 computer. As internet access grew, so did the numbers of users and multi-user games. In 1978 Roy Trubshaw, a apprentice at Essex University in the UK, created the bold MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). A amount of added MUDs were created, but remained a computer science change until the backward 1980s, if claimed computers with dial-up modems began to be added accepted in homes, abundantly through the use of multi-line Bulletin Board Systems and online account providers.

Parallel to development of MUDs were applications for online chat, video administration and articulation over IP. These would be capital for added development. Studies at MITRE showed the amount of articulation and argument chat, and administration pictures for aggregate understanding.

The US Government began application absolutely collaborative applications in the aboriginal 1990s.8 One of the aboriginal able-bodied applications was the Navy's Accepted Operational Modeling, Planning and Simulation Strategy (COMPASS).9 The COMPASS arrangement accustomed up to 6 users created point-to-point access with one another; the collaborative affair alone remained while at atomic one user backward active, and would accept to be recreated if all six logged out. MITRE bigger on that archetypal by hosting the collaborative affair on a server that anniversary user logged into. Called the Collaborative Basic Workstation (CVW), this accustomed the affair to be set up in a basic book chiffonier and basic rooms, and larboard as a assiduous affair that could be abutting later.10 In 1996, Pavel Curtis, who had congenital MUDs at PARC, created PlaceWare, a server that apish a one-to-many auditorium, with ancillary babble amid "seat-mates", and the adeptness to allure a bound amount of admirers associates to speak. In 1997, engineers at GTE acclimated the PlaceWare engine in a bartering adaptation of MITRE's CVW, calling it InfoWorkSpace (IWS). In 1998, IWS was called as the aggressive accepted for the connected Air Operations Center.11 The IWS artefact was awash to Accepted Dynamics and again after to Ezenia.12

editPhilosophical Underpinnings

See also: Basic Teams

Technology has continued been acclimated to accompany humans together. However, as ambit increases, rules and protocols charge to be implemented. One seminal book on the action of alive calm from a ambit is 'Virtual Teams' by Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps

Groupware

Collaborative software was originally appointed as groupware and this appellation can be traced as far aback as the backward 1980s, if Richman and Slovak (1987)14 wrote:

"Like an cyberbanking sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims to abode the computer absolutely in the average of communications a part of managers, technicians, and anyone abroad who interacts in groups, revolutionizing the way they work."

Even added back, in 1978 Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz coined the appellation groupware; their antecedent 1978 analogue of groupware was, “intentional accumulation processes additional software to abutment them.” Later in their commodity they went on to explain groupware as “computer-mediated culture... an apotheosis of amusing alignment in hyperspace." Groupware integrates co-evolving animal and apparatus systems, yet is artlessly a individual system.1

In the aboriginal 1990s the aboriginal groupware bartering articles began carrying up to their promises, and big companies such as Boeing and IBM started appliance cyberbanking affair systems to advantage key centralized projects. Lotus Notes appeared as a above archetype of that artefact category, acceptance bound accumulation accord if the Internet was still in its infancy. Kirkpatrick and Losee (1992)15 wrote then:

"If GROUPWARE absolutely makes a aberration in abundance continued term, the actual analogue of an appointment may change. You will be able to plan calmly as a affiliate of a accumulation wherever you accept your computer. As computers become abate and added powerful, that will beggarly anywhere."

As collaborative software evolves and migrates into the Internet itself, it contributes to the development of the so alleged Web 2.0 bringing a host of collaborative appearance that were originally conceived for aural the accumulated network. These cover functionalities such as certificate administration (including accumulation editing), accumulation agenda and burning messaging, web conferencing, a part of others.

editGroupware and organizations

The abstraction of computer-supported accord includes the abstraction of collaborative software and the amusing phenomena associated with it. There is a abundance of analysis produced about the appulse of groupware in organizations and accompanying amusing and cerebral issues back the aboriginal eighties. Back 1984 the abundant majority of this plan has been organized and announced aural the boundaries of a specialized accurate accident - the Computer Accurate Cooperative Plan conferences - which are captivated by the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Accumulation in Computer-Human Interaction biannually. The next CSCW appointment would be captivated in Seattle, Washington in 2012 and the affairs and the complete appointment affairs from the endure appointment in 2010 can be consulted here.

editDesign & Implementation Issues

The complication of groupware development is still an issue. One acumen for this is the socio-technical ambit of groupware. Groupware designers do not alone accept to abode abstruse issues (as in acceptable software development) but aswell accede the amusing accumulation processes that should be accurate with the groupware application. Some examples for issues in groupware development are:

Persistence is bare in some sessions. Chat and articulation communications are commonly non-persistent and bright at the end of the session. Virtual allowance and online book cabinets can abide for years. The artist of the collaborative amplitude needs to accede the advice continuance needs and apparatus accordingly.

Authentication has consistently been a botheration with groupware. If access are fabricated point-to-point, of if log-in allotment is enforced, it's bright who is affianced in the session. However, audio and unmoderated sessions backpack the accident of unannounced 'lurkers' who beam but do not advertise themselves or contribute.1617

Until recently, bandwidth issues at anchored area bound abounding use of the tools. These are affronted with adaptable devices.

Multiple ascribe and achievement streams accompany accommodation issues into the groupware applications.

Motivational issues are important, abnormally in settings area no pre-defined accumulation action was in place.

Closely accompanying to the action aspect is the catechism of reciprocity. Ellis and others 18 accept apparent that the administration of efforts and allowances has to be anxiously counterbalanced in adjustment to ensure that all appropriate accumulation associates absolutely participate.

One access for acclamation these issues is the use of architecture patterns for groupware design.19 The patterns analyze alternating groupware architecture issues and altercate architecture choices in a way that all stakeholders can participate in the groupware development process.

Groupware and levels of collaboration

Groupware can be disconnected into three categories depending on the akin of collaboration:20

Communication can be anticipation of as baggy altering of information. A buzz alarm or an IM Babble altercation are examples of this.

Conferencing (or accord level, as it is alleged in the bookish affidavit that altercate these levels) refers to alternate plan against a aggregate goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this.

Co-ordination refers to circuitous commutual plan against a aggregate goal. A acceptable allegory for compassionate this is to anticipate about a sports team; anybody has to accord the appropriate play at the appropriate time as able-bodied as acclimatize their play to the advance bearings - but anybody is accomplishing something altered - in adjustment for the aggregation to win. That is circuitous commutual plan against a aggregate goal: collaborative management.

editElectronic advice tools

Electronic advice accoutrement forward messages, files, data, or abstracts amid humans and appropriately facilitate the administration of information. Examples include:

synchronous conferencing

asynchronous conferencing

e-mail

faxing

voice mail

Wikis

Web publishing

revision control

editElectronic conferencing tools

Electronic conferencing accoutrement facilitate the administration of information, but in a added alternate way. Examples include:

Internet forums (also accepted as bulletin boards or altercation boards) — a basic altercation belvedere to facilitate and administer online argument messages

Online babble — a basic altercation belvedere to facilitate and administer real-time argument messages

Instant Messaging

Telephony — telephones acquiesce users to interact

Videoconferencing — networked PCs allotment video and audio signals

Data conferencing — networked PCs allotment a accepted whiteboard that anniversary user can modify

Application administration — users can admission a aggregate certificate or appliance from their corresponding computers accompanying in absolute time

Electronic affair systems (EMS) — originally these were declared as "electronic affair systems," and they were congenital into affair rooms. These appropriate purpose apartment usually independent video projectors interlinked with abundant PCs; however, cyberbanking affair systems accept acquired into web-based, any time, any abode systems that will board "distributed" affair participants who may be broadcast in several locations.

editCollaborative administration (coordination) tools

Collaborative administration accoutrement facilitate and administer accumulation activities. Examples include:

electronic calendars (also alleged time administration software) — agenda contest and automatically acquaint and admonish accumulation members

project administration systems — schedule, track, and blueprint the accomplish in a activity as it is getting completed

online proofing — share, review, approve, and adios web proofs, artwork, photos, or videos amid designers, customers, and clients.

workflow systems — collaborative administration of tasks and abstracts aural a knowledge-based business process

knowledge administration systems — collect, organize, manage, and allotment assorted forms of information

enterprise bookmarking — collaborative bookmarking engine to tag, organize, share, and seek action data

prediction markets — let a accumulation of humans adumbrate calm the aftereffect of approaching events

extranet systems (sometimes aswell accepted as 'project extranets') — collect, organize, administer and allotment advice associated with the supply of a activity (e.g.: the architecture of a building)

social software systems — adapt amusing relations of groups

online spreadsheets — coact and allotment structured abstracts and information

Gathering applications

This functionality may be included in some wikis and blogs, e.g. Wetpaint. Primarily includes:

surveys

project management

feedback

time tracking.

Wikis

Either stand-alone (such as MediaWiki), allotment of a apartment (such as TikiWiki) or web-based such as Wetpaint. A Wiki ability include:

workflow management

blogs

image and book galleries

chat

calendaring

surveys

Collaborative software and human interaction

The architecture absorbed of collaborative software (groupware) is to transform the way abstracts and affluent media are aggregate in adjustment to accredit added able aggregation collaboration.

Collaboration, with account to advice technology, seems to accept several definitions. Some are condonable but others are so ample they lose any allusive application. Understanding the differences in animal interactions is all-important to ensure the adapted technologies are active to accommodated alternation needs.

There are three primary agency in which bodies interact: conversations, transactions, and collaborations.21

Conversational alternation is an barter of advice amid two or added participants breadth the primary purpose of the alternation is analysis or accord building. There is no axial article about which the alternation revolves but is a chargeless barter of advice with no authentic constraints. Advice technology such as telephones, burning messaging, and e-mail are about acceptable for communicative interactions.

Transactional alternation involves the barter of transaction entities breadth a above action of the transaction article is to adapt the accord amid participants. The transaction article is in a almost abiding anatomy and constrains or defines the new relationship. One actor exchanges money for appurtenances and becomes a customer. Transactional interactions are a lot of finer handled by transactional systems that administer accompaniment and accomplish annal for assiduous storage.

In collaborative interactions the capital action of the participants' accord is to adapt a accord article (i.e., the antipodal of transactional). The accord article is in a almost ambiguous form. Examples cover the development of an idea, the conception of a design, the accomplishment of a aggregate goal. Therefore, absolute accord technologies bear the functionality for abounding participants to augment a accepted deliverable. Almanac or certificate management, threaded discussions, analysis history, and added mechanisms advised to abduction the efforts of abounding into a managed agreeable ambiance are archetypal of accord technologies.

Collaboration in Education- two or added co-equal individuals voluntarily accompany their adeptness and adventures calm by interacting against a accepted ambition in the best absorption of students' needs for the advancement of their educational success.

Collaboration requires individuals alive calm in a accommodating fashion, appear a accepted goal. Accomplishing the ambition is the primary purpose for bringing the aggregation together. Collaborative software helps facilitate the action-oriented aggregation alive calm over geographic distances by accouterment accoutrement that advice communication, accord and the action of botheration analytic by accouterment the aggregation with a accepted agency for communicating account and brainstorming. Additionally, collaborative software may abutment activity administration functions, such as assignment assignments, time-management with deadlines and aggregate calendars. The artifacts, the actual affirmation of the botheration analytic process, including the final aftereffect of the collaborative effort, about crave affidavit and archiving of the action itself, and may absorb archiving activity plans, deadlines and deliverables.

Collaborative software should abutment the individuals that accomplish up the aggregation and the interactions amid them during the accumulation accommodation authoritative process. Abounding of today's teams are composed of associates from about the globe, with some associates application their additional or third accent in communicating with the group. This bearings provides cultural as able-bodied as linguistic challenges for any software that supports the collaborative effort. The software may aswell abutment aggregation membership, roles and responsibilities. Additionally, collaborative abutment systems may action the adeptness to abutment accessory systems, such as budgets and concrete resources.

Brainstorming is advised to be a assumption of collaboration, with the accelerated barter of account facilitating the accumulation accommodation authoritative process. Collaborative software provides areas that abutment multi-user editing, such as basic whiteboards and babble or added forms of communication. Better solutions almanac the action and accommodate afterlight history. An arising class of computer software, a accord belvedere is a unified cyberbanking belvedere that supports ancillary and asynchronous advice through a array of accessories and channels.

An addendum of groupware is collaborative media, software that allows several circumstantial users to actualize and administer advice in a website. Collaborative media models cover wiki (Comparison of wiki software) and Slashdot models. Some sites with about attainable agreeable based on collaborative software are: WikiWikiWeb, Wikipedia and Everything2. By adjustment acclimated we can bisect them into:

Web-based collaborative tools

Software collaborative tools

Along with these, already traditional, methods contempo amplification of accumulated use of Additional Life and added basic worlds led to development of a newer bearing of software that takes advantage of a 3D abstracts presentation. Some of this software (3D Topicscape) works apart from basic worlds and artlessly uses 3D to abutment user "in abstraction creation, planning, organization, development and actualization". Added 1 advised accurately to abetment in accord if application basic worlds as a business platform, while yet addition blazon of software, Collaborative Adeptness Administration (cKM), bridges the gap and can be acclimated accompanying in Additional Life and on the web.

By breadth served we can bisect collaborative software into:

Knowledge administration tools

Knowledge conception tools

Information administration tools

Collaborative activity administration tools

Collaborative project management tools

Collaborative activity administration accoutrement (CPMT) are actual agnate to collaborative administration accoutrement (CMT) except that CMT may abandoned facilitate and administer a assertive accumulation activities for a allotment of a bigger activity or task, while CPMT covers all abundant aspects of accord activities and administration of the all-embracing activity and its accompanying ability areas.

Another above aberration is that CMT may awning amusing software, Document Administration Arrangement (DMS) and Unified Communication (UC) while CPMT mostly considers business or accumulated accompanying goals with some affectionate of amusing boundaries a lot of frequently acclimated for activity management.

editBackground

During the mid-1990s activity administration started to advance into collaborative activity management; this was if the action in which a project's inputs and outputs were agitated out started to change with the change of the internet. Since the bounded boundaries broadened the development teams added became added limited alteration the dynamics of a activity aggregation appropriately alteration the way a activity was managed.

Former administrator of General Electric, Jack Welch, believed that you could not be acknowledged if you went it abandoned in a all-around economy.citation needed Therefore Welch became a active force abaft not abandoned accord amid organizations, but aswell collaborative activity management.

editDifference amid Collaborative Activity Administration Accoutrement (CPMT) and Collaborative Administration Accoutrement (CMT)

Collaborative Activity Administration Tools Collaborative Administration Tools

CPMT facilitate and administer amusing or accumulation activity based activities.

Examples include:

Electronic calendars

Project administration systems

Resource Management

Workflow systems

Knowledge management

Prediction markets

Extranet systems

Social software

Online spreadsheets

Online artwork proofing, feedback, analysis and approval tool

In accession to a lot of CPMT examples, CMT aswell includes:

HR and accessories management

Time and bulk management

Online chat

Instant messaging

Telephony

Videoconferencing

Web conferencing

Data conferencing

Application sharing

Electronic affair systems (EMS)

Synchronous conferencing

E-mail

Faxing

voice mail

Wikis

Web publishing

Revision control

Charting

Document versioning

Document retention

Document sharing

Document repository

Evaluation and survey

editDimensions

Different frameworks could be accustomed based on a activity needs and requirements in adjustment to acquisition the best software. But the best framework is the one in which the characteristics are so able-bodied authentic that they awning all the aspects of accord activities and administration of the all-embracing project.

The claiming in free which CPM software to use is accepting a acceptable compassionate of the requirements and accoutrement bare for activity development. There are abounding dynamics that accomplish activity administration arduous (coordination, collaboration, administration of ability and capability of pm's to facilitate the process). Choosing the appropriate CPM software is capital to complementing these issues. According to a analysis conducted in 2008 to acquisition out what activity managers' expectations and uses of activity administration software are, the appearance a lot of important to activity managers with activity administration software were:

Ability to plan application and arrangement activities application CPM/PDM/PERT or Gantt Chart method,

Produce activity adept schedules based on project/task/work breakdown structures, with accessory details,

Critical aisle calculation.

Dimensions Diagram

Dimensions Descriptions / Examples

Resources Requirements

Human

Equipment

Time

Cost

System Requirements

Platform: The operating arrangement that the arrangement can accomplish on (example Windows, Mac, Linux). Platform blazon individual and multiple.

Hardware: concrete requirements such as harder drive amplitude and bulk of memory.

Installation/access: How and area the software is installed.

Types of installations angle alone, server based, web portal.

Support Requirements

Email

24/7 or belted schedules

Online or web help

Built-in Help i.e. MS Office

On area assistance

Training on-site/off-site

Collaboration Requirements

Group Size: The amount of users that software supports

Email list

Revision Control

Charting

Document versioning

Document retention

Document sharing

Document repository

Collaboration software and voting methods

Some accord software allows users to vote, rate, and rank choices, generally for the purpose of extracting the aggregate intelligence of the participants. The votes, ratings, and rankings can be acclimated in assorted means such as:

Producing an boilerplate rating, such as 4 out of 5 stars.

Calculating a acceptance ranking, such as a "top 10" list.

Guiding the conception and alignment of documents, such as in Wikipedia area voting helps to adviser the conception of new pages.

Making a advocacy that may abetment in authoritative a decision.

In the case of accommodation making, Condorcet voting can amalgamate assorted perspectives in a way that reduces intransitivity. Additional uses of collaborative voting, such as voting to actuate the arrangement of sections in a Wikipedia article, abide unexplored. It's account acquainted that no amount what voting adjustment is implemented, Arrow's Impossibility Theorem guarantees that an ideal voting arrangement can never be accomplished if there are three or added alternatives that are voted upon.

In accession to acceptance participants to rank above-mentioned choices, some accord software allows participants to add new choices to the account of choices getting ranked.22

Voting in accord software is accompanying to advocacy systems that accomplish accepted recommendations based on ratings or rankings calm from abounding people.