stodol@freja.diku.dk (David Stodolsky) (07/24/89)
First question to the Net after creation of sci.groupware:
How can the quality of messages that one sees be improved?
Sci.groupware would fill the need for scientific discussion
of the questions that sometime come up in comp.mail.misc and
other comp.mail.* groups (and recently news.groups).
For instance:
How can one most effectively use newsreader programs?
What features would a ideal/good newsreader program have?
What principles are best for guiding subject and author
selection/rejection (i. e., constructing mail "filters")?
What principles are best for guiding newsgroup creation?
What is the most effective way to handle questions that have
previously been discussed?
How can moderation responsibilities be distributed among
responsible readers?
How can features of and claims about groupware be tested?
Current discussion would probably focus on news reading
programs, as they seem to be of most immediate interest due
to the ever increasing message load on the Net. The
discussions about the In Moderation Network also suggests
that it may be time for mutual moderation to be tested on the
net. That is, if moderation is a "value added" service, can
net readers, as a group, supply this service themselves? (see
suggestion under "Moderation").
Groupware discussions have appeared in news.misc,
comp.society.futures, comp.sys.mac, news.software.b. The
sci.groupware newsgroup would be a place to post this
material to the degree it was useful to design, development,
and evaluation of groupware. It would also be a place to post
about relevant conferences, and new books, articles, and
software. The overall idea is to integrate discussions
currently scattered across news.*, comp.*, and sci.*, groups
so they facilitate interaction among developers and
scientific investigators. This will, hopefully, benefit the
entire Usenet community, since we all depend on groupware of
one sort or another for our net communications. It also
responds to a more general need, since as of the moment there
appears to be only a single *scientific* study that has shown
computer-mediated communication to improve group performance.
Summary:
The sci.groupware newsgroup would cover all types
of hardware and software for facilitating group
interaction. This includes what is termed orgware,
since the function of orgware is often to make
organizations function more like groups (see
definitions below).
Keywords (by decreasing centrality):
Groupware
Orgware
Coordination Systems
Group Decision Support Systems
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Group Problem Solving
Group Decision Making
Collaborative Writing
Team Development
Workgroup Communication Management
Electronic Publishing using Peer Review
Computer Conferencing
Computer Aided Communication
Computer Mediated Communication
Conversation Management
Dialogue Management
Intelligent Agents
Software Development Support Environments
Trouble Report Management Systems
Project Management
Office Work
Document Editing
Many of these terms were taken from the "In Depth" report on
groupware in the December 1988 issue of Byte magazine. This
report gives a popular introduction to the technical side of
the subject. Recent scientific publications include
"Computer-based systems for cooperative work and group
decisionmaking," (Kraemer, K. L. & King, J. L. (1988.)
(Computer Surveys, 20(2), 115-146), and Organizational
Decision Support Systems ( Lee, R. M., McCosh, A. M. &
Migliarese, P. (1988). Amsterdam: North Holland). The ACM
Transactions on Office Information Systems is one outlet for
published material on this subject.
The following definitions indicate the desired scope
of sci.groupware more rigorously.
Definitions:
Group - Two or more persons who are interacting
with one another in such a manner that each person
influences and is influenced by each other person
(Shaw, M. E. Group dynamics: The psychology of
small group behaviour. 1976, p. 11).
Ware - 1 a) manufactured articles, products of art
or craft.... b) an article of merchandise.... 3) an
intangible item (as a service) that is a marketable
commodity. (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary,
1976, p. 1319).
Moderation:
The group will not be moderated. A sci.groupware.f, for
followups, will be simultaneously created for responses to
original postings (EUnet already uses this system).
Hopefully, by time traffic becomes too high, a good "filter"
program will be ready as a result of discussions in
sci.groupware(.f).
Procedural information:
Cross posted to:
alt.religion.computers,
comp.mail.misc,
comp.mail.elm,
comp.mail.mh,
comp.mail.multi-media,
comp.mail.sendmail,
comp.misc,
comp.society.futures,
comp.sys.mac,
comp.text,
news.misc,
news.software.b,
sci.psychology,
sci.research
Followups to this posting have been directed to news.groups.
Comments (especially corrections to this post) also welcome
by email.
If all other addresses fail try:
<....{well-connected site}!uunet!mcvax!diku!stodol>
<stodol@diku.uucp>
IP number (129.142.96.1)
-------
--
David S. Stodolsky, PhD Routing: <@uunet.uu.net:stodol@diku.dk>
Department of Psychology Internet: <stodol@diku.dk>
Copenhagen Univ., Njalsg. 88 Voice + 45 31 58 48 86
DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Fax. + 45 31 54 32 11dave@viper.Lynx.MN.Org (David Messer) (07/26/89)
This group probably doesn't belong in the "sci" hierarchy. I think that
comp.groupware would be a better name.
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