[comp.mail.sendmail] Sci.groupware CALL FOR DISCUSSION

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 11

dave@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.

-- 
Remember Tiananmen Square.           | David Messer       dave@Lynx.MN.Org -or-
                                     | Lynx Data Systems  ...!bungia!viper!dave