Collaborative Software - Groupware and Levels of Collaboration

Groupware and Levels of Collaboration

Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration:

  1. Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. A phone call or an IM Chat discussion are examples of this.
  2. Conferencing (or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this.
  3. Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation - but everyone is doing something different - in order for the team to win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal: collaborative management.

Read more about this topic:  Collaborative Software

Famous quotes containing the word levels:

    “The country is fed up with children and their problems. For the first time in history, the differences in outlook between people raising children and those who are not are beginning to assume some political significance. This difference is already a part of the conflicts in local school politics. It may spread to other levels of government. Society has less time for the concerns of those who raise the young or try to teach them.”
    —Joseph Featherstone (20th century)