Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): 2000-2001.

Pat Healey

ph@dcs.qmul.ac.uk

Nick Bryan-Kinns

nickbk@dcs.qmul.ac.uk

last updated: 25 Jan 02

Aims:

Goals:

Aims:

To provide theoretical knowledge of the social and organisational context of information technologies

To foster skills in identifying and analysing the social factors that influence the success of systems for supporting cooperative work

To survey current and possible future technolgoical interventions in support of cooperative work .

Goals:

At the end of this course students should:

have a sound conceptual understanding of the key problems for the design of CSCW systems,

be able to select methods appropriate for the analysis of cooperative work in a given setting,

have a critical understanding of a range of theoretical approaches to understanding cooperative work.

Description:

Attempts to implement systems for the support of cooperative work frequently fail. This is rarely due to 'technical' problems - usually it is because system design does not take into account the social and institutional context of human activities. The primary focus of this course will be on the application of theories and methodologies of social science to understanding why this occurs. In particular, to understanding the interaction between the social and organisational context of cooperative work and the success of technologies designed to support that work.

The course will begin by outlining the scope and aims of CSCW as an area, the problems it attempts to address and how it contrasts with the conventional single user approach (conventional HCI) to system design. It will review a range of theories and approaches to social organisation, such as Scientific Management Theory, Ethnomethodology and Distributed Cognition, highlighting the consequences of each theory for the analysis and (re)design of organisational processes. Particular emphasis will be placed on comparing these approaches and evaluating what each can contribute to design.

A variety of approaches to the analysis of cooperative work will be introduced and applied in the assessed coursework. A number of detailed empirical case studies of cooperative work across a range of contexts will be reviewed. This will range from tightly coupled pilot-copilot coordination in aircraft cockpits over time periods measured in minutes to loosely-coupled collaboration between clinicians in medical care that may span months or years. This will highlight some common features of coordination across each setting and the problems this poses for design. A variety of technologies will also be introduced that, by design or accident, support cooperative work such as; spreadsheets, media spaces, workflow systems and virtual environments.

Outline Syllabus:

	Topic:	Readings:
1.	Introduction to CSCW	Heath, C. and Luff, P. (2000) "Technology in Action". Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, Chapter 1, pp.1-30..: "Technology and Social Action"
		Exercise: Spreadsheet Analysis
2.	Technology in Collaborations	Nardi, B & Miller, J. (1991) "Twinkling lights and nested loops: distributed problem solving and spreadsheet development" Int. J. of Man-Machine Studies. 34, 161-184. Hutchins, E. (1995) "How a cockpit remembers its speeds." Cognitive Science. 19, pp.265-288.
3.	Space, Mobility and Collaboration.	Kraut, R. and Egido, C. (1988) "Patterns of contact and communication in scientific research collaboration" Proceedings of the conference on Computer-supported cooperative work, September 26 - 28, Portland, OR USA. pp.1-12 Harrison, S. & Dourish, P. (1996). Re-Place-ing Space: The Roles of Place and Space in Collaborative Systems. In Proc. ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work CSCW'96 (Boston, Mass.), 67-76. New York: ACM. Exercise: High quality vs. low cost & its relation to space/ place scenario development
4.	Ethnomethodological Studies of Workplace Interaction.	Heath, C. & Luff, P. (2000) "Technology in Action". Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, Chapter 4, pp. 88-119, "Teamwork: Collaboration and Control in London Underground Control Rooms". Button, G. & Dourish, P. (1996) "Technomethodology: Paradoxes & Possibilities" Proceedingsof CHI96. ACM Press. pp.19-26.
5.	Collaboration in Virtual Enviroments	Slater, M., Howell, J. Steed, A. Pertaub, D-P., Garau, M. and Springel, S. (2000) "Acting in Virtual Reality". Proceedings of ACM Collaborative Virtual Environements, CVE'200, pp.103-110 Short video presentations: The Mirror (Inhabited TV) and Interactive Theatre Lea, R., Honda, Y. and Matsuda, K. (1997) "Virtual society: Collaboration in 3D spaces on the internet." In Computer Supported Cooperative Work,6, pp. 227-250
6.	Media and Interaction: Video	Heath, C. and Luff, P. (1997) "Technology in Action". Chapter 7, pp. 179 - 215, "Reconfiguring the workspace: Media Space and Collaborative Work."
		Coursework set
7.	Media and Interaction: Whiteboard	Neilson, I. & Lee, J. (1994) Conversations with graphics: implications for the design of natural language/graphics interfaces. Int. J. Human -Computer Studies, 40, pp.509-541
		Exercise: Pictionary
8.	Analysing Interaction 1: Synchronous Interaction	Clark, H.H. & Brennan, S.E. (1991). Grounding in Communication. pp.127-149 In Resnick, L.B., Levine, J and Behrend, S.D. (Eds.) Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition. Washington DC.: American Psychological Association. Healey, P. G. T. (1999) Accounting for Collaboration: Estimating Effort, Transparency and Coherence" AAAI Fall Symposium, Psychological Models of Communication in Collaborative Systems. November 5-7, Sea Crest Conference Center, Cape Cod North Falmouth, Massachusetts.
		Exercise: Data analysis using repair protocol
9.	Analysing Interaction 2. Asynchronous Interaction	Healey, P.G.T. and Bryan-Kinns, N. (2000) Analysing Asynchronous Collaboration. In McDonald, S., and Waern, Y., and Cockton, G. (Eds), People and Computers XIV - Usability or Else! Proceedings of HCI 2000. Berlin: Springer. pp.239--254.
10.	Analysing Activities	Barab, S. Barnett, M., Yamagata-Lynch, L., Squire, K. & Keating, T. (1999). Using activity theory to understand the contradictions characterising a technology rich introductory astronomy course. Presented as the Annual Meeting of the American Eductional Research Association. Montreal, CA. Watts, L. & Monk, A. (1998) Reasoning about tasks, activities and technology to support collaboration. Ergonomics, V.41, pp.1583-1606.
11	Revision

Teaching Profile:

Teaching will be through a combination of lectures and discussion of key papers and, where possible, practical experience of using current systems. Course material is also supplemented by the Information, Media and Communication Group research seminars series .

Assessed coursework, based on the analysis of CSCW, will account for 20% of the overall mark, the remaining 80% of the course mark will come from the exam.

Background Reading:

The primary readings for this consist of the recommended papers for each lecture. These will be distributed through the main office in Computer Science. Some relevant general background is provided by the following books.

Borghoff, U. and Schlichter, J. (2000) "Computer-Supported Cooperative Work" Springer Verlag: Berlin.	MAINLIB: QA76.9 .D5 B67 2000
Baecker, R.M. (ed.) (1993) Readings in Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Groupware. Morgan Kaufmann.
Finn, K.E., Sellen, A.J. and Wilbur, S., (1997) "Video -Mediated Communication" Lawrence Earlbaum Associates. Mahwah, New Jersey.	MAINLIB: HF5734.7 .V527
Heath, C. and Luff, P. (2000) "Technology in Action". Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.	MAINLIB: QA64.1 LUF

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