[ dmg . publications . Between Friends: Support of Workgroup Communications ]

[ dmg . publications . Between Friends: Support of Workgroup Communications ] edit

published in 2000 in ACADIA, 'Eternity, Infinity and Virtuality in Architecture', proceedings of ACADIA 2000, Washington, D.C. October 20-22, 2000, pp 41-50

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The web offers both business and academic users potential benefits from on-line collaboration. On-line education presents universities with a means of handling the 'baby boom echo' without expanding physical campuses (Carnevale 2000). Business 'extranets' allow greater coordination amongst locations. Both involve substituting computer mediated communications (CMC) for traditionally face to face communications.

Over the past several years, the author has deployed several of the available CMC technologies in support of small group interaction in academic and administrative settings. These technologies include email, video conferencing, web publication, web bulletin boards, web databases, mailing lits, and hybrid web BBS/email combinations.

This paper reflects on aspects of embodied human interaction and the affordances of current CMC technology, identifying opportunities for both exploitation and additional development. One important but under-supported aspect of work group behavior is workspace awarenss, or peripheral monitoring. The Compadres web-based system, which was developed to support workspace awareness among distributed workgroup members is described.

These findings are relevant to those seeking to create online communities: virtual design studios, community groups, distributed governace organizations, and workgroup formed as parts of virtual offices.

Compadres

last updated 9.30.2002 by Ellen Yi-Luen Do