The complexity of online groups: a case study of asynchronous collaboration

ABSTRACT

Work preparing documents is increasingly being done by diverse, geographically separated project teams. This essay describes some of the characteristics of such collaboration and applies them to a case study involving a team composing a mission statement. The group succeeded in their task, even though shortcomings inherent in asynchronous, distributed collaboration did lead to some problems.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.3 Organizational Impacts
          Subjects: Computer-supported collaborative work

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.0 General

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
CSCW, collaboration, groupware, online publishing