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Jackson Fox Homework 3 January 30, 2002 Which "collaborative technologies" do you know about? I had the pleasure of seeing Hal Eden's work at the CSCL 2002 conference earlier this month. I had previously seen the EDC demonstrated and I thought some of the extensions he was working on were wonderful. In addition, I have used such technologies as email and instant messaging, both of which I guess are collaborative technologies. And to some extent I would include the source code control system CVS as well. And of course this website. That's about the extent of my knowledge with regards to real-world collaborative technologies. Which "collaborative technologies" have you used? Besides CVS, email, and instant messaging... None. Oh, and the website of course. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the "collaborative technology" which you do know best? While I can't say that I "know it best" I'd like to discuss this website (and wiki/swiki in general). I feel that colaboratively developed websites like this one are a great collaborative tool, though it seems to me they are merely a beginning. While the wiki architecture allows for multiple users to edit and develop websites, it does so in a very loose and poorly coordinated way. Second, the wiki is limited in that it does not allow for active communication. The strength of a wiki is that it makes a website into a communal artifact. The ownership of the site becomes distributed to all participants. However, like email it is a passive device. The wiki does not allow for active communication between participants in any real way. Can you think of any theories, conceptual frameworks, specifications which would guide you in developing "collaborative technology"? I can't really think of any specific theories/frameworks/etc that would help guide the development of collaborative technology. However, it seems to me that collaborative technlogies have to be highly accesible to any (or most any participants) and therefor would benefit greatly from general ergonomic and usability guidelines for public systems (anything that gets abused by large numbers of people). Have you ever read a book (or books) about collaboration? I have not read any books that specifically pertain to collaboration. Discuss the following statement: "collaborative technology will have little success in non-collaborative environments" I think the statement is false. While collaborative technologies loose some essence of purpose when used in non-collaborative environments, It seems to me that should they be suffciently well developed they could still be successfull.
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