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From: 13 February 2008 | Time: 9:30
To: 13 February 2008 | Time: 17:00
Location: London, UK
Organiser:MiMeG Research Node of the UK ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science
Contact details: Email:
Category: Workshops » Agenda Setting Workshop

Challenging Groupware: Emerging configurations for distributed interaction colloquium will discuss the issues and concerns raised as a result of distributed collaborations, that are becoming increasingly important in the context of social and organisational developments, such as the emergence of global firms and scientific collaboratories.

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Johansen's book which popularised the term Groupware. Over this time we have seen a substantial body of studies of, and systems supporting, distributed collaboration. One result is that 'loosely coupled' asynchronous and semi-synchronous distributed interaction is now commonplace. However significant challenges remain in supporting tightly-coupled activities between remote groups of people. Studies continue to demonstrate a range of problems that arise in interaction over systems designed for distributed 'group' collaboration and such interaction falls well short of the richness to be found in everyday, face-to-face settings. These issues and concerns become increasingly important in the context of social and organisational developments, such as the emergence of global firms and scientific collaboratories. To pursue these issues the colloquium draws together a collection of international experts to consider two interrelated themes: (i) developments in the study of interaction and co-participation amongst distributed groups and (ii) advances in the configuration of interfaces and systems to provide richer support for inter-group collaboration. Admission: Free Please contact Dylan Tutt (dylan.tutt@kcl.ac.uk) if you wish to attend.