On the design of potential collaboration spaces

Author: Alberto, L.M., Jesus, F., Ana, M.M.E., Dominique, D.
Source: The International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology (IJCAT), Vol. 19, No. 3/4, 2004

The paper introduces the concepts of Potential and Actual Collaboration Spaces. This paper call attention to the importance of providing support not only for collaborative activities that occur inside a global collaboration spaces, but also for those that might occur outside of it and that might provide important support for collaboration.

Potential and Actual Collaboration Spaces
Potential an Actual collaboration spaces aim to provide support for identifying the possibility of collaboration and to establish an initial interaction to get into collaboration while working individually, as well as providing mechanisms for seamless transitions between individual and collaborative models of work.


The authors separate the traditional collaboration into:

• Actual Collaboration Spaces are specialized to:
  
• Allow users to concentrate in communicating about their work
  
• In coordinating their actions to optimize the group’s performance
  
• In producing the results expected from their collaborative activity


• Potential Collaboration Spaces are specialized to:
  
• Allow users to discover, identify or create opportunities to establish an initial interaction

Characterizing Potential Collaboration Spaces
Key elements of potential collaboration awareness is based on 6W’s questions.

• WHO is potentially available for collaboration?
  
• WHAT are they doing and WHY?
  
• WHEN is the good moment to contact them?
  
• HOW we should do it?

The paper extends the original scope to gather information not only from the shared space in present and past situations but also from future situations.

• Information from present situations allows us to handle the potential for collaboration for synchronous situations.
  
• Information from past and future situations allows us to handle the potential for collaboration for asynchronous situations.
  
• Finding evidence of past activities.
  
• Obtaining information about probable availability of others.

At the model of potential collaboration awareness, users remain in different shared or individual spaces but are still able to obtain enough information to become aware of others.
Mechanisms to gather potential collaboration awareness information can be:

• Explicit mechanisms (active). Information actively provides by users and requires explicit actions from them.
• Implicit mechanisms (passive). Information collected by the system while users perform their main activity.

Kinds of interactions in collaboration can be:

• Formal interactions that require planning in advance by all involved parties
• Informal interactions that are not scheduled in advance. It can be
  • Intended interactions that occur when one seeks for another to discuss a topic
  • Unintended interactions that is the opportunistic occur when one happens to see another and remembers that they wanted to discuss a particular topic or the spontaneous occur when two people happen to see each other and get into a conversation on a topic.

One thing that the authors mention is the mechanisms to deal with the privacy issues, i.e. using individual and group access permissions.

Thank you the authors for providing the guidance of implementing an online spaces to foster collaboration activities. The paper can be found here.