ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work

24-27 September 1991, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

General Chair: Mike Robinson, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Program Chair: Liam Bannon, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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  • Text Document
    Frontmatter
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991)
  • Text Document
    Experiences with the DOMINO office procedure system
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Kreifelts, Thomas; Hinrichs, E.; Klein, K.-H.; Seuffert, P.; Woetzel, G.
    The Domino office procedure system has been equipped with a new user interface, and has been put to use for the support of purchasing. In this paper, we describe the system, the user interface, and the experiences we made during the practical use of the system. We also briefly discuss the consequences for our own research.
  • Text Document
    Panel: Rethinking the role of formalization in CSCW
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Pedersen, Elin; Suchman, Lucy
    This panel aims at exploring formalization in use, i.e. how people acquire, develop, use, and communicate formalizations. The notion of formalization applied here emphasizes its situational and historical roots. We would like to take as our point of departure an acknowledgement of well-known obstacles in using formalization, but we want to get further than that, to an acknowledgement of the constructive aspects of using formalization. The range of formalization issues in typical CSCW situations is wide and includes various activities of description and specification during design and development of an application, procedural structures imposed on those who use the system and representation system and models used in customization and adaption of running CSCW applications.
  • Text Document
    Idea Management in a Shared Drawing Tool
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Lu, Iva; Mantei, Marilyn
    The generation of design ideas in group discussion is a complex and dynamic process. Some design ideas are accepted
  • Text Document
    Collaborative Activity and Technological Design: Task Coordination in London Underground Control Rooms
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Heath, Christian; Luff, Paul
    Despite technical advances in CSCW over the past few years we still have relatively little understanding of the organisation of collaborative activity in real world. technologically supported, work environments. Indeed, it has been suggested that the failure of various technological applications may derive from its relative insensitivity to ordinary work practice and situated conduct. In this paper we discuss the possibility of utilising recent developments within social science, and in particular the naturalistic analysis of organisational conduct and interpersonal communication, as a basis for the design and development of tools and technologies to support collaborative work. Focussing on the Line Control Rooms on London Underground, a complex multimedia environment in transition, we begin to explicate the informal work practices and procedures whereby personnel systematically communicate information and coordinate a disparate collection of tasks and activities. These empirical investigations form the foundation to the design of new tools to support collaborative work in Line Control Rooms
  • Text Document
    The Group Facilitator: A CSCW Perspective
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Viller, Stephen
    What unites CSCW research is the need to help people work together (Greif, 1988) or, to be more precise, "...the support requirements of cooperative work." (Bannon & Schmidt, 1989). An important contribution to the understanding of these requirements, therefore, are the results from research into group working, its structure, and dynamics. A well recognised concept in group work is the role of the group facilitator
  • Text Document
    Office systems development and gender: Implications for Computer-Supported Co-operative Work
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Green, Eileen; Owen, Jenny; Pain, Den
    We present new UK research (1987-90) in the area of gender and office information systems design. Our paper will contribute to the CSCW debate in two areas. Methodology, where we use our case-study experiences to reflect upon the traditional computing approaches to office systems design. Secondly, participatory design, through our active involvement in the work-place we consider a gender perspective on obstacles and opportunities for involvement in the design process. We open by briefly discussing the range of current UK office systems design methods, contrasting these with more innovative approaches developed in Europe. Secondly we focus upon clerical work as a major area of women's employment concentrating on the relationship between technical and organisational aspects of systems development. In section three we present the outcome of our own case-study research. We worked in collaboration with staff in a large pUblic library, where management envisaged the acquisition of a new integrated system to link previously discrete services. Our aim was to develop techniques and strategies through which women staff could intervene in the evaluation of systems and suppliers. In conclusion, we identify a number of factors within pUblic sector office work, which affect opportunities for a proactive role for clerical workers and their trade unions, in the design and implementation of office information systems. The authors wish to acknowledge the research contribution made by Ian Franklin to this paper. This research was funded by the Joint Committee of the UK Economic & Social Research Council, and Science & Engineering Research Council from 1984-1990. Current grantholders are Eileen Green and Den Pain.
  • Text Document
    CSCW and Distributed Systems: The Problem of Control
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Rodden, Tom; Blair, Gordon
    The user-centred philosophy of CSCW challenges the established principles of many existing technologies but the development of CSCW is dependent on the facilities provided by these technologies. It is therefore important to examine and understand this inter-relationship. This paper focuses on distributed computing, a technology central to the development of CSCW systems. The nature of both CSCW and distribution are compared by using a common framework. In this discussion, control emerges as the major problem in supporting CSCW systems. It is argued that existing approaches to control in distributed systems are inadequate given the rich patterns of cooperation found in CSCW. A number of recommendations are made for improving distributed support for CSCW.
  • Text Document
    Sound Support for Collaboration
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Gaver, William
    Shared work often involves fluid transitions between relatively focussed collaboration, division of labour, general awareness and serendipitous communication. This leads to a tension in the design of software systems meant to support shared work: focussed collaboration implies the need to coordinate people's views of work objects, while division of labour requires individual control over views. A similar tension exists in the office environment as well: group engagement in the workplace depends on a shared context, but individual work is facilitated by privacy and freedom of action. Auditory cues have the potential to reduce these tensions because graphics and sound can provide two independent ways to present and obtain information. I illustrate the potential of sound in collaborative systems with observations drawn from two systems: the ARKola simulation, which explores the effects of sound on collaboration within a workstation environment
  • Text Document
    CSCW: Discipline or Paradigm? A Sociological Perspective
    (ECSCW 1991: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1991) Hughes, John; Randall, Dave; Shapiro, Dan
    We argue there is still much confusion about what is meant by cooperative work, and therefore what is meant by CSCW. It does not arise simply where more than one person is involved, and other attempts to delimit the field do not succeed. Since all work is socially organised, it wOl:Jld seem that all work potentially falls within the CSCW domain. If so, then (i) it would not be confined to a particular class of system ('groupware')