Santos addresses research issues in computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and, more specifically, cooperative editing of multimedia documents. The work presented in the book is largely based on his PhD work at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

The book consists of seven chapters, plus references. Unfortunately, no index is included. After introducing the problem in chapter 1, the author proceeds with the state of the art and terminology in chapter 2, which is the longest chapter of the book. He presents audio and video processing, communication issues, and notions necessary for the framework he follows later. A number of approaches to CSCW are identified, and examples of existing systems in each area are given.

In chapter 3, Santos presents the framework on which his work is based and the extensions he made.

Chapter 4 presents the concepts underlying his cooperative multimedia editing prototype tool. I found this chapter especially hard to read. Some parts of it would have been more appropriate in chapter 2, and the author sometimes refers to issues that he has not yet presented.

In chapter 5, Santos presents CoMEdiA, a prototype tool for cooperative multimedia editing. His assumptions and the features of the system are clearly stated.

Chapter 6 presents the usability evaluation of CoMEdiA. It is based on two applications: cooperative software engineering, and cooperative technical data production.

This book presents several issues in the broad CSCW research area. The discussion of the state of the art is extensive and good, and the author’s contribution through the model of group behavior and the prototype is interesting. The book is not always easy to follow, however. The author repeats himself several times, and the flow in the book is not always what the reader expects. There are several typographical and syntactic errors in the text. Figures are sometimes several pages away from the text that refers to them. The list of references, although extended, includes rather old references, except for the author’s own publications. I found chapter 2 very interesting, and I believe it would be useful to newcomers to CSCW.