Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) is a young interdisciplinary field whose definition is still under debate. According to one source, it is concerned with multiple individuals working together with computer systems. Another characterizes it as an endeavor to understand the nature and characteristics of cooperative work with the objective of designing adequate computer-based technologies. Research endeavors that are considered CSCW include face-to-face facilitation, project management, multiuser applications, text-filtering software, electronic mail, computer conferencing, and hypertext. The earliest visions of CSCW date back to a 1945 paper by Vannevar Bush [1] and a system developed in the 1960s by Douglas Engelbart, which is usually called NLS/AUGMENT. It was not until the early 1980s, however, that researchers from different intellectual communities started to recognize their common interest in group work. Given the youth of the field, even the older material has more than historical significance.

This comparative review considers six books in the field. Each book is a collection of several chapters from various authors in the field, yielding more than 100 papers (see  Table 1).  The books range in length from 9 chapters to 29 chapters divided into as many as nine sections. The contributors come from many disciplines, but primarily from computer science (including human-computer interaction, office information systems, and artificial intelligence), psychological and social sciences, and management and organization sciences. These researchers come from both academic environments and industrial settings.

Bowers and Benford

Primarily based on refereed papers presented at a European CSCW conference, this book includes authors from several European countries and the US. The six sections are reasonably appropriate for the chapters therein. The beginning and ending sections are well chosen, but the order of the middle sections seems arbitrary. The preface provides a good overview, and each section has an introduction that describes its chapters. The book has reasonable subject and author indexes. Physically, the binding and paper are nice, but each chapter has its own typeface and reference style.

Part 1 asks questions about the meaning of computer supported cooperative work. The first chapter holds to a broad definition, which sees social and technological issues as intricately bound, and the second ties cooperation closely to creativity and reflection.

Part 2 is about real-time and multimedia systems. The first chapter looks at jointly manipulated simulation software. The second looks at incrementally adding audio and video to a data sharing office environment. The last two chapters discuss a multimedia desktop conference toolkit and a real-time hypermedia coauthoring system.

Part 3 presents several generic models to allow others to develop similar systems. The first chapter uses a natural language approach to message ambiguity. The next few chapters include a graphical interactive planner for design specifications, a model for designing autonomous group agents in office systems, a model of organizational processes, and communication support in project support environments. The last two chapters describe an asynchronous message passing system and an operator-based support (for example, “send”) for collaborative office work.

Part 4 presents several empirical studies in CSCW. In one study, a typology of actions performable in email messages and interrelations between messages is developed and used to identify the profile of a potential discussion leader. Another interesting study involved the use of a spreadsheet as a dynamic bargaining tool.

Part 5 focuses on the technical infrastructure for CSCW. One study looks at the design of a meeting room with computer support. Another examines the X.500 directory service for the administration of role and message type descriptions. A third study argues for explicitly including information sharing in models of CSCW.

Part 6 ends the book with discussions of principles and practices. The first chapter illustrates the cooperative prototyping approach to design through a case study. The last chapter explores the dialogue between the two perspectives of “ready made design” and “design in action” and uses the discussion to advocate cooperative participatory design.

Galegher, Kraut, and Egido

This dense collection of papers provides a deep understanding of the issues in computer-supported cooperative work. The papers arose from a workshop whose aim was to expand communication between social scientists studying cooperative group work and the developers of systems for such work. The book is organized so the reader is first engaged in human and social issues, then led through experiences with established technologies, and finally brought to new technologies. The overview chapter is good, providing some discussion of general issues and reviewing and integrating the remaining chapters. The style is direct but requires careful attention to grasp the many specific issues being considered in these 18 multidisciplinary chapters. The book also has good author and subject indexes.

Part 1 is about some fundamental properties of social behavior and social organization. Joseph McGrath presents a comprehensive framework of how time functions in groups. Another chapter applies structured contingency  theory  (which states that technology must fit the structure of tasks in an organization) to work groups, while a third discusses the elements of interpersonal relationships. A final chapter examines the effects of assumptions about listeners.

Part 2 presents several field studies of collaborative work. One looks at the effects of physical proximity, a second considers the effects of moral and material support from stakeholders, a third studies the intricacies of technical and social interdependence, and the last is on knowing the source of information.

Part 3 contains empirical investigations of older systems. Increased social interaction, broadened leadership roles, better performance, and changed work patterns were observed in two email studies. Other studies looked at voice mail and teleconferencing (with video links). A final study examined the difference between group decision support systems (GDSS), which provide structure to meetings and group communications support systems (GCSS), which provide information aids.

Part 4 focuses on new tools rather than the evaluation of existing technologies. The technologies studied include hypermedia, multimedia electronic mail, a text-graphics editor, a constant audio/video link between groups, and a GDSS.

Greenbaum and Kyng

This readable and engaging book focuses on the process of building systems with the involvement of users. This approach comes from the development of in-house systems in Europe (primarily Scandinavia) where strong trade unions have supported projects that include worker involvement. The chapters of the book were rewritten after review by the other authors. Hence, the tone of the book is integrated and self-referential. Brief descriptions of each author and her or his work further personalize the book. Even though the authors are predominantly Scandinavian, they include a handful of North Americans. A broad mix of disciplines is represented.

The book begins with a heavy dose of philosophy, that of situated design and participatory design (in which the user is part of the design team). Users are seen as competent practitioners who can work with other competent practitioners, namely designers. Design must take place with an understanding of work practice and its organizational setting. Situations, social relationships, knowledge, group interaction, and experience-based work become key factors.

Part 1 discusses theories and ideas that motivate the ultimate design of systems. The first chapter connects the more conventional experimental approach in human-computer interaction to the situated design approach focusing on the actual setting of work. The second chapter describes how to experience the way people make sense of a situation by becoming a participant-observer. The last three chapters describe two anthropological approaches and one linguistic approach to analyzing a work situation.

Part 2 follows the process of designing, using, and modifying a system. The first chapter elaborates on “design as action.” The next three chapters discuss a brainstorming technique for imagining the future, provide examples of mock-ups to envision possibilities, and discuss how users and designers can change prototypes cooperatively. The next two chapters discuss the continuation of design in use and a means of helping users develop new work practices through game playing. The epilogue provides a final reflection on the book and what the authors would like to have said.

Greenberg

The chapters in this book include an introduction, a collection of 16 journal papers, and an annotated bibliography of more than 300 CSCW references. The organization of the book is excellent; each section is well conceived. The introduction gives good overviews of each section, explains the structure of the book, and puts each section into context. Each of the next 16 chapters has an abstract at the beginning, giving further clues about whether to read it. Both a subject and an author index are provided. The quality of the papers is generally quite good. The annotated bibliography is superb even though it only includes references up to 1991.

Two chapters are on studying groups without groupware (software that supports and augments group work). This work is good because it provides a baseline for comparison. Likewise, the book contains three in-depth studies of groups with groupware. Three studies address computer-mediated communication (CMC). One examines the effects of anonymity and group size in computer-mediated problem solving, another demonstrates the importance of social and normative contexts, and the third reveals variety and flexibility in patterns of both task-related and non-task-related CMC. Various innovative systems are explored as are a couple of flexible design approaches. Finally, two chapters cover participatory design: one deals with software development for mass production and one deals with in-house development.

The annotated bibliography deserves special attention. The introduction mentions various forms of the bibliography. The “General CSCW Sources” section includes pointers to books, conferences, and journals. A keyword and meaning list is used to index the bibliographic entries. A separate section also provides a list of actual groupware systems and CSCW concepts along with the referring entry pointers. The bibliography itself provides, for each entry, the standard author, title, and publisher information, a list of keywords, and a few sentences describing the entry. Where the work has been published in several sources, all known sources are given.

Greif

One of the original CSCW books, this work remains an important reference book because it reaches further back than other sources, provides a good overview and introductory material that puts the papers in each section in context, and presents many of the foundational works of current researchers in the field today. The organization is generally adequate. It starts with early visions and technologies, follows with technological developments, and ends with newer theoretical approaches (a curious placement) and empirical studies.

The early visions papers are seminal for CSCW, especially the one originally written by Vannevar Bush in 1945 [1]. The Engelbart papers give the framework from which he built the first CSCW system (or, more specifically, the first hypertext system). The paper by Alphonse Chapanis, originally from 1975, is the first to document studies in the relative value of text-plus-voice (big gain), and text-plus-video (tiny gain). J. C. R. Licklider and Albert Vezza provide an early overview and analysis of electronic mail and astutely address many still important political, social, and economic issues of email. Other early reviews treat teleconferencing (in its various forms) and office information systems.

Three chapters address support for domain-specific tasks. One system provides communication support for software development and another is a project management system. Thomas Malone et al. discuss an email system that uses semi-structured message templates to coordinate information sharing. Three chapters describe systems that provide meeting support. One is an entire small group meeting room, a second is a text-graphics editor for working groups, and the third provides shared screen workspaces (with an audio channel). Four papers deal with data-sharing technology. The first paper, by Jeff Conklin, may still be the most heavily cited paper in the field of hypertext. The second is a calendar management system, the third is a distributed multimedia email system, and the fourth is a distributed multimedia computer conferencing system.

Four papers deal with theoretical approaches to CSCW. One looks at the effects of computing in organizations and another considers the effects on goods and services. The third is a case study of organization-computer interaction, and the last presents a language/action perspective for  design. 

Several user studies of CSCW systems are included. One looks at group process and decision making, while a second looks at reduced social context. Three studies make use of models--two to predict effects and one to guide design.

Olson

The papers are easy to understand and span several approaches to CSCW work. Some describe systems, some provide general frameworks for looking at support for group work, and some describe studies of usage. The book begins with two appropriate introductory chapters, one on examples and one on assumptions. Likewise, it ends with two reasonable chapters, one discussing new visions and systems and the other discussing the evaluation of groupware. The middle chapters are not in any obvious order, however.

Robert Johansen gives an easy-to-read and lively description of 17 perspectives on computer-supported group work, complete with diagrams, scenarios, current status (as of 1987), and possible pitfalls. Vasant Dhar and the editor argue that two classes of assumptions, communication versus problem solving, have divided group work systems. They propose a project-oriented approach and demonstrate it with a case study.

The middle chapters cover diverse topics. The first discusses coordination of work in the light of four kinds of breakdowns: access, identity, process, and project. Thomas Malone et al. present an email filtering system that uses semi-structured message types. Tora Bikson et al., having carried out several studies, provide their statistical results of system usage by work groups, looking at general communication, space, time, and group factors among others. Other chapters look at organizational architecture and management systems.

Mark Stefik and John Seely Brown provide a vision of collaborative computing that attends to the social structure to provide for the integration of ideas. They demonstrate their ideas by describing the Colab project and the Cognoter meeting tool. The final chapter presents a method of evaluating work group products that adds functional domains of group processes and communications to standard software evaluation and adds new categories of administration and organizational fit.

Comparison

Olson’s book is best used as a short, readable textbook in a management or office systems program. Perhaps the chapter by Johansen is the most useful, demonstrating the breadth of CSCW through lots of examples in an approachable, systematic way.

The Bowers and Benford book contains many manageable chapters spanning many areas of CSCW. Overall, this book is also suited for use as a short textbook in a computer science or human factors program. The middle chapters serve as examples of ongoing work, and the beginning and ending sections present philosophical perspectives that merit rereading and reflection.

Greenberg’s book is best used as a reference book. Given its comprehensive overview of papers and its annotated bibliography, the reader should be able to find most of what is available from 1991 or before. In this new field, nothing is really fixed yet, and much research bears reconsideration. The book can also serve as a well-chosen sampling of CSCW research that is well balanced regarding disciplines, environment, and material from both North American and European contributors, however.

Galegher et al.’s book is suitable as a major textbook for studying CSCW within an interdisciplinary program or a program with a strong emphasis on social and behavioral aspects. It is rather long, however. Alternatively, it could be used as supplementary material for a more technical course. As a reference, the book contains many chapters that merit review, albeit not for any quick answers.

Greif’s book is a valuable reference. Greif has collected historical sources not easily found elsewhere. The bridge material is also quite good. The material is completely North American, however, and is somewhat technology-driven. It could also serve as a supplementary textbook, although it is quite lengthy.

Greenbaum and Kyng’s book is insightful for understanding the situated design perspective on CSCW design or any design for that matter. It serves best as a textbook for situated design or supplemental reading in a broader design course. It is lively reading, but anyone new to the concepts may need to ponder and reread parts of it.

None of these books is suitable as a complete survey of CSCW to date. A larger or smaller sample of the field can be obtained from any of them except Greenbaum and Kyng, however, and three--Greenberg, Greif, and Galegher--are good references. But if you are looking for an engaging story of design from head to hand, from idea to product, one for all and all for one, read Greenbaum and Kyng.