Proceedings of the 2001 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work

Abstract

Welcome to the 2001 International Conference on Supporting Group Work, Group 2001. This conference is a forum for researchers and practitioners interested in topics related to computer-based systems that support groups, organizations, and other social networks. Relevant issues include the design, implementation, deployment, and evaluation of collaborative systems.Group 2001 is one of the flagship conferences and meeting places for ACM's Special Interest Group on Supporting Group Work (Siggroup). During the many years that I have been associated with Siggroup (labeled Sigois previously; and Sigoa before that), I have been pleased to observe the interdisciplinary maturation of this field. The proceedings of the Group 2001 conference nicely reflect this maturation.This conference gives us a glimpse of the expanding functionality of group support systems. This in turn, creates new usage opportunities. However, the integration of technology with social practice can be quite challenging. Additionally, the growing influence of the Internet, mobile and ubiquitous computing, agent systems, and virtual reality also influence group/organizational structures and processes. These technologies are exciting, but their technological and social integration raises many questions for a challenging new research agenda.