A notation for malleable and interoperable coordination mechanisms for CSCW systems

Abstract

In order to handle the high degree complexity that characterizes cooperative work in modern work settings, the articulation of the distributed activities requires a category of symbolic artifacts that stipulate and mediate articulation work. We call these artifacts 'coordination mechanisms'. From the evidence of sociological field studies, it is evident that computational coordination mechanisms must be malleable and interoperable. The paper describes a notation for constructing computational coordination mechanisms that meet these requirements.