A conceptual model of groupware

Abstract

This paper discusses a conceptual model of groupware consisting of three complementary components or models: a description of the objects and operations on these objects available in the system; a description of the activities (and their orderings) that the users of the system can perform; and a description of the interface of users with the system, and with other users. KEYWORDS: Groupware, CSCW, collaboration technology, system modelling, ontological model, coordination model, user interface model. INTRODUCTION This paper is concerned with technology mediated workgroup systems, also sometimes called CSCW systems or groupware. We take the broad definition of these terms, as presented by Schmidt and Bannon [16]. We present a conceptual model which is applicable to a wide range of groupware---from electronic meeting rooms, through video conferencing, to workflow systems. The issues raised by the model are sometimes similar to, but frequently distinct from single user systems issues. T...