CSCW and the Web

• W3 already allows a limited form of "information sharing"

• Interest in W3 to support richer collaboration:
  • Simple and more lightweight than many groupware systems
  • Cross platform and global
  • Research prototypes and commercial systems now available

• Unclear if protocols/browsers/servers suitable for richer collaboration:
  • feedback, feedthrough, awareness, update granularity, scalability, ...

• Thus W3C workshop on CSCW and Web in December '95:
  • http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Collaboration/Workshop/
  • Focus on "extensions to Web protocols that support wide-area asynchronous collaborative applications"

• and recent European ERCIM/W4G/GMD workshop on same subject:
  • http://orgwis.gmd.de/W4G/
  • Many systems presented which use W3 in different ways:
    • access point, user interface, server extension, transport layer, ...
    • (see Alan Dix summary paper)

• Two conclusions from these workshops:
  • W3 collaboration work primarily technological focus
  • and little overlap with established area of CSCW

• Panel intended to consider W3 and collaboration more broadly
  • From CSCW, W3 and management/organisational perspectives

• Some questions to consider:
  • What kind of collaboration does W3 readily support? Are there general changes/extensions which can/should be made to increase the scope without compromising the benefits of the Web?
  • Are there existing methods/technologies which might be more suitable?
  • Does W3 replace groupware tools, complement them, provide an access point (or all of these)?
  • What are the organisational implications of W3-based groupware? Administration, security, ...