Computer-Mediated Scholarly Collaboration

Abstract

Human "knowledge work" is increasingly shaped by the introduction of the computer into the workplace and, more recently, by the merging of computers with telecommunications. The impact of this communication revolution is explored by examining the case of an online educational research workshop in which a computer conferencing system facilitated scholarly collaboration among 20 researchers, located in three countries, over a period of two and one-half months. This article examines factors related to the use of a shared information space, such as design issues, the effect of communications technology on group interaction, issues in supporting distributed groups, and the implications of computer communications for scholarly collaboration.