Collaborative notebooks for the virtual workplace
Phil Turner, Sue Green, Susan Turner, Phil Mayne · 1998
This chapter discusses issues in the design of information sharing software systems for the virtual workplace. The discussion focusses on the trial use of a purpose-built shared collaborative notebook by a group of software engineers, managers and support staff distributed over two widely separated sites. The design of the notebook and the user context are described, and the results of the pilot trial reported. These results showed a partial take-up of the technology and clear variation between technical and nontechnical staff in levels of use. The findings indicate that when designing information sharing systems of this type (i) the true extent of the collaboration in question must be elucidated; (ii) the system should allow for the fact that willingness to share information is at least partially determined by its the perceived formality or informality and the perceived formality or informality of the medium for sharing; (iii) the application must bridge the gap between personal and business information systems.