Learning outcomes

After the course, the student knows about the challenges in providing technology support for workgroups, teams, online communities and networks of people. In addition to the central concepts of the field introduced in research literature, the student will gain a practical understanding of the usability of current groupware applications in certain group situations. The student learns different approaches to the evaluation of groupware, and can discuss their drawbacks and benefits in real world situations.

Contents

Definitions of groups, groupware, and CSCW. Examples of synchronous and asynchronous groupware and social computing for computer mediated communication, computer conferencing and group meetings. Recommender systems, social networking and user interface design for social navigation and awareness. Supporting groups in ubiquitous environments. Tools for group work, for instance group writing and drawing. Usability of groupware. Privacy issues.

Teaching methods

Teaching method	Contact	Online
Lectures	20 h	0 h
Tutorials	3 h	0 h
Seminar	15 h	0 h

Lectures, face-to-face and electronic meetings in small groups, collecting and comparing experiences in using groupware in small groups, group essay and group presentations.

Teaching language

English

Evaluation

Numeric 1-5.

Recommended year of study

Advanced level, 4th year or later, spring semester. The course is not lectured every year.

Study materials

1. Research papers on CSCW, Groupware and Social software (will be specified yearly).
2. Baecker, Readings in Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Morgan Kaufmann 1993.
3. Dix, A., Finlay, J., Abowd,G. & Beale, R., Human-Computer Interaction. Third edition. Pearson Education Ltd. 2004. http://www.hcibook.com/e3/ (partially).

Belongs to following study modules