Distributed collaboration
Template:New unreviewed article Distributed Collaboration is a way of collaboration wherein participants, regardless of their location, work together to reach a certain goal.[1][2][3][4] This usually entails use of increasingly popular cyberinfrastructure such as emails, instant messaging and document sharing platforms.[4] The goal here is to reduce the limitations of the users trying to work together from remote locations by overcoming physical barriers of geo-location(using cyberinfrastructure) and also to some extent, depending on the application used, the effects of working together in person for example, a caller software that can be used to bring all collaborators into a single call-in for easier dissemination of ideas.
Goals
One of the major goals for distributed collaboration is to facilitate use of shared resources and communication.[5] There is a need to enable some sort of interaction which may involve exchange of gestures and body language information at an informal level which is usually unavailable to participants at remote locations. The essence is to allow for groups to collaborate over distances in a manner that emulates, as nearly as possible, the effectiveness of collaboration when the participants meet in person.
Measure of Effectiveness
The measure of effectiveness of a distributed collaboration often bases itself on the concept of collocation.[6] The idea is to bring the team performance as nearly as possible to a scenario wherein the users are actually collocated. This further brings in the concept of “Proximity” [6] and studies have revealed that working on a familiar, previously worked upon topics, with people around you could increase the attentiveness and work output whereas, the same scenario, when applicable to an unfamiliar topic of work, could oftentimes prove to be distracting and unproductive.[7]
Meaning of Collocation
Decreasing proximity leads to asymptotic behavior in communication. This means that after a certain finite distance between participants (usually until the participants are actually out of sight of each other), the proximity can be treated the same as if participants were across continents.[6]
The usual type of collocation is the “Project Room” type of collocation wherein the resources for work are stored in a place (for eg., a cloud storage platform) and the participants come in and go out depending upon their availability to work. Another common collocation type is “Radical Collocation” which means all participants and resources are present in the place of work for the duration of the project.[6]
Advantages of Collocation on Distributed Collaboration
Higher proximity(lesser distance between participants) usually increases the chances of collaboration.[8] This means that people on the same work floor are more likely to collaborate on a project than people in the same building but different work floors. The realization of collocation in a distributed collaborative environment can thus lead to higher productivity.
Moreover, use of cyberinfrastructure such as emails, instant messaging, document sharing etc., help remove the requirement of synchronicity which would, erstwhile, have been imposed if the participants were to meet physically.[4][6]
References
- ^ Collaborate, Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 2007
- ^ Collaboration, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2007
- ^ Kyungjoon Lee, John S. Brownstein, Richard G. Mills, Isaac S. Kohane (December, 2010): Does Collocation Inform the Impact of Collaboration?[1]
- ^ a b c Paul A. David, Oxford Internet Institute (Aug 2004): Towards a cyberinfrastructure for enhanced scientific collaboration: providing its ‘soft’ foundations may be the hardest part [2]
- ^ V Bellotti, S Bly (1996): Walking away from the desktop computer: distributed collaboration and mobility in a product design team[3]
- ^ a b c d e Pamela Hinds & Sara Kiesler(MIT Press, 2002): Distributed Work, pp 55-143
- ^ Zajonc, R. B. (1965): Attitudinal effect of mere exposure - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology[4]
- ^ Kraut R. E., Egido C., and Galegher J. (1990): Patterns of contact and communication in scientific research collaboration[5]