KCHCI：一个CSCW系统框架

本文介绍了在异要型分布式计算环境下工发的一个ＣＳＣＷ系统框架ＫＣＨＣＩ。它为开发多用户协同应用提供了有力的支持层次结构和知识表示的方法的采用，使得在ＫＣＨＣＩ之下开发的协同应用系统具有良好的可移植性和可扩充性。     

Opportunities and challenges in improving surgical work flow

Safe and efficient surgical operations depend on a work environment larger than the individual operating room (OR) and on communications at different levels of the hospital organization. Extensive communication is needed before and during surgery to ensure that surgical rooms, equipment, and supplies; patients; surgeons; supporting personnel; and accompanying documentation are all ready at the appropriate times. In this article, we compile the results of three of our studies of communication activities outside ORs, with the goal of identifying opportunities and challenges in the workflow of surgery. The first study demonstrates the amount of communication work performed by OR coordinators. The second study demonstrates the potential functions of a whiteboard in communication. The third study describes an organizational learning strategy of proactive event reporting. We apply computer-supported cooperative work and organizational learning concepts to the findings and suggest ways in which information technology may improve surgical workflow.     

Cooperative hypermedia an enabling paradigm for cooperative work

This paper describes the integration of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), multimedia, and hyperstructures into a single framework calledCooperative Hyper Media (CHM). The concept of CHM supports groups of users acting on a single hypermedia document. Cooperative HyperMedia is a layered concept that integrates several notions related to the production of hypermedia documents, namely, document contents, access, and organization. To test the applicability of the concepts of this approach to CSCW we have realized a generic CHM editing architecture (Co MEdiA), telecommunication mechanism for multimedia objects (Tele Media), and service for cooperative work over long distances for time-dependent media (MISTER COOL).     

协同信息处理系统中信息流转过程的设计

主要介绍了一种在基于C／S模式的协同信息处理系统中模拟实际业务流程的软件设计方法,包括利用数据库表构造消息队列和设计信息流转过程,以及利用线程技术实现系统消息的接收与发送等,该设计方法具有简便、快速、易扩展的特点。     

Supporting articulation work using software configuration management systems

Software product development is a highly collaborative activity, where teams of developers need to collaborate to produce a system. It is also a domain where systems are used to try to help the developers coordinate their work. This paper describes the results of an empirical study of the use of one such system, a configuration management tool. Specifically it describes three aspects of the support that the tool provides: the challenges of representing the work, the need to support both individuals and groups working together, and how the assumptions about software development built into the tool interact with others in the organization. The study suggests that long after the initial adoption the tool and the organization continue to interact with each other. It also opens up questions for empirical studies of the organizational context behind the tool usage.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcch Council, United Kingdom. This work was conducted while at the University of California, Irvine.     

Software development and integration in a computer supported cooperative work environment

This paper presents a prototype computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) environment that supports the engineering design process. In particular, this environment provides collaborative tools that support computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided software engineering (CASE). This paper takes an high level look at the system as a whole and then focuses on the method used to implement the CASE support. It addresses how group members can simultaneously work on coding a program and then integrate their work to form a single program inside this environment. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于协同机制的Web服务器集群负载均衡技术

网站为了满足因特网的大量访问以及更好的QoS保障,目前通用的方案是多台Web服务器构成一个集群,共同分担用户对站点的请求负荷,这就需要解决负荷在各服务器之间的平衡（即负载均衡）问题。简要分析当前常用的Web服务器集群负载均衡方案,提出了以在线‘量为负载参考点,同时兼顾不同性能Web服务器的负载能力,建立一种集群服务器之间的协同工作机制,以实现Web服务器的负载均衡。     

ＣＳＣＷ系统中实时协同设计模型的研究

实时协同设计系统是CSCW级研究的热点,提出了实时协同设计一般化的五元组模型和其中具有关键性意义的同步模型,并以CoopCAD（协同式计算机辅助设计）系统为例,详细讨论了这一同步模型的具体实现。     

Sensitivities to early exchange in synchronous computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) groups

This study reports the impact of high sensitivity to early exchange in 11th-grade, CSCL triads solving well- and ill-structured problems in Newtonian Kinematics. A mixed-method analysis of the evolution of participation inequity (PI) in group discussions suggested that participation levels tended to get locked-in relatively early on in the discussion. Similarly, high (low) quality member contributions made earlier in a discussion did more good (harm) than those made later on. Both PI and differential impact of member contributions suggest a high sensitivity to early exchange; both significantly predicting the eventual group performance, as measured by solution quality. Consequently, eventual group performance could be predicted based on what happened in the first 30–40% of a discussion. In addition to drawing theoretical and methodological implications, implications for scaffolding CSCL groups are also discussed.     

Evaluating teamwork support in tabletop groupware applications using collaboration usability analysis

Tabletop groupware systems have natural advantages for collaboration, but they present a challenge for application designers because shared work and interaction progress in different ways than in desktop systems. As a result, tabletop systems still have problems with usability. We have developed a usability evaluation technique, T-CUA, that focuses attention on teamwork issues and that can help designers determine whether prototypes provide adequate support for the basic actions and interactions that are fundamental to table-based collaboration. We compared T-CUA with expert review in a user study where 12 evaluators assessed an early tabletop prototype using one of the two evaluation methods. The group using T-CUA found more teamwork problems and found problems in more areas than those using expert review; in addition, participants found T-CUA to be effective and easy to use. The success of T-CUA shows the benefits of using a set of activity primitives as the basis for discount usability techniques.     

Advancing educational research on collaboration through the use of gStudy computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) tools: Introduction to special issue

This is an introduction to a special issue on computer-supported collaborative learning.     

Strategies for designing distributed systems: case studies in the design of an air traffic management system

The air traffic management system in the USA is an example of a distributed problem-solving system. It has elements of both cooperative and competitive problem-solving. It includes complex organizations such as Flight Operations Centers, the FAA Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center (ATCSCC), and traffic management units at en route centers that focus on daily strategic planning, as well as individuals concerned more with immediate tactical decisions (such as air traffic controllers and pilots). The design of this system has evolved over time to rely heavily on the distribution of tasks and control authority in order to keep cognitive complexity manageable for any one individual operator, and to provide redundancy (both human and technological) to serve as a safety net to catch the slips or mistakes that any one person or entity might make. Within this distributed architecture, a number of different conceptual approaches have been applied to deal with cognitive complexity and to provide redundancy. These approaches can be characterized in terms of the strategy for distributing: (1) control or responsibility, (2) knowledge or expertise, (3) access to data, (4) processing capacity, and (5) goals and priorities. This paper will provide an abstract characterization of these alternative strategies for distributing work in terms of these 5 dimensions, and will illustrate and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of concrete realizations found within the National Airspace System.     

Sensemaking,safety, and cooperative work in the intensive care unit

Making sense of circumstances and situations is critical to coordinate cooperative work. Especially in process control domains, we may expect that effective and reliable organizations will possess processes that develop, maintain, distribute, and, when necessary, repair this social understanding (sensemaking). Our research has focused on collective sensemaking process in an intensive care unit (ICU). Thus, sensemaking is most likely to be visible to researchers in high tempo, high uncertainty work settings such as hospital ICU, where complexity, criticality, and uncertainty are the main characteristics of the working activities and making sense of what is happening is one of the most important challenge of the team of physicians working in this context. The research demonstrates how workers create and distribute sense within small work groups and also how they use the results of these efforts to coordinate ongoing work activities. Practitioners tradeoff the opportunity costs of formal, collective sensemaking (sensemaking at intervals) against the value that this preparation provides to sensemaking during high tempo work (sensemaking on-the-fly). Further study of this dynamic balance will provide insight about how practitioners construct platforms for action during future, uncertain, high stakes work.     

A methodology to develop awareness in computer supported collaborative work using policies

Cooperation is significantly influenced by participants' awareness of relevant information. The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology to design and develop applications that assist individuals to identify their awareness. Through extending Cooperative management Methodology for Enterprise Networks (CoMEN), this article introduces Policy-based Awareness Management (PAM) – a software engineering methodology that proposes the use of existing policy rules as a source to identify awareness. The methodology has been built on the logic of general awareness, and implements Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) policy structure. The contribution of the paper is illustrated through the wireless communication system at a hospital in Norway. We conclude that theory of general awareness and in particular PAM as an extension of CoMEN, is effective to identify relevant information for agents.     

Policy-based Awareness Management (PAM): Case study of a wireless communication system at a hospital

The present paper evaluates the use of software agents to identify relevance of information, called awareness. This evaluation is based on existing policies and scenarios in the context of wireless communication of a hospital in Norway. The study is to address the lack of literature for experimental studies on a method to employ software agents for awareness identification. Research in computer supported cooperative work indicates the significant contributions of software agents to assist individuals. There are bodies of work that show awareness provides the means for software agents in which effective cooperation can take place. In addition, the role of the methods to identify awareness is emphasized in the literature of both computer supported cooperative work and software agents. This paper explains a step-wise process, called Policy-based Awareness Management, which allows agents to use policies as a source to identify awareness and thus change their behaviors accordingly. The contribution of this method is based on the concepts proposed by the logic of general awareness. The present study applies Directory Enabled Networks-next generation as the policy structure for the method. The paper evaluates the process via its application to identify the relevance of information in wireless communication scenarios in a hospital. The present study conducts observations, interviews and discussions on the wireless communication system of the hospital to identify the different scenarios happening in the system. The paper presents a set of simulations on these scenarios and concludes that the method is effective and cost-efficient.     

The trouble with login: on usability and computer security in ubiquitous computing

Logging in by typing usernames and passwords is by far the most common way to access modern computer systems. However, such contemporary user authentication mechanisms are inappropriate in a ubiquitous computing environment, where users constantly are accessing a wide range of different devices. This paper introduces new concepts for user authentication in ubiquitous computing, such as the notion of proximity-based user authentication and silent login. The design of these new mechanisms is part of the design of a ubiquitous computing infrastructure for hospitals, which is grounded in field studies of medical work in hospitals. The paper reports from field studies of clinicians using an electronic patient record (EPR) and describes severe usability problems associated with its login procedures. The EPR’s login mechanisms do not recognize the nature of medical work as being nomadic, interrupted, and cooperative around sharing common material. The consequence is that login is circumvented and security is jeopardized.     

Collaboration planning framework (CPF) to support distributed product development

Current marketplace is undergoing major changes that will affect the way organizations conduct their business. Organizations need to respond to a geographically dispersed marketplace. This can be achieved by leveraging globally distributed resources to fully understand and interpret individual customer needs. That is, organizations need to integrate their operations (product development) in a way that will allow dynamic response to market changes. Computer-supported collaborative engineering could provide the integrating mechanisms needed to integrate distributed operations. The change to collaborative engineering should be based on sound and comprehensive methodologies that can analyze current practices, assess their ability to be performed collaboratively, restructure organizational practices to enhance their performance in a collaborative environment, select appropriate tools to support practices, and provide an implementation plan. This paper presents a framework to build computer-supported collaborative product design and development operating in a distributed environment. The framework is composed of six modules that provide a systematic procedure to plan for computer supported collaborative engineering.     

Effects of computer collaborative group work on peer acceptance of a junior pupil with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

The study investigated the effects of computer collaborative group work, facilitated by an adult, on peer acceptance of a junior boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It aimed to ascertain whether collaborative group work on a computer, with the facilitation of an adult, could help to raise his peer acceptance among his classmates. Data were gathered before and after computer group work sessions. Interviews and questionnaires were conducted on parents and teachers to help establish the history background data and their concerns on the boy’s peer acceptance. Sociometrics testing of classmates was used to determine peer acceptance among the boy’s immediate peer group. During the adult-facilitated computer sessions, the facilitator reinforced positive social behaviour and interactions. After the computer sessions, interviews and questionnaires were conducted again on parents, teachers and facilitator in an attempt to capture information on the child’s behaviour and attitudes during the computer sessions. Sociometrics testing was also conducted again to determine if the peer acceptance among the boy’s immediate peer group has changed. The results indicated encouraging improvements in the raise of his peer acceptance among his classmates in general. Although this was a discrete setting, the finding is promising and this strategy may be replicated in school to support mainstream inclusion for children with ADHD.