Software Categories What is a collaborative software?
Collaborative software (also referred to as groupware or workgroup support systems) is software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals.
Collaborative software is the basis for computer supported cooperative work. Such software systems as email, calendaring, text chat, wiki, and bookmarking belong to this category. It has been suggested that Metcalfe's law — the more people who use something, the more valuable it becomes — applies to such software.
Levels of collaboration
Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration—communication tools, conferencing tools and collaborative management (Co-ordination) tools.
Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. A phone call or an IM Chat discussion are examples of this. Conferencing (or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this. Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation - but everyone is doing something different - in order for the team to win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal: co-ordination.
Electronic communication tools
Electronic communication tools send messages, files, data, or documents between people and hence facilitate the sharing of information. Examples include:
- synchronous conferencing
- faxing
- voice mail
- Wikis
- Web publishing
- revision control
Electronic conferencing tools
Electronic conferencing tools facilitate the sharing of information, but in a more interactive way. Examples include:
- Internet forums (also known as message boards or discussion boards) — a virtual discussion platform to facilitate and manage online text messages
- Online chat — a virtual discussion platform to facilitate and manage real-time text messages
- Instant Messaging
- Telephony — telephones allow users to interact
- Videoconferencing — networked PCs share video and audio signals
- Data conferencing — networked PCs share a common whiteboard that each user can modify
- Application sharing — users can access a shared document or application from their respective computers simultaneously in real time
- Electronic meeting systems (EMS) — originally these were described as "electronic meeting systems," and they were built into meeting rooms. These special purpose rooms usually contained video projectors interlinked with numerous PCs; however, electronic meeting systems have evolved into web-based, any time, any place systems that will accommodate "distributed" meeting participants who may be dispersed in several locations.
Collaborative management tools
Collaborative management tools facilitate and manage group activities. Examples include:
- electronic calendars (also called time management software) — schedule events and automatically notify and remind group members
- project management systems — schedule, track, and chart the steps in a project as it is being completed
- workflow systems — collaborative management of tasks and documents within a knowledge-based business process
- knowledge management systems — collect, organize, manage, and share various forms of information
- enterprise bookmarking — collaborative bookmarking engine to tag, organize, share, and search enterprise data
- prediction markets — let a group of people predict together the outcome of future events
- extranet systems (sometimes also known as 'project extranets') — collect, organize, manage and share information associated with the delivery of a project (eg: the construction of a building)
- social software systems — organize social relations of groups
- online spreadsheets — collaborate and share structured data and information
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