Groupware
Ms. G's notes for
KMS
March 29, 2005
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Introduction
 What is groupware?
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software for group use
hard to differentiate from intranets (anymore)
tends to integrate social & emotional aspects
 When/why is it used?
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news, notification, broadcast
help systems
instant contact
work groups, physical networks
special interests, communities of practice
 How is it KM?
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because people get more info when/where they need it
the more they share/contribute, the more they get
 What is the state of the art?
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"CSCW“, P2P?, collective informal efforts
popular commercial and free/share/OSS apps
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
What Groupware Functionality do
Users Really Use?
[Appelt 2001]
 BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work)
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Web based groupware system
 Central metaphor: shared workspace
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Contents represented as information objects in folders
150 features, incl utilities: search, format conversion,
version mgmt, language support, event services
 analysis of usage, based on logfile (smart!)
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Noone used all functions
Mostly browse & read (as expected)
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
What Groupware Functionality do
Users Really Use? (cont.)
Popular Operations
11.4% Getting meta-information on objects
11.2% Creation (upload) of documents
7.6% Reading information about events
5.7% Creation of folders
5.3% Confirmation of events
5.1% Modification of personal preferences
4.7% Invitation of users to workspaces
4.4% Modification of meta-information
3.8% Creation of discussions or notes
3.8% Display of sub-folders or threads
Popular Operation Categories
24.7% Creation of information
12.4% Modification of information
12.3% Presentation of information
13.4% Awareness features
12.3% Reading information on objects
4.7% Moving and deleting objects
8.2% Access rights features
1.5% Searching
1.6% Personal information
0.6% Meeting objects
2.8% Java applets
5.1% Other features
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
What Groupware Functionality do
Users Really Use? (cont.)
Group of operations
Frequent users
Other users
1
Creation of information
23.1%
25.6%
2
Modification of information
15.1%
11.0%
3
Presentation of information
8.6%
14.2%
4
Awareness features
17.3%
11.6%
5
Reading of information about objects
11.3%
12.9%
6
Moving and deleting objects
4.8%
4.7%
7
Access rights features
7.4%
8.7%
8
Searching
2.3%
1.1%
9
Personal information
0.9%
2.0%
10
Operations related to meeting objects
0.5%
0.6%
11
Java applets
2.7%
2.9%
12
Other features
5.6%
4.9%
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
The Future of Knowledge
Management [Davenport 1995]
 This reading not so insightful
 Has it come true?
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Well, the things that it said would NOT happen, did not happen,
But did Lotus Notes merge with the WWW?
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err, I don't THINK so
Is KMS penetrating management?
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Are people evaluated on it?
Is it part of anyone's corporate economics?
 other predictions related to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
creating knowledge
extracting knowledge rewards
organizing knowledge
transferring knowledge
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Successful Knowledge
Management Projects [Davenport et al 1998]
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“If the knowledge vs. information distinction is seen as a
continuum instead of a dichotomy, then projects that focus
on structured knowledge deal with the middle of the
continuum.”
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…which is about where we are
General objectives of KM projects surveyed:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Create knowledge repositories.
Improve knowledge access.
Enhance knowledge environment.
Manage knowledge as an asset.
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Successful Knowledge
Management Projects (cont.)
 How to measure "success"?
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growth in resources devoted to KM
growth in volume of content & use
survival not dependent on key individuals
some evidence of financial return
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Successful Knowledge
Management Projects (cont.)
 8 key factors:
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link to economic importance or industry value
technical and organizational infrastructure
standard, flexible knowledge structure
knowledge-friendly culture
clear purpose and language
change in motivational practices
multiple channels for knowledge transfer
senior management support
 Finally:
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timing matters
don't forget:
knowledge = power!
"KM is neither panacea nor bromide"
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
IM
[Nardi 2000]
"informal lightweight communication“
 interaction = info exchange
 outeraction = meta-info, social exchange
"This argues strongly for the integration of text-based
messaging into technologies such as media spaces which
aim to support informal communication for people
collaborating at distance. With some exceptions, most
media spaces do not have integrated text-messaging."
KMS -- Groupware
Butterfly
Ms. G 03/25/05
[VanDyke 1999]
 addresses the problem of 10,000+ IRC channels
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applicable to other group media
effectively a google or Ask jeeves search?
uses IRC interface
 Unsolved problem: secret channels
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that pesky KM "knowledge hoarder" problem
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Tools for Navigating
[Smith 2002]
 "Ideally, Usenet members would make efficient use of
bandwidth,
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participating actively but judiciously in newsgroups,
ensuring their comments are posted only to relevant newsgroups, and
abiding by the local norms and culture that govern decorum.”
 but problems lead to poor “signal-to-noise ratio”
 so, “mutual awareness of other participants’ histories and
relationships is critical to a cooperative outcome”
 Enter: Netscan project (Micro$oft)
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social accounting metrics for social cyberspaces
metadata on newsgroup activity & behavior
interesting: thread tracker (visualization)
http://netscan.research.microsoft.com/Static/Default.asp?
KMS -- Groupware
Answer Garden
Ms. G 03/25/05
[Ackerman 1990]
 type of HCI or CSCW system
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to improve organizational memory
 organically-grown or self-assembling help desk
branching network of diagnostic questions
combines self-help with expert-at-hand
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 it sounds cool
 Their conclusion:
"The Answer Garden is not a radically new kind of system. We believe
it shows, however, how a relatively simple combination of well-known
concepts can provide a surprisingly powerful platform for a new kind
of cooperative work application. As information technology becomes
more pervasive, we believe that tools like this--for capturing and
exploiting organizational knowledge that was previously stored only
informally or not at all--will become increasingly important.“
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Answer Garden (cont.)
 Answer Garden differs from:
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standard information retrieval systems
computer-mediated communications systems
consulting systems using expert system technology
other forms of organizational memory
 In field studies of Answer Garden’s use:
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"users were satisfied as long as they got an accurate solution quickly”
"Answer Garden could work in principle.“
"issues were uncovered that are critical to the success of similar
memory or help systems:“
1.
2.
3.
"Tying the social network into the system in a more natural manner.“
"Providing for the contextualization of answers, thus providing for the
user’s understanding of an answer.“
"To obtain answers, the cost of authoring must be minimized."
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
...enter...Answer Garden 2
[Ackerman 1996]
 “Within an organization or community, individuals’
information seeking requires finding the right part of the
collective memory.”
 AG2 has a more-complex, but modular, architecture
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Back end: Cafe ConstructionKit (CafeCK)
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"can be viewed either as a collective memory system or as a
collaborative help system.“
Front end: Collaborative Refinery (Co-Refinery)
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"distillate" ~= FAQ
 “Returning to poor Fred’s problem, all he wants is help to
solve his computer questions…[but] Fred’s problem...
becomes one of augmenting the collective memory in such a
way that it benefits Fred as well as all of the social
collectivities of which he is a part.”
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
From Answer Garden to Answer Jungle
[odd find: Dron, J., Mitchell, R. & Siviter, P. 1998, 'From Answer Garden to
Answer Jungle,' Education and Training, vol. 40, no. 8.]
 “The Answer Garden [metaphor, not software] was the
basic model chosen for the experiment conducted here
with one major variation--I explicitly excluded any
experts, particularly myself. By so doing I sought to pull
the learning resource up by its own bootstraps, avoiding
‘skyhooks’ and substituting 'cranes'... In effect, the
intention was to produce an Answer Jungle (wild and selforganising) rather than an Answer Garden.”
 was really just a newsgroup, but ALL newbies
 mixed value, but some evolution apparent
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
YouServ
P2P web publishing
(Frontpage-meets-Napster)
 Good because:
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non-proprietary
simple, easy (so they say)
scalable (in theory)
 Bad maybe because:
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its P2P so "they" will squash it regardless
other usual P2P issues, mostly network traffic
its IBM--does it depend on IBM infrastructure?
http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/bayardo/userv/uservfaq.html
http://bayardo.youserv.net/
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
JXTA
 sounds really cool
 like P2P netMeeting [and more]
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really just a set of protocols
 thanks to Bill Joy & c. @ Sun, now OSS
http://www.jxta.org/
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
My Fave: PHP Groupware
 multi-user groupware suite, written in PHP
 ~ 50 web-based applications
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Calendar
Addressbook
Projects manager,
Todo List
Notes
Email
Newsgroup
Headlines Reader
Filemanager
 Supports user preferences, themes, permissions, multi-language, groups
http://www.phpgroupware.org/
http://phpgroupware.org/references
uk2.TRYphpGroupWare.org
KMS -- Groupware
Ms. G 03/25/05
Closing: Questions and Issues
 What are core drivers and competencies for CSCW?
(wouldn't it be nice if we could just get these down?)
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basic needs?
basic tools?
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basic behaviors?
typical issues?
 Expertise is a big deal
…yet many IT tools seem to be trying to supplant it.
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Shows the $$ value of K?
 Technology/format turnover remains problem
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All those knowledge repositories get lost (EG UseNet)
Different systems in every company, different policies
There is still no basic universal messaging better than email.
 Even perfect KM systems cannot resolve power struggles
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…so new systems will always evolve?
Once the BORG takes over the universe, will it be happy with itself?