Online collaboration involves the use of technological tools to create an online environment that fosters interactivity and communication amongst a group of people.
Computer-mediated communication has become an important tool for collaborative projects. Online collaboration can be utilised in a variety of situations and is increasingly being integrated into different types of businesses and learning institutions.
The uptake of online collaboration has posed many challenges for participating businesses and institutions such as “adopting new forms of interpersonal interaction, new information exchange practices and new timings of work interaction�? (Haythornthwaite, 2005)
Online collaboration allows a space for collaboration between people that are bound by geographical locality.
Examples of online collaboration include: Distributed Computing, Customer Co-design and Instant Messaging in the workplace.
=== Distributed Computing ===
Distributed Computer is used when a large project needs to broken down into multiple pieces to be completed. Small tasks are sent out via the Internet to personal computers for individuals to complete. Millions of people around the world can participate, all which is completely voluntary. Participants can either work alone or work as a team contributing towards the same project.
The concept works because computer power is no longer confined to supercomputers and institutional computer rooms but now available on millions of personal computers (PCs). (Holohan and Garg, 2005)
The most famous Distributed Computing project to date is SETI@home. SETI is an acronym for “Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence�?. This project originated at the University of California in May 1999 and required people to download data recorded on a telescope and analyse it for alien signals. The project seized the interest of the public and to date 5.3 million people have participated in the project. (Holohan and Garg, 2005)
=== Customer Co-design ===
Customer Co-design refers to businesses that establish online communities that encourage consumers to customise various products for individual use. This process is often referred to as mass customisation and personalisation and is “about offering individual customers a customized product or service according to their personal needs (Rieck, 2003; Squire, Brown, & Cousins, 2003; Wind & Rangaswamy, 2001 in Piller, Schubert, Koch and Moslein, 2005)�?. With customer co-design, businesses are assimilating the consumer into the production chain and creating a new level of value for the product.
The co-design process occurs through online collaboration between the company and the customer. The business creates a base product and then allows the customer to individualise the product by choosing from a list of pre-defined options.
Customer co-design can also be assisted through customer-to-customer online collaboration. Individuals come together to discuss the co-design process and share ideas on individualised products. “Collaborative co-design can foster creativity and lead to individual customers making better choices when they are forced to select from a large variety of choices (Franke & Shah, 2003; Gascó-Hernández & Torres-Coronas, 2004; von Hippel & Tyre, 1995 in Piller, Schubert, Koch and Moslein, 2005)�?.
=== Instant Messaging ===
Instant Messaging has become an important collaboration tool for co-workers in business firms. Instant Messaging is often used to compliment the use of email and phone calls.
The introduction of IM into businesses has not been deliberate but rather through employees transferring the practice from home and introducing it into the workplace. Instant Messaging is used because it creates an environment where knowledge can be transferred instantaneously and easily; it also only requires an online network and a small application to run. It can also be used to serve a multitude of other purposes such as asking questions, arranging meetings (formal and impromptu) and clarification of tasks; all of these functions serve to create a better collaboration environment (Quan-Haase, Cothrel and Wellman, 2005).
== Further Information ==
=== See Also: ===
=== References ===
Haythornthwaite, C. (2005). Introduction: Computer-mediated collaborative practices. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/haythornthwaite.html
Holohan, A., and Garg, A. (2005). Collaboration online: The example of Distributed Computing. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 16. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/holohan.html
Piller, F., Schubert, P., Koch, M., and Möslein, K. (2005). Overcoming mass confusion: Collaborative customer co-design in online communities. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 8. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/piller.html
Quan-Haase, A., Cothrel, J., and Wellman, B. (2005). Instant messaging for collaboration: A case study of a high-tech firm. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 13. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/quan-haase.html
--Lisa Hitchcock 22:21, 26 Oct 2005 (EST)
