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Essay Available:
Pages:
4 pages/β‰ˆ1100 words
Sources:
3 Sources
Style:
APA
Subject:
Technology
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 21.6
Topic:

Applications and Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW)

Essay Instructions:

Assignment Overview
Groupware is software that was developed to support teams by providing team members with powerful and convenient ways to schedule their interactions, communicate with each other, and record and update group output. Another (less catchy) name for computer supported collaborative work (CSCW) is computer supported teamwork. Much of the early research in this area was focused on understanding the complex relationships between the social aspects of teamwork and the technical features of groupware and looking for ways to improve the quality both of the teamwork and the groupware. In more recent years, economists have begun to examine groupware and CSCW as well in the interest of determining efficient methods of organizing cooperative work and using groupware.
Here are a couple of good introductory articles on the special problems of databases used to support group applications:
Heer, J. Viegas, F. B., and Wattenburg, M. (2009). Voyagers and voyeurs: Supporting asynchronous collaborative visualization. Communications of the ACM, 52(1), 87-97.
Nistor, C. and Nistor, R. (2006). Groupware- modern information managerial method, Marketing & Management, 95-100. ISSN 1841 - 2416
But the fact remains that many groupware applications and the data that support them are improvised or otherwise knocked together:
Microsoft (2011). CSCW in Microsoft research group. Enabling cross-lingual conversation in real time: http://research(dot)microsoft(dot)com/en-us/news/features/translator-052714.aspx
When you've had a chance to read these sources and pursue any other research in the background readings and other areas that seem useful to you, please write a 3- to 5-page paper discussing:
Differences and connections between groupware and ordinary databases.
Your paper should be between three and five pages. Take a definite stand on the issues, and develop your supporting argument carefully. Using material from the background information and any other sources you can find to support specific points in your argument is highly recommended; try to avoid making assertions for which you can find no support other than your own opinion.
Your paper is to be structured as a point/counterpoint argument, in the following manner.
•Begin this paper by stating your position on this question clearly and concisely
•Citing appropriate sources, present the reasons why you take this position. Be sure to make the most effective case you can.
•Then present the best evidence you can, again citing appropriate sources, against your position -- that is, establish what counterarguments can be made to your original position.
•Finally, review your original position in light of the counterarguments, showing how they are inadequate to rebut your original statement.
By the end of your paper, you should be able to unequivocally re-affirm your original position.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Applications
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
The current state of global communication would have been impossible to achieve without groupware. Groupware is basically a type of software based technology that allows communication, coordination and collaboration between people at different geographical locations to come up with improvements or innovations on a certain database. To effectively work, this set of applications is set up through web technologies based on how wide the network of the organization is. The main aim of groupware is to bring together as much information as possible as a way of improving one application. Emails, chats, video chats, news groups and forums are some of the widely used groupware platforms all over the world (Nistor & Nistor, 2006).
Ordinary databases are different from groupware in certain ways. First, ordinary databases do not necessarily need various web connections since the data they hold is not being further developed. Groupware, due to its capability to be accessed over different locations and its accessibility to any of the members either in real time or offline, means that it performs more tasks than an ordinary database. The only thing in common that groupware shares with ordinary databases is that they both use a central point to store all the information. Ordinary databases also have different GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) and the information found in ordinary databases is mostly unalterable. Data found in groupware or in groupware sessions changes constantly due to its use by different people in different locations (Heer et al., 2009).
Ordinary databases are a source of information from search engines, and websites. On the other hand, groupware cannot be accessed by members outside the designated network. Although groupware can be used in applications that resulted from groupware technology, the initiators of a meeting select the members that they would like to communicate with. An example of such an application is Skype. Using this video communication technology, programmers and software engineers can come together in real time to make improvements or to come up with a new set of applications to improve the application that they are currently using. The beauty of groupware is evident in such applications. Skype was formed through groupware technology and it is also used these days to facilitate development of groupware technology such as language translators. There are lots of other applications that incorporate groupware in their development then also end up being the main application that is in use in the future (Microsoft, 2011).
Google search engine is an ordinary database that holds information about anything in the World Wide Web. The sites that are accessed through these links do not have any relationship with Google meaning that an ordinary user cannot alter the results without altering his/her search instructions. Google Maps and Google earth on the other hand, are perfect examples of how groupware works. By allowing different people in different locations to alter the application’s results through adding information, photos, locations and opinions, these applications continue to improve each day.
Groupware is d...
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