Talking to Strangers: An Evaluation of the Factors Affecting Electronic Collaboration

This empirical study examines factors influencing the success of a commercial groupware system in creating group archives and supporting asynchronous communication. The study investigates the use of Lotus NotesTM in a workplace setting. We interviewed 21 Notes users and identified three factors that they thought contributed to the successful use of Notes databases for archiving and communication. We then tested the effect of these factors on 15,571 documents in 20 different databases. Contrary to our users' beliefs, we found the presence of an active database moderator actually inhibited discussions, and reduced browsing. Further paradoxical results were that conversations and the creation of group archives were more successful in databases with large numbers of diverse participants. Conversations and archiving were less successful in smaller, more homogeneous, project teams. Database size was also important: a large database containing huge amounts of information was more likely...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1996
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Steve Whittaker
• Keywords: Asynchronous Communications, CSCW 1996, Databases, Group Archives, Social Sciences