elektronická verzia publikácie - FIIT STU - Slovenská technická ...

252 Selected Studies on Software and Information Systems
smaller “expert” groups that explore a single topic. Once the work in expert groups is
completed, they get back together to share the new expertise.
In computer-mediated collaboration, the communication is altered compared to the faceto-face
setting, and by using technology social cues in communication are reduced. The
level of anonymity, the way status in the group is perceived, the level of miscommunication,
and the conformity pressure from others changes.
Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
Communication in network environment is facilitated through the use of tools; both synchronous
and asynchronous tools can be used, each having its advantages and disadvantages.
Asynchronous collaboration includes blogs, document sharing, electronic mail (e-mail),
social bookmarking, threaded discussions, and wikis. Asynchronous mode enables everyone to
participate at their own will, not requiring rushed actions; it fosters reflective responses.
On the other hand, in synchronous collaboration such as A/V conferencing, instant messaging,
and working in shared workspaces, the pressure to answer quickly increases. Therefore,
the size of a collaborative group which is appropriate for synchronous environment decreases
as following the thread of conversation of a sizable group of people is difficult.
Human vs. Artificial
Usually only human entities collaborate, both in face-to-face and computer-mediated environments.
Today however, artificial agents can be easily put behind constrained channels
such as text messaging, or controlling game characters in role-playing games. By implementing
sophisticated relational strategies, artificial group members are (to the extent
of the interface) almost human-like and are capable of a very caring and supportive behavior
which is ironically not very human-like. Previously unthought-of questions arise as to
whether exercising behavior, usually deemed inappropriate, such as egoism, flaming, or
jealousy might be in any way beneficial for the human in consideration.
Under the notion of personalized collaboration we see a collaborative experience which
is tailored to an individual not necessarily to her liking, but to achieve the best overall effect,
by:
− manipulating the collaborative mode, group’s size and structure (role-playing),
− picking appropriate collaborative peers,
− selecting appropriate tasks to work on, and
− supporting interactions by cognitively and socially skilled artificial agent.
Explicit vs. Implicit
We distinguish explicit collaboration when participants are well aware that they are in fact
collaborating, and receive direct benefits out of it, examples include direct communication
(face-to-face activities, A/V conferencing, instant messaging, etc.), and wikis. In implicit
collaboration the benefits are indirect and not at all straightforward. For example, in
Google’s Translate (used for automated web-page translation), users can suggest a better
translation than the automatically generated one, effectively producing a better training
dataset for the underlying machine learning algorithms, which in turn also benefits others.