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			University of Michigan
		  School of Business Administration

  CIS 521     Groupware: Computer support for groups     Winter 1992
				   

	    Course Syllabus as of Monday, August 31, 1992
				   


Instructor:	Kevin Crowston		E-Mail:	crowston@csmil.umich.edu
					or	Kevin.Crowston@um.cc.umich.edu

Note: this is a half semester (1.5 credit) course. Students may 
      enroll for an additional 1.5 credits of independent study (e.g.,
      to write a term paper) if they need 3 credits.


			  Course motivation

The use of information technology to support an individual working
alone on a task--e.g., using a word processor to create a document
or a spreadsheet to analyze a decision--has dramatically changed the
way many people work. But in most companies, few documents or
decisions are the work of a single individual; instead, they are the
product of a team effort. Increasingly, information technology is
being harnessed to support such groups of people working together.

These groupware systems will profoundly affect the companies that use
them. For example, electronic mail reduces the time to send a message
from several days or even weeks to a few minutes, while eliminating
"phone tag." Such reductions in "information float" are key to
reducing product cycle times and reacting to the increased pace of
competition. Other systems better the effectiveness of meetings--the
major activity of many managers--helping groups reach better decisions
with less wasted time.

Many managers, even when they grasp the importance of such systems,
feel unqualified to play an active role in bringing them into a
company; they lack a technical vocabulary and the framework necessary
for both planning and decision making.  This course is intended to
meet their needs.


			 Audience for course

This course is aimed primarily at future line and technical managers:
those who will select technologies to support their organizations and
oversee the introduction of these systems into the workplace. The
course focuses on questions such as: What's available? What works?
What kinds of tasks is it good for? What problems should be expected
and what can be done about them? Technology developers and researchers
may also find this course a good introduction to issues in developing
groupware systems and in evaluating their effects on group
performance.

Students are expected to have an understanding of basic computer
systems and the use of computers in business at the level covered in
CIS 501 or 551.  Students are also expected to have an appreciation
for the nature of programming and the ability to access the
University's computer system (MTS).


			  Course description

This course will briefly survey different types of groupware systems,
such as electronic messaging, meeting support and distributed
collaboration systems. Students will have the opportunity to use and
assess real systems, both commercial and experimental.

The class will meet for three hours once a week. Typically the
beginning of each class period will be used to discuss students'
experiences with the system introduced in the previous class and used
during the week. After a break, a new class of systems will be
introduced and the capabilities of these systems and problems they
address discussed. Students will then have an opportunity to use an
example system, either during the remainder of the class or during the
week.  The class meeting place will vary depending on the requirements
of the software to be used.

In order to provide a focus for students' use of these systems, a
class project will be assigned. The project will be to develop, as a
group, a plan for introducing groupware systems to a company. The plan
will be written as a memo to senior management describing the kinds of
systems available and possible uses for such systems and presenting a
plan for implementing the systems. The instructor will provide the
initial framework for this memo, but it is expected that the class, as
a group, will use the various systems to reach agreement on the
content of the memo, divide the work as necessary and produce the
final product.

The course grade will be based in equal parts on contribution to and
participation in class and computer-mediated discussions and the group
project.


			    Computer usage

An MTS computer account will be provided for use for the duration of
the course.  This account will allow students to communicate with the
course instructor, other students and people outside the university
via E-mail and computer conferencing. In addition, the class
assignment requires the use of various groupware systems on the
computers in the Business School Computer Lab. In some cases, copies
of these programs will be available for students to use on their own
computers.


		      Preliminary class schedule

(Note:  All sections will follow the same syllabus, but the dates given
        are for section 1.)

Session	Date	Place	Hour	Topic

   1     9/14	K1320	1	Introduction
				  What is groupware? Frameworks for groupware

			2	Systems for spanning time
				  Electronic mail, computer conferencing,
				  Lotus Notes

			3	Introduction to class project

   2	 9/21	CTS	1	Discussion of use of electronic mail and 
				conferencing

			2	Systems for structuring face-to-face
				interactions
				  Meeting support systems

			3	Discuss project using a meeting support
				system

   3	9/28	CTS	1	Discussion of use of meeting support system

			2	Systems for spanning distance
				  Audio and video teleconferencing,
				  multi-media conferencing

			3	Work on project using teleconferencing

   4	10/5	CTS	1	Discussion of use of teleconferencing

			2	Systems for sharing environments
				  Aspects

   5	10/12	CTS	1	Discussion of use of Aspects

			2	Systems for structuring interactions
				over time and space
 				  PREP, Coordinator, workflow automation

			3	Demonstrations of workflow automation

   6	10/19	K1320	1	Discussion of use of PREP

			2	Problems in implementing groupware

			3	Wrap up of course


CTS = Collaboration technology suite, a computer-supported meeting room

			     Reading list

The reading for each topic should be done prior to the in-class
discussion of the topic.

0.	Introduction						Session 1

0.1.	Grudin, J.  (1991).  CSCW: Introduction. Communications of the
	ACM, 34(12), 31-34.

0.2.	Winograd, T.  (1989).  Groupware: The next wave or just
	another advertising slogan?  In Proceedings of the 34th IEEE
	Computer Society International Conference--CompCon Spring
	(pp. 198-200).  San Francisco, CA:  IEEE Press.  

0.3.	Grudin, J.  (1991).  CSCW: The convergence of two disciplines.
	In ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
	(pp. 91-98).  New Orleans: ACM Press.

0.4.	Ellis, C. A., Gibbs, S. J. and Rein, G. L.  (1991).
	Groupware: Some issues and experiences.  Communications of the
	ACM, 34(1), 38-58.  (first half)


1.	Spanning time						Session 1 

1.1.	Feldman, M. S.  (1986).  Constraints on communication and
	electronic messaging.  In Proceedings of the CSCW '86
	Conference on Computer-supported Cooperative Work (pp. 73-90).
	Austin, TX.  

1.2.	Pitturo, M. C.  (1989).  Computer conferencing: Brainstorming
	across time and space.  Management Review, 78(August), 43-50.

1.3.	Finholt, T. and Sproull, L. S.  (1990).  Electronic groups at
	work. Organization Science, 1(1), 41-64.

1.4.	Malone, T. W., Grant, K. R., Lai, K.-Y., Rao, R. and
	Rosenblitt, D.  (1987).  Semi-structured messages are
	surprisingly useful for computer-supported coordination. ACM
	Transactions on Office Information Systems, 5(2), 115-131.

2.	Supporting face-to-face interactions 			Session 2

2.1.	Bair, J. H.  (1989).  Supporting cooperative work with
	computers.  In Proceedings of the 34th IEEE Computer Society
	International Conference--CompCon Spring (pp. 208-217).  San
	Francisco, CA: IEEE Press.

2.2.	Nunamaker, J. F., Dennis, A., R., Valacich, J. S., Vogel, D.
	R. and George, J. F.  (1991).  Electronic meeting systems to
	support group work. Communications of the ACM, 34(7), 40-61.

2.3.	Cook, P., Ellis, C., Graf, M., Rein, G. and Smith, T.  (1987).
	Project NICK: Meetings augmentation and analysis. ACM
	Transactions on Office Information Systems, 5(2), 132-146.

2.4.	Grohowski, R. and McGoff, C.  (1990).  Implementing electronic
	meetings at IBM: Lessons learned and success factors. MIS
	Quarterly, 14(4), 369-383.

2.5.	Lee, J.  (1990).  SIBYL: A tool for sharing knowledge in group
	decision making.  In Proceedings of the Conference on Computer
	Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '90).  Los Angeles,
	California: ACM Press.

3.	Spanning distance 					Session 3

3.1.	Johansen, R. and Bullen, C.  (1984).  Thinking ahead: What to
	expect from teleconferencing. Harvard Business Review,
	March-April, 4-10.

3.2.	McQuillan, J.  (1991).  An introduction to multimedia
	networking. Business Communications Review, 21(November),
	74-79.

3.3.	Brittan, D.  (1991).  Being there: The promise of multimedia
	communications. Technology Review, 95(4), 42-50.

3.4.	Mantei, M., Baecker, R. M., Sellen, A. J., Buxton, W. A. S.
	and Milligan, T.  (1991).  Experiences in the use of a media
	space.  In ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
	Systems (pp. 203-208).  New Orleans: ACM Press.

3.5.	Egido, C.  (1988).  Video conferencing as a technology to
	support group work: A review of its failures.  In Proceedings
	of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW
	'88) (pp. 13-24).  Portland, Oregon: ACM Press.

4.	Sharing environments					Session 4

4.1.	(second half of 0.4)

4.2.	ShrEdit paper to be supplied. 

4.3.	Bly, S. A. and Minneman, S. L.  (1990).  Commune: A shared
	drawing surface.  In Proceedings of the Conference on Office
	Information Systems (pp. 184-192).  Boston.

4.4.	Tang, J. C. and Minneman, S. L.  (1991).  VideoWhiteboard:
	Video shadows to support remote collaboration.  In ACM SIGCHI
	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp.
	315-322).  New Orleans: ACM Press.

4.5.	Stefik, M., Bobrow, D. G., Foster, G., Lanning, S. and Tatar,
	D.  (1987).  WYSIWIS revisited: Early experiences with
	multiuser interfaces. ACM Transactions on Office Information
	Systems, 5(2), 147-167.

5.	Structuring interactions over time and space		Session 5

5.1.	Mantelman, L.  (1987).  Orchestrating people and computers in
	their networks. Data Communications, (September), 144-162.

5.2.	Winograd, T.  (1988, December).  Where the action is. Byte Magazine. 

5.3.	Neuwirth, C. M., Kaufer, D. S., Chandhok, R. and Morris, J.
	(1990).  Issues in the design of computer support for
	co-authoring and commenting.  In Proceedings of the Conference
	on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '90).  Los
	Angeles, California: ACM Press.

5.4.	Rupley, S.  (1989).  Meeting makers: Four workgroup schedulers
	that coordinate people and resources. Infoworld, (November
	20), 63-77.

5.5.	Holt, A. W.  (1989).  Organizing computer use in the context
	of networks.  In Proceedings of the 34th IEEE Computer Society
	International Conference--CompCon Spring (pp. 201-207).  San
	Francisco, CA: IEEE Press.

5.6.	Benson, B. H. and Cohen, H. S.  (1991).  The AT&T Rhapsody
	business orchestration system. AT&T Technology, 5(3), 2-9.

5.7.	Lockwood, R.  (1990).  The electronic office. Personal
	Computing, 74-82.

6.	Problems in implementing groupware 			Session 6

6.1.	Grudin, J.  (1988).  Why CSCW applications fail: Problems in
	the design and evaluation of organizational interfaces.  In
	Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported
	Cooperative Work (CSCW '88) (pp. 85-93).  Portland, Oregon:
	ACM Press.

6.2.	Kraemer, K. and King, J.  (1988).  Computer-based systems for
	group decision support: Status of use and problems in
	development. Computing Surveys, 20(2), 115-146.

6.3.	Bullen, C. V. and Bennett, J. L.  (1990).  Learning from user
	experience with groupware.  In CSCW 90 Proceedings (pp.
	291-302).  Portland, OR.

6.4.	Laplante, A.  (1992).  Group(ware) therapy. Computerworld,
	(July 27), 71-74.