Back to the Future:

Lessons from the Past on

Collaboration and Tools

Eugene Eric Kim <eekim@blueoxen.org>

WikiMania, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

August 6, 2005

Wikipedia (July 27, 2005)

collaborative tools:

There is no entry! “collaborative tools” is redirected to “collaborative software.”

Andre Leroi-Gourhan

(No Wikipedia entry in either English or French!)

Tools can only be understood in context.

Language and tool-building play the same evolutionary function – enable the externalization of our knowledge.

Doug Engelbart

Language, tools, and methodologies can only be understood in context.

Tools should augment our ability to think individually and collectively.

Tool-process coevolution.

Philosophy led to invention of mouse, hypertext, windowing systems, collaborative authoring, ....

Oxford English Dictionary

collaboration:

To work in conjunction with another or others, to co-operate; especially in a literary or artistic production, or the like.

Wikipedia (July 28, 2005)

collaboration:

Literally, consists of working together with one or more others.

Blue Oxen Associates

collaboration:

Two or more people interacting and

exchanging knowledge in pursuit of a

shared, collective, bounded goal.

Observations

Collaboration is tied to a concrete goal, hence tools and metrics are often goal-specific.

Tools should help facilitate patterns of collaboration.

We want to be at least as good as the sum of our parts, and at most, much, much better.

Patterns

Based on the ideas of the architect Christopher Alexander.

A solution to a problem in context.

Named best practices.

Descriptive, not prescriptive.

The goal is quality without a name.

Patterns

Pattern	Examples

Permission to Participate	circle-up

Visible Pulse	IRC, blogs, RSS

Shared Display	whiteboard; pair

programming

Work In Progress	draft papers

2005-06-15T08:12:31