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Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader book cover

1st Edition

Online Communication and Collaboration A Reader

Edited By Helen Donelan, Karen Kear, Magnus Ramage Copyright 2010
    304 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    304 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Communication and collaboration via the Internet has risen to great prominence in recent years, especially with the rise of social networking, Web 2.0 and virtual worlds. Many interesting and worthwhile studies have been conducted on the technology involved and the way it is used and shaped by its user communities. From some of the more popular coverage of these interactions, it might be thought that these are new phenomena. However, they draw on a rich heritage of technologies and interactions.

    Online communication and collaboration presents a very timely set of articles that cover a range of different perspectives upon these themes, both classic and contemporary. It is unusually broad in the range of technologies it considers - many books on these topics cover only a few forms of collaboration technology - and in considering well-established technologies as well as recent ones. It blends academic and popular articles to combine scholarly rigour with readability.

    The book is divided into eight sections, covering the foundations of online communication and collaboration, together with current collaboration technologies such as wikis, instant messaging, virtual worlds and social network sites. These modern communication tools are considered in terms of their interactions but also looking back at lessons to be learnt from their technological 'ancestors'. The book also contains an extended case study of online collaboration, taking open-source software as its example.

    Online communication and collaboration will be of relevance in a wide range of higher education courses in fields related to soft computing, information systems, cultural and media studies, and communications theory.

    Selected Contents: Acknowledgements  Introduction  Part 1: Working in Groups  Introduction to Part 1.  1. Who does what? Structure and Communication Peter Hartley  2. Studies of Group Behaviour David Jaques & Gilly Salmon  3. Managing Computer-supported Collaboration Geoffrey Einon  4. Collaboration via Online Discussion Forums: Issues and Approaches Karen Kear  Part 2: Collaborative Technologies  Introduction to Part 2.  5. Groupware and Computer-supported Cooperative Work Gary M. Olson & Judith S. Olson  6. The Intellectual Challenge of CSCW: The Gap between Social Requirements and technical feasibility Mark S. Ackerman  7. Evaluating Collaborative Technologies – A Simple Method Magnus Ramage  Part 3: Wikis and Instant Messaging  Introduction to Part 3.  8. Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication Technologies Helen Donelan  9. Wikis: ‘From Each According to his Knowledge’ Daniel E. O’Leary  10. Interaction and Outeraction: Instant Messaging in Action Bonnie A. Nardi, Steve Whittaker & Erin Bradner  Part 4: Online Collaboration in Action  Introduction to Part 4.  11. Essence of Distributed Work: The Case of the Linux Kernel Jae Yun Moon and Lee Sproull  Part 5: Online Communities  Introduction to Part 5.  12. The Heart of the WELL Howard Rheingold  13. Research Speaks to Practice: Interpersonal Communication Jenny Preece  14. Communities of Practice – Real and Virtual Magnus Ramage  Part 6: Virtual Worlds  Introduction to Part 6.  15. Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-based Virtual Realities Pavel Curtis  16. The Changing Meaning of Play Edward Castronova  17. Players Richard Bartle  18. Everyday Second Life Tom Boellstorff  Part 7: Web 2.0  Introduction to Part 7.  19. What is Web 2.0? Tim O’Reilly  20. Publish, then Filter Clay Shirky  21. The Cult of the Amateur Andrew Keen  Part 8: Social Networking  Introduction to Part 8.  22. Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship danah m. boyd and Nicole B. Ellison

    Biography

    Helen Donelan, Karen Kear and Magnus Ramage have long experience in researching and teaching this field, and are all Lecturers or Senior Lecturers in the Communication and Systems Department at the Open University, UK.

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