Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people work together toward an intersection of common goals – for example, an intellectual endeavor[1] [2] that is creative in nature[3]-by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can sometimes bring better results through decentralization and egalitarianism.[4] In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.[5]
Structured methods of collaboration encourage introspection of behavior and communication.[4] These methods specifically aim to increase the success of teams as they engage in collaborative problem solving. Forms, rubrics, charts and graphs are useful in these situations to objectively document personal traits with the goal of improving performance in current and future projects.
Scientific collaboration
Publishing
Collaboration in publishing can be as simple as dual-authorship or as complex as commons-based peer production. Technological examples include Usenet, e-mail lists, blogs and Wikis while ‘brick and mortar’ examples include monographs (books) and periodicals such as newspapers, journals and magazines.
[edit] Science
Though there is no political institution organizing the sciences on an international level, a self-organized, global network had formed in the late 20th century.[5] Observed by the rise in co-authorships in published papers, Wagner and Leydesdorff found international collaborations to have doubled from 1990 to 2005.[5] While collaborative authorships within nations has also risen, this has done so at a slower rate and is not cited as frequently.[5] Caroline S. Wagner has published a book on international collaboration in science, The New Invisible College: Science for Development, that offers a theory of collaboration in science.[2]
Technology
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Both as entertainment and as a problem-solving tool, collaboration in technology encompasses video games, distributed computing, knowledge sharing and communication tools. Many large companies are developing enterprise collaboration strategies and standardizing on a collaboration platform.
Collaboration in the technology sector refers to a wide variety of tools that enable groups of people to work together. Collaboration encompasses both asynchronous and synchronous methods of communication and serves as an umbrella-term for a wide variety of software packages. Perhaps the most commonly associated form of synchronous collaboration is web conferencing using tools such as Microsoft Live Meeting but the term can easily be applied to Instant Messaging as well. Examples of asynchronous collaboration software include Microsoft Sharepoint.
The Internet
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests. An example of this is the free software movement in software development which produced GNU and Linux from scratch and has taken over development of Mozilla and OpenOffice.org (formerly known as Netscape Communicator and StarOffice).
Commons-based peer production
Commons-based peer production is a term coined by Yale’s Law professor Yochai Benkler to describe a new model of economic production in which the creative energy of large numbers of people is coordinated (usually with the aid of the internet) into large, meaningful projects, mostly without traditional hierarchical organization or financial compensation. He compares this to firm production (where a centralized decision process decides what has to be done and by whom) and market-based production (when tagging different prices to different jobs serves as an attractor to anyone interested in doing the job).
Examples of products created by means of commons-based peer production include Linux, a computer operating system; Slashdot, a news and announcements website; Kuro5hin, a discussion site for technology and culture; Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia; Clickworkers, a collaborative scientific work; and StoryMash, an online marketplace where readers and writers creating Collaborative fiction. Another example is Socialtext which is a software that uses tools such as wikis and weblogs and helps companies to create a collaborative work environment.
Massively distributed collaboration
The term massively distributed collaboration was coined by Mitchell Kapor, in a presentation at UC Berkeley on 2005-11-09, to describe an emerging activity of wikis and electronic mailing lists and blogs and other content-creating virtual communities online.
See also
* Collaborative learning-work
* Collaborative software
* Conference call
* Critical thinking
* Design thinking
* General theory of collaboration
* Mass collaboration
* Problem solving
* Unorganisation
* Wikinomics
* Facilitation
References
Look up collaboration in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
1. ^ Collaborate, Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, 2007
2. ^ [http://www.britannic[[Media:
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]]a.com/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=Collaboration&vao=Entry+Word&rh=ρ=Rhyme&fl=&sl=&et=&dt=&df=&dfo=Defining+Text Collaboration, Encyclopedia Brittanica Online, 2007]
3. ^ Collaboration, Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, (1989). (Eds.) J. A. Simpson & E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. ^ a b Spence, Muneera U. “Graphic Design: Collaborative Processes = Understanding Self and Others.” (lecture) Art 325: Collaborative Processes. Fairbanks Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. 13 April 2006. See also.
5. ^ a b c d Wagner, Caroline S. and Loet Leydesdorff. Globalisation in the network of science in 2005: The diffusion of international collaboration and the formation of a core group.
6. ^ Watson, Peter (2005). Ideas : A History of Thought and Invention from Fire to Freud. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-621064-X. Introduction.
7. ^ a b c d Bennis, Warren and Patricia :Ward Biederman. Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration. Perseus Books, 1997.
8. ^ The Principles of Scientific Management
9. ^ Booz Allen Hamilton – History of Booz Allen 1950s
10. ^ Barbelith: Head Shop: Situationism in a nutshell
11. ^ a b Roth, W-M. and Lee, Y-J. (2006) Contradictions in theorising and implementing communities in education. Educational Research Review, 1, (1), pp27-40.
12. ^ Lave, J. (1988) Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13. ^ Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14. ^ Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989) Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), pp32-42.
15. ^ Roth, W.-M., & Bowen, G. M. (1995) Knowing and interacting: A study of culture, practices, and resources in a grade 8 open-inquiry science classroom guided by a cognitive apprenticeship metaphor. Cognition and Instruction, 13, 73-128.
16. ^ Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1994). Computer support for knowledge-building communities. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 3, pp265-283.
17. ^ The Cognition and Technology Group (1994). From visual word problems to learning communities: Changing conceptions of cognitive research. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 157-200). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Further reading
* Sandor Schuman (Editor). Creating a Culture of Collaboration. Jossey-Bass, 2006. ISBN 0-7879-8116-8
* Schneider, Florian: Collaboration: Some Thoughts Concerning New Ways of Learning and Working Together., in: Academy, edited by Angelika Nollert and Irit Rogoff, 280 pages, Revolver Verlag, ISBN 3-86588-303-6.
* Marcum, James W. After the Information Age: A Dynamic Learning Manifesto. Vol. 231. Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education. New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2006.
* Spence, Muneera U. “Graphic Design Collaborative Processes: a Course in Collaboration.” Oregon State University. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: AIGA, 2005. http://revolutionphiladelphia.aiga.org/resources/content/2/5/7/0/documents/MSpence.pdf
* VanGundy, Arthur B, and Naiman, Linda. [Orchestrating Collaboration at Work:Using music, improv, storytelling and other arts to improve teamwork][3]. 278 pages. Booksurge Publishing 2007 ISBN-13: 978-1419651748. Originally published by Wiley 2003.
* Wagner, Caroline S. “The New Invisible College: Science for Development.” Washington DC: The Brookings Press, 2008. [4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration#Academia
