CSCW Systems in Virtual Environments: A General Development Framework

Abstract

Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs), defined as systems that allow performing some collaborative tasks in a virtual world, were proposed since 1990. From the beginning, these systems were developed as particular applications of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) in a virtual reality world, with specific restrictions on both collaborative work and technological (hardware and software) requirements. Therefore, design guidelines which could be applied to new developments have not been proposed. This paper presents a general framework for designing and developing CSCW systems in virtual 3D environments, which integrates new methodologies that provide clear and formal techniques to develop CSCW, interactive and 3D systems Keywords-Virtual environments; groupware; framework and design methodology. I. INTRODUCTIONTechnological development aims to supply computational tools for supporting tasks developed by humans. Clear examples of this fact are the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems, which provide tools to facilitate the work of designer, whilst they perform the creative labor. Similarly, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) systems provide computational tools that looking for supporting and facilitating the work group, i.e. tasks that are carried out cooperatively by various users. Therefore, CSCW requires more than computational tools, because it requires understanding all aspects of the work group. Consequently, several areas such as psychology, sociology, organizational theory, among others are also involved in the CSCW research [1]. Research on these areas allow identify some key processes in the work group, which must be taking into account for developing CSCW systems: 1) Communication, between team members; 2) coordination, under a set of clear rules, and 3) information sharing in a democratic mode [1], [2]. Other important components in CSCW are the computational tools; they are the channels that allow the users working as a team for achieving a common goal. For doing so, special characteristics should be included in those computational tools, which are commonly called groupware o simply CSCW systems [1]. Therefore, the development of CSCW systems require to take into account the key processes of the work group, therefore,

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