From My Perspective, May 24

What is a Collaborative Workspace?

Ernest Svenson over at Ernie The Attorney asked recently What the hell is a 'collaborative workspace'?. Good question ... since this is what I do for a living, here's my answer.

The term 'collaborative workspace' refers to a software product that exhibits the following key characteristics:

• The right to view a page or set of pages of text or pictures is shared across multiple people.
  
• The right to contribute a page or set of pages of text or pictures is shared (or at least sharable) across multiple people. Different collaborative workspace products implement this shared contribution model in different ways. For example:
  
  
  
  • Discrete Pages: The unit of contribution right is a single discrete page of text or pictures. Eg, a comment on a Weblog, a post in a discussion database.
    
  • Continuous Pages: The unit of contribution right is a fragment of text on a continuous page that other people can contribute to as well. Eg, a Wiki, SubEthaEdit.
    
  
  
• An organized collection of communication and collaboration tools to provide for real-time and any-time interaction between people. For example:
  
  
  
  • Instant Messaging and Presence: People that are visiting the collaborative workspace can see via an onscreen list who else is currently visiting the collaborative workspace, and can engage in on-screen text messaging with that person, or a group of people.
    
  • Shared File Folder: People can deposit a file (a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, a photograph, a PowerPoint presentation, etc) into a file folder that other people can also access to read or perhaps to change.
    
  • Screen Sharing: People can share their desktop screen with other people in the collaborative workspace. This means that someone else can see what applications the first person is running, and can view what the other person is typing or doing. When combined with a VoIP or telephone call, this provides multiple simultaneous ways for people to work jointly ("What do you think of this paragraph?" "It looks fine to me, except for line 2", etc).
    
  
  
• A method of controlling which people have which rights in the collaborative workspace. Some people will have top-level rights to edit any element of content, whereas others will have lower rights to edit only certain pieces of content, and others still will only be able to read content. For example, in a Weblog, the owner has the top-level right to edit/write new blog entries and comments, whereas everyone else can post a comment if they want, but cannot edit what the owner has written.
  
• It may offer a variety of collaboration-enablement/tracking/reminding tools. For example, people can use a shared calendar for booking meetings, a shared to-do list for tracking who has agreed to complete specific items of next action, alerts for when new content has been posted to the collaborative workspace, and workflow tools for routing items to another person when a specific trigger point is reached, eg, one member of the collaborative workspace finishes a task.
  

In addition to the above key characteristics, there are a number of optional features of such products. It is this list that provides key fodder for selecting an appropriate collaborative workspace tool for a business:

• Integration with existing enterprise systems. Eg, the shared calendar tool may integrate with the calendaring system on Notes/Domino or Microsoft Exchange.
  
• Rich client software or Web-only access. Eg, Groove Workspace from Groove Networks is rich client software (a 30MB or so download that must be installed on a user's computer), vs. SocialText Enterprise which is accessed from any Web browser.
  
• Online-only or online and offline access. Do the people have to be connected to a network to access the collaborative workspace, or can they use a replicated version of it on their laptop? Web-only access tools are usually online-only, whereas the benefit of a rich client is disconnected usage and subsequent change synchronization.
  
• Single platform support or cross-platform support. Does the product only support Windows (eg, Groove), Windows and Mac (eg, Notes), Windows/Mac/Linux/other (eg, via Web browser access).
  

If you want assistance with scoping, selecting and implementing a collaborative workspace solution for your business, contact me at michael.sampson@shared-spaces.com.

Comments

[Jeff Ubois]

Perhaps it helps to distinguish between the metaphor and the technology; one of the main the problems with email is that the metaphor is breaking. Shared "spaces" is an attempt at a new metaphor, or series of them.

[Eric Mack]

Great article, Michael,

Thanks to your detailed description, I will now know a shared space when I see one. I think. :-)

Many of us have been using tools, such as Lotus Notes, that have had many of these characteristics for the past 10+ years.

So, when did the break-with happen? Was it when these tools were extended to the web? Calendar Integration for easy meetings? Or, was it when IM presence awareness were finally integrated? Or, will it not happen until RSS feeds become a part of every shared space?

I agree with Jeff's point. The metaphor is changing. It must be difficult for the marketers like Ed to draw a clean line. It's hard enough for us consultants.

-Eric

PS. I really enjoy your blog. The daily perspective is a great way to keep up. Posts like this add value and are a useful tool to share with clients.