Supporting virtual team collaboration: the TeamSCOPE system

  • Authors:
  • Charles Steinfield;Chyng-Yang Jang;Ben Pfaff

  • Affiliations:
  • Visiting Faculty, Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands and Department of Telecommunication, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI;Department of Telecommunication, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI;Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

  • Venue:
  • GROUP '99 Proceedings of the international ACM SIGGROUP conference on Supporting group work
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

In this paper, we describe a collaborative system specifically designed to address problems faced by distributed (or virtual) teams. TeamSCOPE (Team Software for a Collaborative Project Environment) is a web-based work environment that has emerged from a research project studying the communication needs of internationally distributed engineering design teams. The paper begins by outlining some of the needs of virtual teams. An integrative framework that focuses on facilitation of group members' awareness of group activities, communications and resources is proposed. These needs and awareness requirements are then translated into a set of collaborative system design goals which have guided the implementation of TeamSCOPE. The features of TeamSCOPE are briefly reviewed, and some preliminary observations from early users are provided. We conclude by noting some of the new features planned for TeamSCOPE based on our early trials.