Empirical Study on Collaborative Writing: What Do Co-authors Do, Use, and Like?

  • Authors:
  • Sylvie Noël;Jean-Marc Robert

  • Affiliations:
  • Communications Research Centre, 3701, Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2H 8S2 (E-mail: sylvie.noel@crc.ca);Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Mathematics and Industrial Engineering Dept., P.O. 6079, Station Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7 (E-mail: jmrobert@courriel.polymtl.ca

  • Venue:
  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2004

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Abstract

How do people work when they arecollaborating to write a document? What kind oftools do they use and, in particular, do theyresort to groupware for this task? Forty-onepeople filled out a questionnaire placed on theWorld Wide Web. In spite of the existence ofspecialized collaborative writing tools, mostrespondents reported using individual wordprocessors and email as their main tools forwriting joint documents. Respondents noted theimportance of functions such as changetracking, version control, and synchronous workfor collaborative writing tools. This studyalso confirmed the great variability thatexists between collaborative writing projects,whether it be group membership, management,writing strategy, or scheduling issues.