What is collaboration removed from a specific time and space?

“…collaboration is a critical problem-solving, task resolution strategy in a broad range of contexts” p508

“…collaboration is central to living and working successfully in an information rich environment” p. 509–

Traditionally, collaboration is understood as happening in a specific space and time. But the contexts of collaboration are changing to be more and more distributed. So our understanding of collaboration must change in relation to space and time. The evidence is clear that we have to let go of our traditional expectations that collaboration = colocation. Works is changing (Teleworkers, outsourcing), education is changing (elearning), and mobile devices means everyone is connected, removing distinctions that used to be based on place

But the change to CMC contexts won’t eliminate the need for collaboration, because collaboration is called forth by the nature of the task. If need complex interaction and higher order judgment and decision making, collaboration is central.

Describes how collaboration is present in CMC across 4 “Themes”:

• Peer review
• Engaged learning
• Consensus-building
• Self-reflection

Price makes an important point, which is that because technology is always changing, specific examples of collaboration and CMC will be transient. The question I am left with, and hope to explore, is what is not transient? What is the “essence” of collaboration if location is distilled out? So that, in addition to documenting how people appropriate technology in creative ways, we can analyze those appropriations from a theoretical point of view. To anticipate future uses and to design new applications.

Price, B. J. (2008). Computer Mediated Collaboration. In S. Kelsey & K. St. Amant (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication (pp. 508–526). Hershey, NY: IGI Global.