Cutting into collaboration: understanding coordination in distributed and interdisciplinary medical research

Item Type Conference Paper
Author Saeko Nomura
Author Jeremy Birnholtz
Author Oya Rieger
Author Gilly Leshed
Author Deborah Trumbull
Author Geri Gay
URL http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1460632
Place San Diego, CA, USA
Publisher ACM
Pages 427-436
ISBN 978-1-60558-007-4
Date 2008
DOI 10.1145/1460563.1460632
Accessed 2009-06-03 11:08:44
Abstract Coordinating goals, schedules, and tasks among collaborators is difficult, and made even more so when there are disciplinary, geographic and institutional boundaries that must be spanned. Designing CSCW tools to support coordination in these settings, however, requires an improved under-standing of the constraints and conflicts that impede effective collaboration. We present findings from a study of distributed collaborations between academic surgeons and biomedical engineering researchers. These two groups differ significantly in their work priorities and institutional contexts, but are nonetheless able to work together and co-ordinate effectively. They accomplish this via human mediation, frequent ad hoc communication, and optimizing the use of their limited face-to-face interaction opportunities.
Proceedings Title Proceedings of the ACM 2008 conference on Computer supported cooperative work
Short Title Cutting into collaboration
archive ACM
Date Added 2009-06-03 15:51
Added By Lisa Spiro
Date Modified 2009-06-03 15:51