Abstract
To examine the diffusion of remote collaboration technologies within the media production industries, a series of case studies was recently conducted with early adopters of advanced electronic networks in Sydney, Los Angeles and London. The studies assessed: 1) user reactions to these collaboration technologies and types of activities being supported and 2) factors influencing their adoption decisions. Interviews conducted also provided early indications of the conditions likely to facilitate remote collaboration and the likely impacts on work practices in media production organizations. It was established that electronic delivery, remote access to resources and materials, and remote creative collaboration were all being carried out, even internationally. Although most network applications were routine substitutions for non-electronic equivalents (e.g. couriers or catalogue browsing), some did involve shared creative activities, thus confirming that remote creative collaboration is a viable option. Key factors influencing network adoption were cost considerations and regulatory issues, time savings and productivity, and security concerns. Certain industry segments -- animation, post-production, and advertising -- were more likely to be early adopters, as were companies who found innovative ways to achieve greater benefits. Conditions likely to facilitate remote collaboration include more sophisticated change-agent strategies, increasing the perceived control of creative outputs, developing and maintaining trust, providing more auxiliary support for coordination needs, and making more effective use of timing and time-zone differences. Likely impacts of remote collaboration in media production are: more overlap between pre-production, production, and post-production activities; faster work pace; enhanced creativity; and improved quality of work life.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aksoy, A. and K. Robins (1992): Hollywood for the 21st Century: Global Competition for Critical Mass in Image Markets. Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 16, pp. 1-22.
Baker, E., A. Chandler, T. Fisher and R. Moss (1996a): Moving Pictures: A Case Study of the Videofax and Film Production. Media International Australia, vol. 80, pp. 66-74.
Baker, E., A. Chandler and T. Fisher (1996b): The Future of Film Production: All-in-the-Box and 21st Century Fox. Image Technology, vol. 78,no. 7, pp. 7-12.
Bernstein, S. (1994): Film Production (Second Edition). Oxford: Focal Press.
Birkmaier, C. (1995): Hooked on a Feeling: Emotion's Creative Partner Is About Sharing. Videography, vol. 20,no. 5, pp. 86-92.
Birkmaier, C. (1994): Through the Looking Glass: Re-Engineering the Video Production Process. Videography, vol. 19,no. 3, pp. 60-70.
Chandler, A. and E. Gidney (1994): A Multimedia CSCW System for Film and TV Pre-Production. IEEE Multimedia, vol. 1,no. 2, pp. 16-26.
Dustar, S. (1995): Desktop Multimedia Conferencing: IBMs Person to Person in Organizational Context. Journal of Organizational Computing, vol. 5,no. 1, pp. 25-29.
Egido, C. (1988): Videoconferencing as a Technology to Support Group Work: A Review of Its Failure. CSCW88 Proceedings, pp. 13-24.
Faulkner, R. R. and A. B. Anderson (1987): Short Term Projects and Emergent Careers: Evidence from Hollywood. American Journal of Sociology, vol. 92, pp. 878-909.
Francett, B. (1994): Companies Mind Their Business With Integrated Modeling Tools. Software Magazine, December.
Grudin, J. (1988): Why CSCW Applications Fail: Problems in the Design and Evaluation of Organizational Interfaces. CSCW88 Proceedings, pp. 85-93.
Hart, P. and D. Estrin (1990): Computer Integration: A Co-Requirement for Effective Inter-Organization Computer Network Implementation. CSCW90 Proceedings, pp. 131-141.
Johansen, R. and R. Swigart (1994): Upsizing the Individual in the Downsized Organization. London: Century.
Jones, C. and R. J. DeFillipi (1996): Back to the Future in Film: Combining Industry and Self-Knowledge to Meet the Career Challenges of the 21st Century. Academy of Management Executive, vol. 10,no. 4, pp. 89-103.
Kaufman, D. (1995): Digital Postproduction: Hollywood Dials into Distance Networking. American Cinematographer, Sept., 30-33.
Leonard-Barton, D. (1987): The Case for Integrative Innovation: An Expert System at Digital. Sloan Management Review, vol. 7.
Liebman, S. (1996a): Video Networks Transform the Teleproduction Industry. Videography, vol. 21,no. 4, pp. 90-95.
Liebman, S. (1996b): Ednet and Mad River Technologies Combine to Network the World. Videography, vol. 21,no. 5, pp. 138-141.
Malone, T. and K. Crowston (1990): What is Coordination Theory and How Can It Help Design Cooperative Work Systems? CSCW90 Proceedings, pp. 357-370.
Mills, K. (1995): Video on the Run — Eliminating Geography as an Obstacle to Production. Millimeter, March, pp. 131-140.
Mizer, R. A. (1994): From Post-Production to the Cinema of the Future. SMPTE Journal, December, pp. 801-804.
Morse, J. M. (1994): Designing Funded Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 220-235.
Ohanian, T. A. (1993): Digital Nonlinear Editing. Boston: Focal.
O'Hara-Devereaux, M. and R. Johansen (1994): GlobalWork — Bridging Distance, Culture and Time. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Olson, J. S. and S. Teasley (1996): Groupware in the Wild: Lessons Learned from a Year of Virtual Collocation. CSCW96 Proceedings, pp. 419-427.
Orlikowski, W. J. (1992): Learning from Notes: Organizational Issues in Groupware Implementation. CSCW92 Proceedings, pp. 362-369.
Patton, M. Q. (1990): Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods (Second Edition). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Pycock, J. and J. Bowers (1996): Getting Others to Get It Right: An Ethnography of Design Work in the Fashion Industry. CSCW96 Proceedings, pp. 219-228.
Rogers, E. M. (1995): Diffusion of Innovations (Fourth Edition). New York: The Free Press.
Sproull, L. and S. Kiesler (1991): Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Tang, J. C. and E. Isaccs (1993): Why Do Users Like Video? Studies of Multimedia-Supported Collaboration. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 1, pp. 163-196.
Tapscott, D. (1996): The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wasko, J. (1994): Hollywood in the Information Age. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Whittaker, S. (1995): Rethinking Video as a Technology for Interpersonal Communications: Theory and Design Implications. Int. J. Human-Computer Studies, vol. 42, pp. 501-529.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baker, E., Geirland, J., Fisher, T. et al. Media Production: Towards Creative Collaboration Using Communication Networks. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 8, 303–332 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008616002814
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008616002814