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Hypermedia Use in Group Work: Changing the Product, Process, and Strategy

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Abstract

Hypermedia structures have beenintegrated with CSCW functionality to develop theDOLPHIN system, an electronic meeting roomenvironment. In this paper, a study is reportedinvestigating how the DOLPHIN environment affectsgroup work. Different aspects of group problem solvingwere examined to understand the effects of workingwith hypermedia: the group's product, cognitivefactors, and the group process. The results showedthat groups can easily work with hypermediastructures, and that these structures influence groupsto produce a different product, to use a differentstrategy, and to use a different collaborative style,namely of dividing up their labor. The experimentalresults are explained in a model which suggests theinvolvement of both procedural and semantic componentsin hypermedia use. We discuss wider implications ofhypermedia for CSCW and group work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gmd-Fit – Institute for Applied Information Technology, Germany National Research Center for Information Technology, Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Gloria Mark

  2. Gmd-Ipsi – Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute, German National Research Center for Information Technology, Darmstadt, Germany

    Jörg M. Haake & Norbert A. Steritz

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  1. Gloria Mark
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Mark, G., Haake, J.M. & Steritz, N.A. Hypermedia Use in Group Work: Changing the Product, Process, and Strategy. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 6, 327–368 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008627213701

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