define process parameters and facilitation instructions for the adaptation of a generic user interface.
Besides the design and adaptation of a collaboration process, collaboration researchers can use the conceptual design to analyse how groupware technology can be used to monitor and support group communication, group coordination and group performance during collaboration. Currently, the prototype provides different modules to monitor the collaboration process and to intervene directly in the process to handle negative group behaviours. These modules are implemented independently of the generic user interfaces and can be combined flexibly during the collaboration process. Researchers can use this property of the prototype to design and evaluate new approaches on how to affect possible group behaviours like Evaluation Apprehension or Social Loafing.
Here, researchers can extend the given set of modules to analyse their possible effect on a collaboration process during different experiments. In this context, the collabora-tion modelling language can be used to describe the experiments as a scientific proto-col, which allows researchers to repeat or compare the experiments results. Resulting knowledge can be used to define new guidelines on how groupware technology can support collaboration.
modules to support group communication, group coordination and group performance during ideation. Resulting knowledge will be used to define rules on how the function-alities of a groupware technology should be used to improve the ideation process.
Future research on the collaboration modelling language
The second area of research is the use of the collaboration modelling language to cap-ture and share knowledge about collaboration. Besides using the introduced modelling approach to design a collaboration process in a graphical and semantical notation, the thesis sees further potential in its use to document and analyse a collaboration process.
The thesis assumes that information about the context and execution of a collaboration process can help researchers to get a deeper and better understanding of collaboration.
Resulting knowledge can be used to develop new guidelines for the design and exe-cution of a collaboration process. However, the given modelling approach does not capture information about the context of a collaboration process. To compensate this weakness, the thesis proposes the redesign of the collaboration modelling language.
Currently, an ontology approach is analysed to capture and share knowledge about collaboration [Knoll et al., 2012, 2010]. By definition, an ontology is an formal speci-fication of the terms and relations between them in a domain of interest [Gruber, 1993].
It defines a common vocabulary and a common understanding of information in a do-main, which allows the sharing of information between people and software agents.
The thesis uses the collaboration modelling language to build a common vocabulary for collaboration. The resulting Collaboration Ontology [CollaborationOntology, 2010]
represents a new approach to capture, share and re-use knowledge about collaboration.
Future research will analyse the use of the presented ontology for information retrieval and machine learning approaches. Here, data collected from previous collaboration processes, like innovation processes will be used to learn relations between a collabora-tion process and the needed resources and participants. Based on the relacollabora-tions learned, new guidelines for the design of a collaborative ideation process could be developed.
Future research on the conceptual design of an adaptable groupware technology A third area of research is the use of the conceptual design of an adaptable groupware technology to support collaboration in dynamic environments. The thesis introduces a conceptual design that makes use of a the underlying process logic of a predefined collaboration workflow to monitor and guide a virtual group automatically through a collaboration process. This approach works well in static environments, where the re-sources and participants of a collaboration process are known before hand. However, the given conceptual design can not support collaboration in dynamic environment like a maintenance process, which can be characterised by varying goals and resources as well as changing participants. Here a new conceptual design of a groupware technol-ogy is needed that adapts and designs the collaboration workflow during runtime.
As a result, future research will analyse the feasibility to design a groupware technol-ogy that supports collaboration in dynamic environments. Here, new approaches will be analysed to design and adapt a collaboration process at runtime. For example, fu-ture research will focus on the use of data streams as a possible approach to define and analyse the context of a collaboration process. Furthermore, a rule concept will be developed that allows a collaboration process designer to define rules to detect the need for adaptation and to change the collaboration workflow.
Appendix A
Concepts of the design approach for collaborative ideation
processes
A.1 Design pattern: Changes of Perspective
Change of Perspective Directed Jumping
Intent: Activates knowledge by jumping to similar situations and uses it to gen-erate new ideas:
• Participants activate knowledge of the creative task.
• Participants activate knowledge of analogous situations.
• Participants transfer knowledge of analogous situations to the creative task.
Context: Choose this change of perspective:
• to generate ideas for technical and incremental innovations like small product or service improvements.
• to support the generation of ideas for a creative task that others might have solved before.
Solution Input:
• a creative task Output:
• a set of possible solutions for the creative task Setup:
1. Ensure that participants understand the creative task.
2. Ensure that participants understand the change of perspective.
Process:
1. Let participants collect characteristic attributes of the creative task.
2. Let participants collect analogous situations with the same char-acteristic attributes.
3. Let participants collect similar creative tasks for the given anal-ogous situations.
4. Let participants collect solutions how the analogous creative tasks has been or might be solved.
5. Let participants collect ideas how this solution can be applied to the original task.
Change of Perspective Random Jumping
Intent: Activates knowledge by jumping to random situations and uses it to generate new ideas:
• Participants activate knowledge of the creative task.
• Participants activate knowledge of random situations.
• Participants transfer knowledge of random situations to the cre-ative task.
Context: Choose this change of perspective:
• to generate ideas for radical, market, technical and incremental innovations.
• to support the generation of ideas for a creative task where no solution approach exists.
Solution Input:
• a creative task Output:
• a set of possible solutions for the creative task Setup:
1. Ensure that participants understand the creative task.
2. Ensure that participants understand the change of perspective.
Process:
1. Let participants collect random situations.
2. Let participants collect characteristic attributes of the random situations.
3. Let participants collect ideas how the characteristic attributes can be used to solve the creative task.
Change of Perspective Dumping
Intent: Activates knowledge by challenging assumptions of the creative task and uses it to generate new ideas:
• Participants activate knowledge of the creative task.
• Participants challenge knowledge of the creative task.
• Participants activate new knowledge by thinking of conse-quences for the creative task.
Context: Choose this change of perspective:
• to generate ideas for radical innovations.
• to support the generation of ideas for a creative task where poli-cies or assumptions can be challenged.
Solution Input:
• a creative task Output:
• a set of possible solutions for the creative task Setup:
1. Ensure that participants understand the creative task.
2. Ensure that participants understand the change of perspective.
Process:
1. Let participants collect characteristic attributes of the creative task.
2. Let participants challenge the characteristic attributes.
3. Let participants collect consequences that results from the new assumption.
4. Let participants collect ideas how the consequences can be used to solve the creative task.
Change of Perspective Pumping
Intent: Activates knowledge by focusing on specific concepts of the creative task and uses it to generate new ideas:
• Participants activate knowledge of the creative task.
• Participants activate new knowledge by focusing on specific concepts of the creative task.
Context: Choose this change of perspective:
• to generate ideas for market, technical and incremental innova-tions.
• to support the generation of ideas for a creative task where ab-stract solution approaches are available.
Solution Input:
• a creative task Output:
• a set of possible solutions for the creative task Setup:
1. Ensure that participants understand the creative task.
2. Ensure that participants understand the change of perspective.
Process:
1. Let participants select aspects of the creative task to focus on.
2. Let participants focus on aspects of the creative task.
3. Let participants collect ideas how the creative task may be solved.