This book reports research conducted in the ESPRIT project PECOS, which investigated the requirements for effective CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) with special reference to cooperation among organisations in large projects. It indicates commercial areas where CSCW technology can be applied, and examines such methodological issues as enterprise modelling, system architecture, and the incorporation of artificial intelligence techniques. PECOS studied two practical contexts. The first was the management of a complex industrial project, the construction of a high-speed train for the Italian railway, which required cooperation among four private companies. The second was the design of an information system for water management in the Lombardy region, which required cooperation among several different branches of public administration.fhese contexts were analysed, applying techniques of enterprise modelling, in order to identify requirements for CSCW systems. The composition of the book is as follows. Chapter 1 presents some highlights of the vast literature on cooperation, including results from psycholOgy, sociology, management science, linguistics, and artificial intelligence. Chapter 2 reviews the much shorter history of CSCW, with reference to a catalogue of existing systems given in an appendix at the end of the book. The next four chapters contain our original findings.

In April 1993, an interdisciplinary NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Collaborative dialogue technologies in distance learning" was held in Segovia, Spain. The workshop brought together researchers in fields related to distance learning using computer-mediated communication. The statement of justification of the NATO ARW follows hereafter. Justification of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Collaborative Dialogue Technologies in Distance Learning Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) systems have features that reduce some temporal, physical and social constraints on communication. Theories of communication have shifted from viewing communication as a linear transmission of messages by a sender to a receiver, to viewing it as a social paradigm, where individuals are actors in a network of interdependent relationships embedded in organizational and social structures. Recent research focuses on models of information-sharing to support not only the activities of individuals but also the problem-solving activities of groups, such as decision-making, planning or co writing. This area of research is called Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). The Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach uses knowledge-based systems to enhance and facilitate all these processes, including the possibility of using natural language. The traditional model of distance education places a strong emphasis on indepen dent study, supported by well developed learning materials. This model can be characterized as one-way media. However, the potential of CMC to provide better guidance to the student in Higher Distance Education has been quickly recognized for at least two kind of activities: information sharing and interaction.

Computers, Surveillance, and Privacy was first published in 1996. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. From computer networks to grocery store checkout scanners, it is easier and easier for governments, employers, advertisers, and individuals to gather detailed and sophisticated information about each of us. In this important new collection, the authors question the impact of these new technologies of surveillance on our privacy and our culture. Although surveillance-literally some people "watching over" others-is as old as social relationships themselves, with the advent of the computer age this phenomenon has acquired new and distinctive meanings. Technological advances have made it possible for surveillance to become increasingly global and integrated-both commercial and government-related personal data flows more frequently across national boundaries, and the flow between private and public sectors has increased as well. Addressing issues of the global integration of surveillance, social control, new information technologies, privacy violation and protection, and workplace surveillance, the contributors to Computers, Surveillance, and Privacy grapple with the ramifications of these concerns for society today. Timely and provocative, this collection will be of vital interest to anyone concerned with resistance to social control and incursions into privacy. Contributors: Jonathan P. Allen, Colin J. Bennett, Simon G. Davies, Oscar H. Gandy Jr., Calvin C. Gotlieb, Rob Kling, Gary T. Marx, Abbe Mowshowitz, Judith A. Perrolle, Mark Poster, Priscilla M. Regan, James B. Rule. David Lyon is professor of sociology at Queen's University, Canada. His previous books include The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society (Minnesota, 1994). Elia Zureik is also professor of sociology at Queen's University, Canada, and coedited (with Dianne Hartling) The Social Context of the New Information and Communication Technologies (1987).

This final report on the Esprit project ORCHESTRA deals with the design and development of an advanced groupware environment. It provides a global perspective on the project from the technical, research and development, and marketing points of view.

This reference work defines more than 1,200 terms and concepts that have been found useful in past research and theory on the nonprofit sector. The entries reflect the importance of associations, citizen participation, philanthropy, voluntary action, nonprofit management, volunteer administration, leisure, and political activities of nonprofits. They also reflect a concern for the wider range of useful general concepts in theory and research that bear on the nonprofit sector and its manifestations in the United States and elsewhere. This dictionary supplies some of the necessary foundational work on the road toward a general theory of the nonprofit sector.

In this volume Gerold Riempp examines the interaction of different workflow management systems (WFMS) in geographically-distributed and legally-separate organisations. This is an emerging field of research known as Wide Area Workflow Management (WAWM). He examines the technical and managerial aspects of workflow management via a framework which he has developed to describe the problems involved in WAWM and to find viable solutions. Based on this theoretical framework, the author also develops a prototype software framework - the Wide Area GroupFlow System - to demonstrate the solutions via practical software tools. The tools will be available to the reader via the WWW. Also included are the results of case studies from some of the 15 developers who have been using this software over the past two years.

The Commission of the European Union, through its Fourth Framework R&D programme is committed to the development of the Information Society. There is no doubt that there will be many radical changes in all aspects of society caused by the far-reaching impact of continuing advances in information and communi cation technologies. Many of these changes cannot be predicted, but that uncer tainty must not stop us from moving forward. The challenge is to ensure that these technologies are put to use in the most beneficial manner, taking fully into account the rich cultural and linguistic backgrounds within the peoples of Europe. We have a duty to ensure that the ultimate end-users of the technology are involved in the development and application of that technology to help shape its use. Without this active involvement, designers will not understand the individual and organisational requirements of the users, and the users will not understand the impact and applicability of the new technology. Failure on either account will lead to a sense of resentment on the part of the users and a lost opportunity to improve the quality of human life. The work, sponsored by the Human Comfort & Security sub-domain of the ESPRIT programme, has a central part to play in the creation of the Information Society, lying as it does at the interface between the technology and the user.