A framework for the study of facilitation of technology supported collaboration
Résumé
Facilitating collaborative activities and teamwork is increasingly important for organizations to mobilize knowledge and focus their ability to innovate and adapt. Facilitation has been extensively studied in Group Support Systems (GSS) but is still under researched in broader collaborative environments that incorporate other evolving collaboration technologies. Facilitators have dynamic tasks and responsibilities, especially in more fluid collaborative settings. Based on the MAIN+ collaboration process modeling approach, this paper develops a two-tiered organizing framework on facilitation of technology supported collaboration. It discusses the different roles of facilitators in different collaborative work situations. The framework is applied in an illustrative case situation to highlight the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of facilitation. The frameworks contributions include that it can serve organizations as a guide to better understand facilitator responsibilities, assist researchers in developing richer facilitation task taxonomies and design facilitation studies, and aid designers by guiding them to identify critical collaboration technology features.