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What is CSCW? What is Groupware? What is Staffware? Is there a difference between CSCW and Groupware? Is there a difference between Groupware and Staffware? Is there a difference between CSCW and Teleworking? CSCW stands for Computer Supported Collaborative Working. Its a term used mainly in academic research circles to encapsulate the use of computers (and telecommunications) by groups of people working together. So CSCW is the human activity of working together using the technology to help the group processes - information exchange, information sharing, discussion, joint authorship of texts, decision making etcetera. CSCW researchers study how people work in groups and how the computer can best be applied to support their work. Groupware is a market term for products that are used in group working. So Groupware is the kind of technology used in Computer Supported Collaborative Working and designed for Computer Supported Collaborative Working. Staffware is another market term, used to describe products that support business procedures. For example when an insurance claim is received it goes through a number of stages involving different people and organisations before it is paid. Staffware can be used to create a computer model of the various stages, so that the system provides each person with the appropriate information at the appropriate time - it moves the claim through the process. Is there a difference between CSCW and Groupware? The easiest way to think about this is to see Groupware as the technology, CSCW as the activity and the methods and practices. In the very simplest example an email discussion list is a form of Groupware, it supports discussion among the subscribers. If we link a discussion list to web pages, that's a more sophisticated kind of Groupware, since it enables a newcomer to the discussion to see what has happened and provides participants with more choices of how to participate. Is there a difference between Groupware and Staffware? Staffware and Groupware use similar technologies, the main difference is that Staffware is intended to support planned and definite procedures, while Groupware supports the general interaction among a group of people regardless of what kinds of tasks they may be carrying out. Lotus Notes is a product that can be used as either Staffware or Groupware - an application can be designed using Notes to support a particular set of procedures (for signing off a new piece of literature for example), but many other applications exist in which there is little formal process, just better group working. Is there a difference between CSCW and Teleworking? Teleworking simply means using the technology to enable the work and the worker to be location-independent. A teleworker may use Groupware or Staffware or may just use the telephone. But in many cases the success of telework can be influenced by applying the kinds of principles and practices developed through research in CSCW. The difference is that telework does suggest the idea of distance - the work is done at home instead of in the office, or in a call centre instead of a High Street branch - while CSCW can apply equally to a team all working in the same room or to a team that is widely scattered. Contributed by Management Technology Associates