What Experienced Collaborators Say About Collaborative Writing

Abstract

As currently used, collaboration refers to a variety of interactive writing expe riences, making it difficult or impossible to assess research projects accurately or to use their findings effectively. This paper presents a definition of one vari ety of interactive writing based on intensive interviews with twenty collaborative writers. Shared-document collaboration involves collaborators producing a shared document, engaging in substantive interaction about that document, and sharing decision-making power and responsibility for it. The paper also describes a typology of shared-document collaborative groups: labor intensive, specialization, and synthesis. Throughout, conclusions are supported with examples drawn from the experiences of the writers inter viewed. © 1987, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.