Facilitating idea generation in computer-supported teleconferences

Abstract

In the current study, 2- and 4-person groups brainstormed ideas for new television shows. Groups then selected and further developed one of their ideas. Three meeting formats were compared: face-to-face, standard teleconferencing, and teleconferencing combined with an electronic brainstorming tool. Results indicated that, although they allocated the same amount of time to the brainstorming phase of the task, groups using the electronic brainstorming tool generated significantly more ideas than groups in the other two conditions. The effectiveness of computer-supported teleconferencing for facilitating distributed groups is discussed.