CSCW design team selection and issue management

Abstract

Common Ground Theory provides the means to determine those factors which affect the capability of one individual to work with another. This becomes important in design teams where individuals from different disciplines have to work together on complex projects such as ubiquitous computing, calm technology and grid computing. Understanding these common ground factors can enable support to be given to team members when issues arise which cause the project to stall. IBIS (Issue based information system) is a technique for structuring progress on a project and recording issues and supporting information. In this paper an approach is taken which by the creation of a common ground profile for each team member linked to an IBIS database brings together these two concepts to enable member selection and the resolution of project issues in multi-disciplinary project teams. It also provides a means of evaluating elements of the approach by using statistical analysis. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.