First of all we need to understand why CSCW has become such a crucial field of study within interactive systems.

With changes in business organisations and world economics there has been a move towards global markets that are multinational and multilingual organisations. Rising organisational costs have also driven increases in the degree of strategic co-operations and opportunistic alliances.

Both of these factors have produced an increased need for businesses to communicate and collaborate both locally and remotely.

Over the last two decades computer technology has evolved a worldwide infrastructure.

There has been an international increase in networking capabilities producing more potential for applications and tools characterised by the information superhighway. A spread of connectivity has created what has been termed the global village. Finally a merging of technologies has occurred between telephony, television and computing.

All of these factors have led to the increased potential for computing technology to aid collaborative working.

However, despite widespread accessibility of computer networking technologies and the reliance of many organisations on successful cooperative activities the historical focus within HCI (see unit 1) has limited the support provided by automated tools for the creation of single user independent systems. Since many people work in groups on cooperative tasks CSCW has sought to address these needs.

It is important to understand how CSCW systems differ from other interactive systems. Designers must understand the nature of cooperative tasks in order to design appropriate technology for the cooperative work setting. A set of questions must, therefore, be answered if appropriate CSCW systems and software are to be designed:

How do we define group work? How can computer systems and software that support group working be developed? What are the impacts of technology on group working?

To answer these questions CSCW involves inter-disciplinary researchers including psychology, sociology, organisational theory and anthropology.