Working Together Apart

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Gary M. Olson
Donald Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences
Department of Informatics
Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA  92697-3440

Friday, Oct 7, 2011, 1:00-2:30 PM

100 Main Street ,MIT Building E62, Room 450

Abstract

It is increasingly common for people to work together when they are not in the same geographical location. We have been studying such situations for nearly two decades, and have developed ideas about what challenges are faced. This came from work in which we tried to discern why some projects like this were successful while others were not. I will review the current state of our Theory of Remote Collaboration, and also describe a new on-line assessment tool which allows projects -- either actual or proposed -- to assess their state of risk. We have recent experience with this on-line tool with a series of large collaborative projects.

Bio

Gary Olson is the Donald Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Irvine. His research investigates the socio-technical factors involved in geographically-distributed science and engineering.  He is co-editor and co-author of a number of chapters in the book Scientific Collaboration on the Internet (MIT Press, 2008), which includes a theory of remote collaboration and a number of case examples.  He is an ACM, APS, and APA Fellow, a member of the CHI Academy, and winner of the CHI Lifetime Achievement Award (with Judy Olson).

 



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