Supporting the evolution of workflow patterns for virtual communities

Virtual communities that make use of network information systems (NIS) have a need for specification support that agrees with their communal character. System specification changes must be acceptable to all members for a community to thrive. We concentrate on the specification of workflow-enabling communication tools rather than information tools that support a single user. Previously, we defined various levels of workflow specification, from speech acts to scenarios (H. Weigand et al., 1997; 1998). Once patterns for these levels have been identified, they can be stored in a component library and be (re)-used effectively by communities to speed up their NIS development. To ensure the acceptability of changes in workflow patterns, we propose to apply an existing method for legitimate user-driven specification.