Groupwise and collaborative systems-a big picture view

Groupware and collaborative systems, terms used to describe the general area of term-oriented computing, are discussed. More than a new technology or a new class of products, groupware is a perspective on computing and telecommunications. This perspective is based on the premise that the user is a collaborative work group, rather than an individual-as in personal computing-or an aggregation of unallied users-as in time-share computing. There are both electronic and nonelectronic forms of groupware. Electronic groupware typically involves the use of shared computing and telecommunications resources that are used collaboratively by teams. Four groupware options are discussed, and future directions are indicated