Week 5 reading 4

Reading 4
Collaboration via online
discussion forums
Issues and approaches
Karen Kear
The availability of online communication tools means that groups of people can
work together even if they are not co-located. In an organisational context, this
opens up possibilities for collaborative working where team members may be
home-based or may even be in different countries. In an education context, it
allows collaborative learning activities to be included in online and distance
courses. If asynchronous communication tools such as discussion forums are
used, there are further benefits. Group members can communicate when it is con-
venient (even if they are in different time zones) and there is a permanent record
of the communication.
The benefits discussed above are significant, but asynchronous communication
tools also have drawbacks. In this article I shall consider some problems that can
arise when asynchronous communication tools, and specifically online discussion
forums, are used for collaborative work. The issues arose in the context of research
on distance learning courses where students used discussion forums for group
work, and were then asked to report their experiences and reactions (Kear and
Heap, 1999; Kear, 2004). I shall be discussing the specific difficulties that students
identified, and also suggesting how these might be avoided or reduced. The issues
raised by the students are inter-related, but for convenience I shall discuss them
under four headings, as follows:
• time lags;
• information chaos;
• lack of social presence;
• walking out of the virtual room.
Time lags
Communication in an online discussion forum can seem very slow. Users typically
wait hours, or days, to get a response to a message they have submitted. One
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Collaboration via online discussion forums 31
student described this as the ‘jet-lag effect’– when reading a message she almost
felt that she was in a different time zone from the person who wrote it. These
time lags can be frustrating, and can disrupt the flow of the discussion (Wegerif,
1998).
Because of the communication delays, decision making in an asynchronous
system such as a discussion forum can be difficult (Sproull and Keisler, 1991
p. 69). Sometimes users feel as if they are going round in circles, trying to discuss
all the options and reach a consensus. One remedy is to arrange a face-to-face
meeting or telephone conference call, but it can be difficult to find a time when all
group members are available. An alternative approach is to agree on timescales
for making contributions and coming to decisions via the discussion forum. Using
a synchronous communication system such as ‘chat’ or ‘instant messaging’, can
overcome the problem of time lags. Synchronous systems can speed up commu-
nication, and can also make it seem more natural and enjoyable. But all group
members need to be online at the same time – which might be inconvenient or
impossible.
Information chaos
A specific difficulty that can arise in very active discussion forums is ‘information
chaos’. There is often too much information to take in, and the information can
seem quite disorganised (Hiltz and Turoff, 1985). In a busy discussion forum there
will be many messages to keep track of, and if a group member is away for a few
days they might have a lot of catching up to do. Because of the asynchronous
nature of the communication, there will be parallel conversations going on. When
a new topic of discussion arises there is no need to abandon the old one. This can
be a benefit compared with face-to-face conversations, but this ‘multi-tasking’ can
be confusing at times.
Forum members need to think carefully about how to manage the discussion,
otherwise it can be difficult for participants to work out who is responding to
whom. If the parallel conversations are mixed up with each other, the discussion
forum can become very muddled. Sensible use of system ‘threading’ can help to
avoid this. Threading means explicitly linking one message to an earlier one using
facilities provided by the system (Hiltz and Turoff, 2002). Readers can then ‘fol-
low the thread’ (Kear, 2001). If a member’s input is a reply to an earlier message,
or to a particular topic of discussion, the ‘reply’ option (or equivalent) should be
used. If the message starts a new topic of discussion, the group member should
start a new discussion thread.
Lack of social presence
A significant difficulty with online communication is that participants don’t
always get a very good sense of the other people in the group. When you
read someone’s message, you can’t see their expression or gestures, and you
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32 Karen Kear
can’t hear the tone of their voice. This is particularly a problem in the early
stages of group work – the ‘forming’ stage (Tuckman, 1965) – when peo-
ple are getting to know each other. Many groups find that a face-to-face
meeting or some kind of synchronous communication is helpful during this
stage.
These issues relate to the concept of ‘social presence’ – the sense you get of
a real person being there (Short, Williams and Christie, 1976). Communication
systems can extend the user’s presence across space – and, for asynchronous
systems, also across time. Different types of communication systems support
social presence to different extents. This partly depends on whether the com-
munication medium is a ‘rich’ one (Daft and Lengel, 1986) such as a video
link, or a less rich medium such as text-based online communication. Some
communication systems include features which can increase social presence.
For example, members may be able to supply a ‘user profile’ telling other
members something about themselves, and perhaps including a photograph.
Some systems also have a way of indicating when a group member is currently
online.
There are also some simple things that members of a discussion forum can do to
enhance their social presence. The tone of a message can be conveyed by careful
wording. Messages can include ‘smileys’ (also called ‘emoticons’) to represent
the tone of what is being said. For example, ;-) could represent a wink, indicating
a jokey comment. Paying attention to how other group members might interpret
your message will help to avoid the sort of misunderstandings which can result
in ‘flaming’ – sending angry or aggressive messages, which can escalate into a
‘flame war’.
Walking out of the virtual room
One further problem which can arise in an online group is that a group member
may ‘disappear’ – or not appear in the first place. This is disruptive to the group’s
work, and frustrating for the other group members. It is easy for an individual to
withdraw from the group, or read messages but not contribute (Haythornthwaite
et al., 2000). This creates a difficult situation for the other group members to
deal with. In a conventional group working context you could look for the absent
person, or stop them when you see them in the corridor, but you can’t do that in
a discussion forum. If the group finds that a member is absent, the problem needs
to be tackled quickly, so the other group members should try to contact them as
soon as possible.
To help avoid this situation, there are several things which group members need
to consider. The group should try to develop a sense of togetherness – be friendly
and welcoming to each other, and try to make the collaboration as enjoyable as
possible. Group members will also need to sacrifice some flexibility in what they
do and when they do it. The group needs the participation of every member, and
it’s up to each member to contribute.
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Collaboration via online discussion forums 33
Conclusion
Carrying out collaborative work is always a challenge. The nature of online col-
laboration means that there are additional issues to deal with, beyond those posed
in a face-to-face context. However, an awareness of these issues will help group
members to address them. By adopting a positive approach, members will gain
real beneﬁts from collaborative work – learning from each other, and learning
how to work with each other.
References
Daft, R.L. & Lengel, R.H. (1986) ‘Organisational information requirements, media
richness and structural design’, Management Science 32, 554–571.
Haythornthwaite, C., Kazmer, M.M., Robins, J., and Shoemaker, S. (2000) ‘Commu-
nity development among distance learners: temporal and technological dimensions’,
Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 6(1). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol6/
issue1/haythornthwaite.html [accessed 26th June 2009].
Hilt, S.R. and Turoff, M. (1985) ‘Structuring computer-mediated communication systems
to avoid information overload’, Communications of the ACM, 28(7), 680–689.
Hiltz, S.R. and Turoff, M. (2002) ‘What makes learning networks effective?’, Communi-
cations of the ACM, 45(4), 56–59.
Kear, K. (2001) ‘Following the thread in computer conferences’, Computers & Education,
37, 81–99.
Kear, K. (2004) ‘Peer learning using asynchronous discussion systems in distance educa-
tion’, Open Learning 19(2) 151–164.
Kear, K. and Heap, N. (1999) ‘Technology-supported groupwork in distance learning’,
Active Learning 10, 21–26.
Short, J., Williams, E. and Christie, B. (1976) The Social Psychology of Telecommunica-
tions, London: Wiley.
Sproull, L. and Kiesler, S. (1991) Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked
Organisation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Tuckman, B. (1965) ‘Developmental sequences in small groups’, Psychological Bulletin,
62, 384–399.
Wegerif, R. (1998) ‘The social dimension of asynchronous learning networks’, Jour-
nal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 2(1). http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/
v2n1/v2n1_wegerif.asp [accessed 26th June 2009].
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