Collaborative workspace

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See also Collaborative workspace.ppt

Summary: Collaborative workspace is virtual working platform that allows open groups to participate in risk assessments.

Purpose

Collaborative workspace is virtual working platform that allows open groups to participate in risk assessments. It is an interface for the users to access the toolbox contents, make their contributions to the assessment and communicate between each other. It also provides tools to organize and manage the user contributions.

In fact the collaborative workspace is the virtual location of storing, manipulating and representing information. It enables the participants to communicate between each other in the form of making their contributions to the contents of the toolbox. Enabling this communication through contribution is the primary function that the collaborative workspace provides. Enabling this also includes managing openness, both according to individual users and user groups or according to locations within the information structure of the content. Furthermore, the collaborative workspace provides the users access to the tools that they can use for making their contributions. Basically the idea behind the workspace is that everything can be searched for, found, saved, exchanged and discussed about in one place. In other words: The workspace functions as the "glue" between all parts of the assessment, helping the assessors to keep it together and in order, as well as enhancing both efficiency and effectiveness of the risk assessments.

Structure of the process

Input format

Procedure

In order to be functional, the collaborative workspace should provide the users with:

  • access to browse, search, read and use the information contents of the toolbox, both within the process management system (PMS) and the content management system (CMS)
  • access to use the tools within the PMS
  • possibility to manipulate the information content, both within the PMS and the CMS

In practice, in order to make the above mentioned functionalities manageable the collaborative workspace also must enable:

  • division of information content into individually manipulable pieces
  • version and history control in the individual pieces of information
  • management of openness, both according to users and according to content
  • management of simultaneous use of tools and manipulation of content

Suggestions of techniques to get started

  • Collaborative workspace should be performed using Mediawiki, because that is the most common software for collaborative work, it is an open source software, and there is an active development going on.

Management

Output format

Rationale

See also

References