Fruits of the first lecture

When I came to this course my idea of groupware was that it was something that multiple persons could work on simultaneously. Usually the picture in my head was something like a table with a huge touch screen on it and group of people using it at the same time.

However, our first lecture introduced to me a much wider and specific definition. According to Ellis, Gibbs and Rein (1991), groupware are "Computer-based systems that support groups of people engaged in a common task (or goal) and that provide an interface to a shared
environment."

Another thing that our first lecture clarified to me was that groupware doesn't need to be simultaneous. Multiple people can work on something at different times. Or even at different places. (Ellis, Gibbs, Rein, 1991; originally, DeSanctis & Gallupe)

Nice observation was also that many of the programs and tools I use daily, are actually groupware. For example Dropbox - which Aleksi tells more about here - is an excellent tool. I don't actually use it as groupware, but rather as a small, free backup tool. Also Google Docs is quite handy at times. And of course, Wikipedia.