An Analysis of the Elements of Collaboration Associated with Top Collaborative Tools
Abstract
United States government agencies have historically had problems with inter- agency information sharing and collaboration. In fact, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United Stated recommended that the U.S. government "increase information sharing" and "improve collaboration across government agencies." To this day, no collaborative tools are being used to satisfy that recommendation. In fact, there is little agreement on what collaboration means and what characteristics are best suited for collaborative tools. Before we can improve collaboration across agencies, we need to better understand the nature of collaboration itself, and the hallmarks of better collaborative tools. As such, this research developed an academically inspired definition of collaboration. With the definition in hand, the foundational elements of collaboration were documented in a collaborative framework. The framework was then used to assess collaborative tools and identify the key elements of better collaborative tools. Six of the nine academic elements of collaboration were strongly supported in the assessments. The greatest advantage of this framework is that it provides a methodic and logical process for selecting collaborative tools based on the academic elements of collaboration.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA518720
Entities
People
- Kristopher C. Nagy
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology