Building a taxonomy and nomenclature of collaborative writing to improve interdisciplinary research and practice.

a shared document and helps CW groups

perform the major CW activities. CW strategy A team's overall approach for coordina-

ting the writing of a collaborative

document. CW work modes A group awareness and process decision as

to when and where a CW group will do

its writing, respectively, in terms of

same or different place and same or

different times. Cooperative Synonymous with CW.

writing Group authoring Synonymous with collaborative authoring. Group drafting The specific CW task of drafting, not the

entire CW process. Group editing The specific CW tasks of editing, revie-

wing, and revising; not the entire CW

process. Single-author Writing conducted by one individual that

writing involves planning, drafting, and

reviewing. Term Common Synonym CW Coauthoring, (a) collabora-

tive authoring, (a) collab-

orative composing, (b)

collaborative editing, (c)

group writing, group

authorship, (a) joint

authoring, (a) shared-

document collabora-

tion, team writing CW activity CW document

control modes CW roles CW responsibilities CW software CW technology, CW

tools CW strategy Coordination approach CW work modes Cooperative

writing Group authoring Group drafting Group editing Single-author Single writing

writing (a.) Sometimes this refers only to publishing tasks. (b.) Sometimes this refers only to creative writing tasks in English composition. (c.) Sometimes this refers only to the activities of editing, reviewing, and revising. Table 2. Summary of Writing Strategies Writing Strategy When to Use Single-author When little buy-in is needed; for

writing simple tasks. such as meeting notes

and agendas; groups are small Sequential Asynchronous work with poor

single structure and coordination; when it

writing is difficult to meet often; for fairly

straightforward writing tasks;

small groups Parallel High volume of rapid input is

writing-- needed; software capable of

horizontal supporting this strategy is

division available; a mildly complex

writing task is easily segmented;

distributed groups have good

structure and coordination;

groups are small to large Parallel When high volume of rapid input is

writing-- needed; have software capable of

stratification supporting this strategy; writing

task that is difficult to segment and

fairly complicated; distributed

groups with good structure and

coordination; people have different

talents that can be used; groups are

small to large Reactive When high levels of consensus on

writing writing process and content are

needed; need high levels of

creativity; groups are small Writing Strategy Pros Single-author Efficient and

writing style

consistency Sequential Easy to

single organize and

writing simplifies

planning Parallel Efficient and

writing-- high volume

horizontal of output

division Parallel Efficient, high

writing-- volume of

stratification quality output,

less redun-

dancy, and

better use of

individual

talent Reactive Can build

writing creativity and

consensus Writing Strategy Cons Single-author May not clearly represent

writing group's intentions and less

consensus produced Sequential Lose sense of group,

single subsequent writers may

writing invalidate previous work,

lack of consensus, version

control problems,

inefficient, and one-

person bottlenecks Parallel Writers can be blind to each

writing-- other's work, redundant

horizontal work can be produced if

division poorly planned, stylistic

differences, potential

information overload,

and does not recognize

individual talent

differences well Parallel Writers can be blind to each

writing-- other's work, redundant

stratification work can be produced if

poorly planned, stylistic

differences, and potential

information overload Reactive Extremely difficult to

writing coordinate, problems with

version control, and most

software does not

effectively support this

strategy Table 3. The Common Activities of Collaborative Writing Activity Definition From Research Brainstorming Developing new ideas for a paper draft (Posner &

Baecker, 1992). Converging on Deciding what to do with the brainstormed ideas as

brainstorming a group (Lowry, Albrecht, Nunamaker, & Lee, 2002). Outlining Creating a high-level direction in which the docu-

ment will be going, including major sections and

subsections (Adkins, Reinig, Kruse, & Mittleman,

1999). Drafting Writing the initial incomplete text of a document

(this is typically synonymous with the term wri-

ting, but the term drafting is used to convey

incompleteness in the writing) (Galegher & Kraut,

1994; Horton, Rogers, Austin, & McCormick, 1991).

This is also synonymous with composing (Odell,

1985). Reviewing Having a participant or an editor read and annotate

document draft sections for content, grammar, and

style improvements (Galegher & Kraut, 1994). Revising Responding to review comments by making changes in

the draft that reflect the review comments (Gale-

gher & Kraut, 1994). Revising is used over editi-

ng to distinguish this activity more clearly from

copyediting and from the editorial process of

reviewing. Copyediting The process of making final changes that are uni-

versally administered to a docu- ment to make a

document more consistent (such as copy edits,

grammar, logic), usually made by one person char-

ged with this responsibility (often called edi-

ting [Posner & Baecker, 19921, which is a less

descriptive term). Table 4. Common Collaborative Writing Roles Role Definition Writer A person who is responsible for writing a portion of the

content in a collaborative writing document (Posner &

Baecker, 1992). Consultant A person who is normally external to a project team who

provides content- and process-related feedback but has

no ownership or responsibility for content production

(Posner & Baecker, 1992). Editor A person who has responsibility and ownership for the

overall content production of the writers, who can make

both content and style changes to a shared document

(Posner & Baecker, 1992). Reviewer A person who is internal or external to a collaborative

writing team who provides specific content feedback but

does not have responsibility to invoke the content