ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some developments in the telecommunications domain of relevance for Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). The RACE programme is probably the main European forum within which networking and multimedia issues of relevance for CSCW are currently being addressed. RACE is an Research and Development programme within the European Community’s Framework Programme. Usage concepts and methods developed within the RACE programme are consolidates in the ‘Usage Reference Model’. The RACE Programme also has a significant usability engineering component. The overall synthesis work and usability engineering studies, the RACE usage programme also contains a number of actual pilot trials of advanced telecommunications services. The interesting features of the RACE Programme is the attention being given to the requirements of people with special needs. The relevance for this in the CSCW context is the new possibilities for inclusion of people with sensory modality impairments into cooperative work arrangements.
