ABSTRACT
The experiences, biases, and world views of developers of collaborative systems are important factors in understanding the systems’ adoption and use. This importance stems from the multiple-user attribute of collaborative tools. When a single-user tool does not match user needs and preferences, the individual user is able to change the tool relatively simply. Users of collaborative tools do not have this luxury, because several people need to use the same system.
This chapter describes relationships among the most common world views employed by developers of collaborative tools, and analyses such world views in terms of their potential to influence users. Adaptive Structuration Theory (Poole & DeSanctis, 1990) is proposed as a way to understand the behaviour and responses of users to the “spirit” or world view of particular tools. This chapter also examines the behavioural feasibility of developing tools to support multiple world views.
