Remote Cooperation:
CSCW Issues for Mobile and Tele-Workers
Alan Dix and Russell Beale (eds.)

When you next pass a motorway being repaired or widened and you see blocks of concrete being manoeuvred into position by a large crane a few feet away from traffic passing through a contraflow at 50 mph, think of CSCW. For in this world of "muck and bullets" a revolution is about to occur. In a very few years, the hard hat and safety boots are going to be joined on site by the electronic hard hat and the laptop computer.

For a small and dedicated team of engineers in BICC Central Development this will be the culmination of five years hard work. The team that started out on the factory floor and then turned their attention to the factory floor are now close to realising their vision of a seamless CSCW environment that starts in the client's offices, encompasses the designer's office and the construction site offices and ends on the construction site itself.

BICC have shown that demand for this sort of environment exists and are looking to the communications and IT companies to develop suitable equipment. There is a great deal of latent demand in the construction industry for IT and telecommunications if the suppliers are prepared to listen the construction industry and respond positively to the industry's unique requirements. Make no mistake, when the technology described in this chapter becomes readily available the construction industry will put it to immediate and profitable use.