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

This chapter discusses activity coordination in distributed working environments. Cooperation between geographically dispersed locations is based on asynchronous, low-bandwidth communication. Due to periodic disconnection, decisions for commonly processed activities may have to be made on one's own without the possibility of further consultation. Necessary information may not be available which implies the need to make decisions on the basis of incomplete information. Although well-known consistency schemes can be applied to support activity coordination in distributed working environments, consistency of data between different locations cannot always be guaranteed. These facts emphasize people's social competence and responsibility, and activity coordination tools have dealt with it by providing means for flexible and dynamic self coordination support rather than offering pre-defined coordination procedures neglecting people's collaboration skills.