Basic support for cooperative work. Version 3.2. Manual

BSCW Basic Support for Cooperative Work is a groupware system developed at GMD's Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT). Using the World-Wide-Web as its infrastructure, BSCW supports synchronous and asynchronous cooperation in workgroups. Groups may be established ad hoc, with members distributed geographically, coming from different organizations and using different types of computer systems. Based on the concept of Shared Workspaces, BSCW provided core functionality for - jointly creating, managing and sharing documents within a group, - real time or deferred group awareness, - preparing and initiating synchronous cooperation, e. g., via teleconferencing. Groups can use GMD's public BSCW server (http://bscw.gmd.de) or set up their own BSCW server as an extension of a suitable Web server on Unix or Windows NT platforms. This manual contains a brief introduction to BSCW, provides guidance for registering as a BSCW user and gives a detailed description of BSCW functionality from a user's point of view. The electronic version of the manual, in pdf format to be read on screen using Adobe's free Acrobat Reader program, provides numerous internal cross-references and links to Web sites.