Memory-based feedback controls to support groupware coordination

In this paper we first present an empirical study of groupware use illustra ting problems that users faced with restricted feedback about others' activ ities. Awareness can aid users in learning interdependencies, and in formin g conventions to regulate system use and information-sharing. As a solution to providing awareness, we integrate the framework of organizational memor y with intelligent agent technology to provide a coordination mechanism tha t enables the structuring of awareness events and gives information about t he users' feedback control. In the proposed model, feedback control relatio nships are captured into a multilayered model of organizational memory and transferred to users by agents-facilitators. The approach is based on a sys tem dynamics approach to organizational learning.