Groupware Function: Collaborative Authoring and Document Sharing

The functionality to enable coauthors to work together on documents is now a mainstream feature of most word processors such as Lotus WordPro or Microsoft Word. This group working facility enables a document to be reviewed and changes suggested according to two different models.

First, it is possible for each author to insert annotations at different points in the document while retaining its original structure. In Word, annotations are shown as a separate pane at the foot of the screen with the choice of viewing all reviewers annotations, or selecting a particular coauthor.

The second method enables different authors to make revisions to the structure and content of the original document which are highlighted in particular colors or styles. Each author can be allotted a particular color and different types of revisions will be shown differently. For example, deletions as strike-through, insertions as underline. An example of a document being modified is shown in Figure 3.10. To review changes there is an option to review revisions in turn and either accept or reject them. Facilities also exist to compare separate documents and merge different versions.

When using these facilities it is important to limit access only to the authors either by using permissions assigned by the network administrator or by using password protection on the document through the authoring package.

Figure 3.10: Use of revision marks and annotations in Microsoft Word

The adoption of these features is limited in many companies as authors...