Situative cooperation support for communities

Abstract

This paper describes new ways for virtual communities to create and share information, to structure and rate the relevant aspects of shared information, and to be aware of the ongoing activities in communities. It presents the Community Toolbar, a browser integrated portal solution which provides functions for communities so that they become a lively and growing. Especially the paper focuses the support of group awareness in communities. First, we discuss the requirements for awareness support. Second, the concepts of awareness profiles and awareness contexts are introduced. The functionality of the Community Toolbar is presented in detail.