Lorrie Faith Cranor, author of the article Internet Collaboration: Good, Bad, and Downright Ugly (1996) says internet is often hyped as an excellent tool for facilitating collaboration between geographically distant people. She writes about internet being a impersonal medium, and that this also is one of the biggest difficulties Internet collaborators face. She claims, that in order for a group of people to work together effectively, it is important for them to understand each other. This cannot be easily achieved electronically, but once it is, reaching a consensus, compromising, communicating with each other, and understanding each other's concerns become much easier for members of a group. However, Cranor claims that members of electronic groups who have never met in person often are unaware of other members' personalities. This is why they tend to have trouble gauging group members' enthusiasm for an idea and easily misinterpret others' ideas. »Without subtle visual queue, a miscommunication can easily go unnoticed until someone takes issue with something which nobody meant to imply and a flame war erupts« (Cranor 1996).
Among eight tips for effective internet collaboration Cranor (1996) is pointing out, the first one is concerning the leader of a group: »Appoint a single leader or a small group of leaders who are responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly.« She also suggests that these leaders do not need to have any decision-making authority, but they should have some administrative responsibilities, for example setting and enforcing deadlines.
Reference:
Cranor, Lorrie Faith (1996): Internet Collaboration: Good, Bad, and Downright. Crossroads, The ACM Student Magazine, February 1996. Downloaded 29.10.2009 from: http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds2-3/lorrie.html
