Cooperation in Parallel

This thesis builds on theory from the fields of computer supported cooperative work and computer supported collaborative writing and the example of work in the free and open source software development communities to describe “cooperation in parallel” — a mode of collaborative writing among parties with diverged goals and distinct documents. It examines the social and technological requirements of cooperation in parallel for writing and considers the effectiveness of existing technologies ability to address them. It then presents the design and evaluation of TextNet: a wiki for document writing that uses techniques from software development including branch creation and tracking features and introduces a text-specific interface for merging changes and representing and resolving conflicts. It concludes by arguing that TextNet makes important steps toward the support cooperation in parallel for writing. Thesis Supervisor: Walter Bender Title: Senior Research Scientist, Program in Media Arts and Sciences