A common form of collective memory is the groupauthored document. Examining collaborative writing from the group memory perspective may yield important design and theoretical insights. This paper views collaborative writing as a cognitive process in which a portion of group memory is formalized. This view is the basis for expanding an existing model of individual writing to include colla.borati...

Builders of groupware writing technologies need a better understanding of collaborative writing if their systems are to adequately address user needs. This paper presents a taxonomy of joint writing based on an analysis of interviews with authors who have written documents together. The taxonomy describes joint writing in terms of four components: roles played in the collaboration, activities p...

Jeanette Winterson’s Gut Symmetries ‘collapsed’ on her three times during the writing process and she had to throw away substantial drafts. In a Paris Review interview (1997) states: ‘You really have faith – it is question of you do believe, because there no other way … There nothing say that covered pages in past will cover them future. Or they be any good. are guarantees.’ This can confrontin...