| This study explores digital media-based design that facilitates event-driven collaboration. The research focus is to identify the design necessary to create features, applications and a rich collaborative environment that engages users and aligns participation to achieve tangible outcomes beyond content creation. Media theorist Clay Shirky writes of a different world because social tools are removing the obstacles of collective actions. In the absence of these obstacles, natural occurrences of collective efforts and community based-efforts are emerging. This study proposes a new design perspective and attention to facilitation that affords these collective actions. It develops a model that identifies critical elements in the design of a collaborative environment, and a communication discipline that facilitates a deeper level of connectivity. This work distinguishes between a network of friends and the coordination of a collaborative community formed to accomplish a task. The research explores the stages of creating an event, in the moment design to tailor the collaborative environment to achieve the expectations of the participants, and a design perspective that emphasizes the stakeholders.;A predictable collaborative effort can be facilitated by designing to the group process and by utilizing dialogic elements to capture the attributes of online, social media and to create events. To design a digital collaborative environment, there are three areas identified as instrumental. The three areas that must be reconsidered and reestablished to support a new collaborative environment include full-representation opposed to equal-participation, relevance in place of interests, and new definitions of "enrolled," "participation," and "contributor" which indicates a type of information instead of a degree of contribution. The digital collaborative environment proposed accommodates a dedicated community with a published vision and purpose, and provides the tools that enable actions toward an event that reflects the shared mission of the group. The unique aspect of this study is rethinking collaboration with an emphasis on communication and design that highlights, promotes and facilitates the development of new ideas that today get lost as simple posts. |
