2/62.4.2.1 Asynchronous
Asynchronous computer conferencing has many advantages. The most important one is its time and place independence. Anybody who has ever tried to schedule a meeting knows how hard it is to find a time which is convenient for each member of the meeting. In addition, since worldwide cooperation is becoming more and more important, time zones are a major problem. E.g. an audio or video conference where one party is in Europe, another in New Zealand, and maybe a third in the USA (my own experience) may cause major difficulties. Asynchronous computer conferencing means that participants can work at times of their own choosing, and then present their results to the rest of the group.The simplest means for asynchronous computer conferencing is electronic mail (email). It is mainly used for one-to-one communication like ordinary postal mail. Nevertheless, thanks to multiple recipient lists it can also be used for one-to-many communication. However, many-to-many communication, which is of major benefit to collaborative work [Har90], is not supported by email. Bulletin boards and Internet newsgroups, which are two forms of many-to-many communication, are a widely used means for group work. Although these systems are primarily text-based, it is still possible to send encoded audio or video information.
Another approach is the idea of annotated HTML documents that are stored in a Hyperwave server [Mos97]. The group can discuss a topic by adding comments to a certain HTML document. Not only can the whole document be commented, but also parts of the document, single words or even graphics. There are also different kinds of annotations. A question, for instance, will be indicated by an icon with a question mark. These annotations are HTML documents as themselves, and can therefore be annotated as well.
Although asynchronous computer conferencing has many advantages, it is not suitable for all kinds of collaborative work. When the objective is to find a solution to a problem as soon as possible, synchronous communications may be appropriate. To get an answer to an email can sometimes take several days (if it is answered at all). Problem solving discussions have to be vivid in a certain way, and feedback is very important. Writing an email or posting an article into a newsgroup is sometimes like speaking into a vacuum because there is no actual partner to speak to [Har90]. This can be a handicap when these media are used for discussing a topic.