Computer Supported Collaborative Work - Making Information Aware

Focusing on awareness, this special issue is divided into three sections. The first part focuses on cooperating persons generating information that should be collected, distributed, and presented by awareness supporting systems. The second part gives an insight into different prototypes of awareness-supporting computer systems and presents conceptual designs, as well as some findings about their practical use. The third part emphasizes the use and impact of computer systems that provide and present awareness information. Thus, the articles reflect - to a certain degree - that conceptual discourses based on literature analysis can be found, as well as project-oriented findings in concrete practical settings. In addition, methodological approaches with a direct coupling to intervention exist before model-driven hypotheses with experimental tests and validations emerge. Consequently, the discussion about a 'young' field with human-computer interaction research is also opened up.