COOPerator's mail-facility

By using the mail tool, group members can send each other messages. Meijer [1994] distinguishes two kinds of messages:

• messages that point out certain issues and
• general announcements.

Mail messages

The first kind of messages contain remarks that are too important to communicate through any of the other mechanisms The COOPerator offers (e.g., the annotations or the discussion facility) because they may not remain unnoticed. Examples of such messages include meta-discussions, which examine the discussion in the issue-space, important conclusive remarks that result from the discussion, as well as problems, solutions to problems, and messages that draw attention to nearing deadlines, or even 'S.O.S.' messages when there are no other ways to contact the co-authors.

The second kind of messages may be general remarks that do not necessarily have anything to do with the project at hand. Social talk is among these, as well as questions with regard to the project but which are not urgent.

Messages can be archived by their receiver. For this purpose, he is able to create as many archives (called mail boxes) as he pleases and move the messages back and forth. The sender of a mail message may express the importance of the message by forcing the receiver to reply to it. The mail message in question cannot be moved or deleted when it is not replied to first.

One might say that COOPerator's mail facility lacks some functions that are often found in general e-mail applications, like the list of features presented by Sproull [1991]:

• Composing a message using a word processor or text editor. Other files can be copied into the message. The mail program may check the names and addresses of recipients to detect typographical errors. The mail program dispatches the message.
• Extracting incoming mail from a mailbox and displaying a short summary of each message. Often the summary is denoted as the subject of the message.
• Selecting one or more messages and displaying them on-screen or printing them on a printer.
• Searching a mailbox or a set of saved messages by date, keyword, or sender's name.
• Deleting a message.
• Copying a message to a file for permanent storage or some other use.
• Replying to a message, using conventional message-preparation tools, but without having to specify the name of the receipient. A mail application should allow one to reply by annotating the original message, distinguishing original and reply text.
• Displaying messages by category, such as name of sender or subject.
• Determining whether a message has been read by its recipient; this is genrally known as a receipt confirmation.
• Finding mail addresses for individuals or groups in directory services.
• Maintaining a group list; for example adding or removing a name from distribution lists.
• Directing a mail agent to process mail automatically; for example, to reply to each message received with a message announcing that you are on holiday.

One can argue that our envisioned mail application does not particularly try to structure group communication. This is the case in The Coordinator which is described by Flores et. al. [1988]. It was based on a speech-acts theory of requests and commitments that compelled users to be explicit about their expectations of responses for a message (Shneiderman [1992]). But keep in mind that The COOPerator is a co-authoring tool and not a message system! The mail program is available next to communication facilities that do impose a structure on the interaction among the group members, like the discussion environment.