Competence articulation

Many studies and concepts within CSCW deal with the temporal, spatial, social, and computational aspects of supporting collaborative work. In this paper we want to pay attention to another central aspect to the achievement of collaborative work, namely the competence of the people involved. In particular, we want to look at the dynamic quality of competences, and investigate how competence is mutually developed in coordinated work. We have termed this process competence articulation, a concept which tries to emphasize competence as well as social development of competence as part of cooperation. The concept has emerged out of a longitudinal participatory design process investigating telemedical treatment of diabetic foot ulcers using video phones. We analyze the transitions occurring with the introduction of synchronous telemedical consultations and detail how the online video facilitates communication options for competence articulation, which again improve collaboration and thus the quality of the treatment.