Abstract

An attempt is made to characterize situations in which the use of mobile devices can be useful for the development of collaborative systems. Mobile devices have advantages, such as small size, low cost, portability. They also have disadvantages, such as small viewing screen, little storage capacity, slow processor, unreliable communication facilities. The idea is to use them when advantages are most relevant and disadvantages do not affect the system under development. A collaborative system for text co-authoring is presented as an example of design for the best conditions of mobile devices inclusion. This system uses the mobile devices for individual tasks performed while away from normal work site in uncomfortable or congested places. © Springer-Verlag 2004.