A CASE STUDY COMPARISON OF WEBSITE PRODUCTION VIA LONG DISTANCE VS PRODUCTION BY A LOCAL TEAM

The current climate in Universities is one which promotes collaboration between institutions, to achieve a number of positive outcomes such as reduce the cost per student, and improve the quality of learning outcomes. Recently, collaboration between institutions in different countries has been undertaken as way of internationalising courses or extending the access to education or resources. Yet collaboration is not a process that many academics have experienced, since much academic work is a sole activity, and in contrast, production of successful interactive multimedia projects is usually carried out by a team of people working together in the same unit or organisation, and usually the same city. With the rise of electronic production and communication tools, collaboration and teamwork over a distance have become possible, and the question as to whether the same guidelines for effective collaboration apply when a team of people separated by geographical and cultural differences work together to create a project. When considering whether it is possible to direct a large scale, creative project using solely electronic tools for communication and collaboration, various issues need to be taken into account in the management of the project. The Institute for Interactive Multimedia at UTS has been involved in the development and production of a collaborative pilot website 'Tumblong' with team members in both the United Kingdom and in Australia, and another web site 'Australia Street' involving only local team members. By comparing these two projects, conclusions can be drawn about many aspects of production, related to working with a team via long distance, using electronic mail and the web as tools for collaboration. This paper explores the team relationships and production guidelines on these two projects (which are very similar in scale and budget) at IIM, and reports on the differences between local and international collaborative co-production, exploring issues such as how successful the web and other tools are in overcoming distance, and whether these tools may be used to enhance communication and collaboration on inter-institutional and team based projects. A summary of outcomes is presented with suggestions for producers who may be considering development of collaborative projects with team members working long distance.