We call knowledge of such a collaborative practice an "internal collaboration script" and regard them as configurations of knowledge components about a collaborative practice.
It is assumed that this guidance emerges as a consequence of the way in which these external representations influence collaborators' configuration of internal collaboration script components.
A straightforward consequence seems to be that it is more effective to first facilitate the development of the internal collaboration script and then collaboratively learn the subject matter knowledge (O'Donnell & Dansereau, 1992).
One way to compensate for lacking or nonfunctional internal collaboration scripts is to provide collaborators with external collaboration scripts (King, 2007; Kollar, Fischer, & Hesse, 2006; Rummel & Spada, 2005; Weinberger et al., 2005) that guide individuals in a collaborative situation.
However, the individual will not have entered the situation without internal collaboration script components about other collaborative practices that may share at least some aspects (e.g., scenes) with the present situation.
In terms of the internal script reconfiguration principle, learners who experienced their selected internal collaboration scripts producing expectation failures during collaborative solving of ill-structured problems were more likely to reconfigure their internal collaboration script, thereby enabling them to better solve ensuing ill-structured problems.
Empirical support comes from a study that examined the extent to which internal collaboration scripts affect the quality of collaborative argumentation in a CSCL inquiry unit (Kollar et al., 2007).
Blue House is meant for more than internal collaboration: IBM also aims to let users collaborate over the Web with other organizations, creating what it describes as a social network of business users.
An internal collaboration script is a configuration of knowledge components about a collaborative practice and its parts at different levels of complexity (the so-called internal collaboration script components) that guide the person's understanding of and actions in the collaboration.
The engine has been modeled and designed as a foundation for the development of collaborative environments for tooling companies to improve business performance by enhancing internal collaboration, maximizing information sharing and reuse, and seamlessly linking business activities.
