Editing Collaboration tool (section)

== Early computer-based collaboration tools==
The first idea to use computers in order to work with each other was formed in 1945 when [[Vannevar Bush]] shared his thoughts on a system he named "[[memex]]" in his article "[[As We May Think]]".<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title = As We May Think|last = Vannevar|first = Bush|publisher = The Atlantic|date = July 1945}}</ref> A system that stores books, records and communications of an individual and makes them available at any time. At this stage he called it "''an enlarged supplement to his memory"''.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title = The New Media Reader|last = Wardrip-Fruin|first = Noah|publisher = The MIT Press|year = 2003|isbn = 0-262-23227-8|location = Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages = 135}}</ref>

=== Computerized office automation ===
In 1968 computer systems were brought in connection with communication and the potential way of working together when not at the same place by [[J. C. R. Licklider|Dr. J. C. R. Licklider]], head of the [[Defense Advanced Research Project Agency|U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (DARPA). In his article "The Computer as a Communication Device", he envisioned the idea that there should be a way of "facilitating communication among people without bringing them together in one place",<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title = The Computer as a Communication Device|last1 = J.C.R.|first1 = Licklider|publisher = Science and Technology|date = April 1968|pages = 29|first2 = Robert W.|last2 = Taylor}}</ref> which eventually led to [[ARPANET]], commercial time-sharing systems and finally the [[Internet]].

When the [[microcomputer]] was invented in 1970, everyone learned about [[office automation]], which led to the first collaborative software called [[EIES|Electronic Information Exchange System]] (EIES) that allowed to do surveys, threaded replies and group-structured approaches. In 1991 educator [[Clarence Ellis (computer scientist)|C. A. Ellis]] came up with the definition of the term "[[groupware]]" as "computer-based systems that support groups of people engaged in a common task (or goal) and that provide an interface to a shared environment".<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title = Groupware: some issues and experiences.|last1 = Ellis|first1 = Clarence|date = January 1991|pages = 10|last2 = Gibbs|first2 = Simon J.|last3 = Rein|first3 = Gail}}</ref> Paul Wilson then shaped the term "[[computer-supported cooperative work]]" (CSCW). He described it as "a generic term which combines the understanding of the way people work in groups with the enabling technologies of computer networking, and associated hardware, software, services, and techniques".<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title = Computer Supported Cooperative Work: An Introduction.|last = Wilson|first = Paul|publisher = Kluwer Academic Pub.|year = 1991|pages = 6}}</ref>

This laid the foundation to develop further on the ideas of [[groupware]] and in the 1990s [[Lotus Software|Lotus Notes]], [[Microsoft Exchange Server]] and [[Microsoft Outlook|Outlook]] were invented. In 2002 at the Social Software Summit [[Clay Shirky]] introduced the phrase “[[social software]]” as a "software that supports group interaction".<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url = http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html|title = Keynote on Social Software at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference|date = April 2003|website = Clay Shirky's Writings About the Internet|last = Shirky|first = Clay|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191122004739/http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html|archive-date = 2019-11-22|url-status = dead}}</ref>