AntiGroupWare and Second Messenger

Decision-making in groups has great potential due to the possibilities for pooling ideas and sharing knowledge, but also great drawbacks due to the social pressures inherent in these situations that can limit free exchange of these ideas and knowledge. This paper presents two technology-based approaches to improving group decision-making, Second Messenger and AntiGroupWare. Second Messenger -- a system that encourages groups to change their interaction styles during meetings -- is designed to improve meetings, while AntiGroupWare -- an on-line polling system that allows companies to gather information through flexible, iterative polling of its employees -- is designed to avoid them altogether. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]