Cognitive work analysis of new collaborative work

It is a complicated problem when the purpose of cognitive work analysis is to develop design of a new collaborative work task that does not yet exist, and which can only be established through the use of a collaboratory. The challenge for the analyst is to determine the constraints and possibilities for collaboration among actors in different organisations. Field studies have been undertaken using cognitive work analysis together with several different empirical techniques. The paper shows how this approach can help in the analysis of a new collaborative work task.