Refining temporal criteria to classify collaborative systems

This paper presents a critical analysis of classification criteria for collaborative systems, and a more refined proposal for their reformulation. The analysis highlights the multiplicity of definitions and uses of the same set of classification terms which denote time relationships in collaborative systems. We observe that authors, when characterizing collaborative systems, use concepts without giving an exact definition of them, and other authors use terms in an ambiguous way, as if they were synonyms, when in fact they are not. This situation encourages the revision and reformulation of the conflictive terms. Specifically, the real-time, concurrent, and synchronous concepts are analyzed, and we apply them in different areas of this technology, resulting in the reformulation of the criteria. In many cases the resulting criteria are truly new, due to the fact that their meanings, apart from being more precise, are different from the ones already used by some authors. The refining of criteria contributes to the organization and placement of the classification concepts, and helps in the formation of a useful vocabulary in order to better characterize collaborative systems.