Discussions are either objects on their own within a folder or are attached to objects such as documents or URLs. A discussion consists of notes — basically short pieces of text “pinned to a bulletin board” for all members of a workspace to read and react on. One specific type of reaction is to write another note that refers (‘replies’) to an earlier one, as

• answer to a question;
• counter-argument to an argument;
• additional piece of information to a topic.

The author of a note that replies to another note extends and refines a network of notes — inside a discussion or even across the boundaries of discussions. This network of notes linked by replies remains intact when a note is transferred to a different discussion, to your clipboard or even to your trash.

A discussion forum may contain notes, that do not refer to one another, and may also contain several “threads” of notes replying to notes replying to notes, etc.

The discussion page shows an entry for each note of the discussion. The entries of notes that belong to a particular thread may be grouped together:

• Select  View    Sort    by Thread  in the top menu.

Notes may contribute different types of content to a discussion, possibly reflecting the author’s attitude. BSCW lets you characterize your contribution by certain types, which are displayed as icons along with the note. FIT Fraunhofer’s public BSCW server offers the following types:

(neutral) Note

Pro = approval

Con = disapproval

Angry = strong disapproval

Important! = significant contribution to the discussion

Idea = sudden inspiration