The Design of Loops: A Web-Based Environment for Persistent Conversation and Community

We describe the design of Loops, a second-generation CMC system aimed at small to medium-sized groups in a corporate environment. We discuss the rationale behind the system, its goals, their realization in an implemented architecture and user interface, and our initial experiences with deployments of the system to two groups. In the course of this discussion we discuss two secondary themes: our design-oriented approach to research that focuses on system implementation and deployment; and our observations of and designs for the use of simple text for a wide variety of collaborative purposes.