Collaboration
According to MetaCollab [1], Collaboration differs from cooperation:
URL = http://collaboration.wikia.com/wiki/Collaboration
Dave Pollard has an extensive graphic outlining the differences between coordination, cooperation, and collaboration.
Differentiation 1
"* Cooperation: Obtain mutual benefit by sharing or partitioning work
- Collaboration: Achieve collective results that the participants
would be incapable of accomplishing working alone
"Optimal application
- Coordination: Harmonizing tasks, roles and schedules in simple
environments and systems
- Cooperation: Solving problems in complicated environments and
systems
- Collaboration: Enabling the emergence of shared understandings
and realization of shared visions in complex environments and systems" (http://collaboration.wikia.com/wiki/Collaboration)
Differentiation 2
From the CommunityWiki at http://www.communitywiki.org/CwordProblem
"Cooperative: working together, but through adherence to a set of shared rules or norms. Communication or coordination is not required. A market, or the way people appropriate goods from a commons are examples of such cooperation.
Collaborative: Implies that people are making efforts to work together and with purpose, usually around a mutual-agreed upon outcome or project." (http://www.communitywiki.org/CwordProblem)
More Information
Expanded treatment at http://collaboration.wikia.com/wiki/Collaboration
Dave Pollard on collaboration at http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/03/25.html#a1090
