Low-Bandwidth Collaboration

Collaboration is low-bandwidth if the mediums in which groups of people coordinate require little resources.

For example, face-to-face collaboration is high-bandwidth in that it requires parties to be in the same place at the same time with no latency between them and transmits information instantaneously using verbal and non-verbal (e.g. body language, whiteboards, etc) communication. Where as sharing memos asynchronously is low-bandwidth collaboration in that it is not tightly coupled with time (read it when you have time) and relies exclusively on a single medium (written communication) to transmit information.

Both forms can be effective, but in different situations. Working on a distributed team necessitates low-bandwidth collaboration for processes to work smoothly, but things like design work is more efficient with high-bandwidth collaboration to get feedback quickly and be creative.