  In many instances of online collaboration, ideation and deliberation about
what to write happen separately from the synthesis of the deliberation into a
cohesive document. However, this may result in a final document that has little
connection to the discussion that came before. In this work, we present
interleaved discussion and summarization, a process where discussion and
summarization are woven together in a single space, and collaborators can
switch back and forth between discussing ideas and summarizing discussion until
it results in a final document that incorporates and references all discussion
points. We implement this process into a tool called Wikum+ that allows groups
working together on a project to create living summaries-artifacts that can
grow as new collaborators, ideas, and feedback arise and shrink as
collaborators come to consensus. We conducted studies where groups of six
people each collaboratively wrote a proposal using Wikum+ and a proposal using
a messaging platform along with Google Docs. We found that Wikum+'s integration
of discussion and summarization helped users be more organized, allowing for
light-weight coordination and iterative improvements throughout the
collaboration process. A second study demonstrated that in larger groups,
Wikum+ is more inclusive of all participants and more comprehensive in the
final document compared to traditional tools.
