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{{featured|July|2018}}{{External Links}}{{redirect|Collaboration||Collaboration (disambiguation)}}
A '''collaboration''', or '''collab''' for short, is a group of [[Scratcher]]s who work together to make one or more things (these can include, but are not limited to, [[project]]s), or to do something related to the community. A collaboration may also sometimes be referred to as a "company",{{cite post|Andrés Monroy-Hernández|13/1/2010|the groups commonly referred as "companies", that is group of Scratchers that get together (virtually) to create collaborative projects.|https://web.archive.org/web/20100509195102/http://blog.scratch.mit.edu/2010/01/scratch-companies-by-guest-blogger.html|name=company}} coming from the idea that these groups of Scratchers exemplify a great amount of teamwork and dedication. Each Scratcher contributes their talents to the benefit of other team members, very much like how a real company operates.{{cite post|cocoanut|12/12/2009|These teams were coined as "companies," and each one was composed of hardworking "employees," each specializing in their own talents, whether the talents be programming, art, animation, music, or anything.|[[ar-post:277409]]}} In the official [[Scratch Team Blog]], andresmh has described collaborations as "a group of Scratchers that get together (virtually) to create collaborative projects",<ref name="company" /> and mentions how collaborations on Scratch are an "interesting phenomena" occurring in the [[Scratch Website]]. Many companies/collaborations have their own logo, [[studio]], [[Scratch Discussion Forums|forum]] thread, and sometimes even a motto. [[Scratch Timeline#2010|2010]] has been called "the year of the companies" by some users{{cite post|Ace-of-Spades|31/1/2010|This'll be the year of the companies.|[[ar-post:314986]]}}{{cite post|archmage|2/2/2010| Some have said that 2010 is the year of the companies|[[ar-topic:29961]]}} due to many companies/collaborations forming, possibly due to the addition of the [[Collaboration (forum)|Collaboration Forum]].

[[Scratch 2.0]] has many new capabilities which allow users to collaborate on projects more easily.{{cite post|Lightnin|24/2/2010|One of our goals for Scratch 2.0 is to better support collaborations like these|[[ar-topic:31223]]}}

A common structure of having [[Collaboration Accounts|all of the members share a single account]] is not allowed by the [[Scratch Team]] (except immediate family members), and such accounts will be blocked.{{cite post|Za-Chary|7/3/2021|[Shared accounts] are not allowed, and will be blocked.|[[post:4967646]]}} Instead, it is recommended that the users remix existing projects by other members of the collaboration. The owner of the collaboration account can then put the final result on it.

== Common Jobs in Collaborations ==
In a collaboration, members of the collaboration are assigned to a particular job. Listed below are some common jobs in collaborations.{{cite post|Block_Point_Studios|14/10/2020|Cloudly - Ask, Help, Share[see Jobs section]|[[topic:447546]]}}{{cite post|wgyt|9/10/2020|Open Positions|[[post:4487614]]}}{{cite post|CodingLand|30/12/2020|Positions: Are you interested? Then you might want to read this:|[[topic:470892]]}} Collaboration forum threads often feature a form which in used to recruit users to a job in a collaboration.{{cite post|p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-|16/12/2020|Interested in applying? Great! Fill out the form below:|[[post:4692929]]}}{{cite post|Nezon|17/10/2020|Here is the application form.|[[topic:448327]]}}

;Programming: Programmers may help with the coding in Scratch. Some collaborations will have ranks of programmers based on their abilities and skill in that area. Some collaborations have specialized programmers that work in areas such as Cloud Variables and using 3D in Scratch.
;Art: Graphic Artists may design the sprites for projects and they may also help with graphics for the collaboration and complete art orders for shop collaborations.
;Sound: Sound Experts may deal with sound effects in Scratch projects or composing music for projects. Some band collaborations have different roles for sound experts such as drummers, composers, pianists, and guitarists.
;Ideas: Ideas people may help with brainstorming and design the game. Many collaborations allow all members to brainstorm but not all.
;Testing: Testers help test the current project and give feedback including bugs and areas for improvement.
;Story: Writers may write storylines for projects or for a writing-based collaboration.

If the collaboration is left for too long, participants can lose interest and greatly slow the project.{{cn|date=June 2021}} Many people use the [[scratch:discuss/10/|Collaboration forum]] for discussions.

== Common Structures of Collaborations ==
Although all collaboration structures are different, here is one common collaboration hierarchy. Many collaborations have set-ups similar to this, but not all.
* '''Leader''': There is usually one leader per collaboration. They tend to have the last say and are responsible for the overall running of the collaboration.

* '''Executives''': Executives are members trusted by the leader and are responsible for helping the leader run the collaboration. They often have the power to hire and dismiss members. May be known as Deputy Chief, Assistant Executive and Co-leader.

* '''Managers''': Managers tend to have less power than executives and may not be able to hire and dismiss members. They are responsible for running teams within the collaboration.

* '''Worker''': Although the workers have the least power, they make up the backbone of a collaboration.

;Standard Structure: Similar to the hierarchy above.

;Democratic Variant: Similar to the hierarchy above, but members are allowed to vote on some decisions.

;Community Variant: This collaboration tends to be between a few friends on Scratch who have equal say in decisions about the collaboration.

;Massive Variant: This collaboration has many members. They usually have several layers of teams and departments with many levels to the hierarchy.

== Elections and Voting Systems ==
In some collaborations, certain roles are elected by the whole collaboration. There are some different voting systems collaborations can use for this. Included below are examples of a few of them.

;First Past The Post: Also known as Winner Takes All and abbreviated FPTP. This is voting at its most simple. Essentially, the voters choose one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins. It is quick, simple, and easy to organise. However, it allows a minority rule and causes a spoiler effect.

;Alternative Voting: Abbreviated to AV and also known as instant-runoff voting, this voting method is used to elect one candidate from many.
# Instead of voting in First Past The Post, voters do not just chose one candidate, but rather order them in preference.
# If one candidate has over 50% of votes cast, they win.
# If not, eliminate the candidate with the lowest number of votes.
# Take the votes from this candidate and redistribute them based on the order of preference on each individual vote cast. Repeat steps 2 - 4 until one candidate reaches 50%.
Alternative voting removes the spoiler effect and allows the candidate that the majority agree on to win. However, it is a more complicated process than FPTP.

;Single Transferable Vote: STV tries to achieve proportional voting and is used to elect multiple officials. Before the voting process, the number of elected officials must be decided to calculate the threshold. To work out the threshold, you can use different formulas:

* Droop Quota: votes needed to win = (votes cast / (seats to fill + 1)) + 1
* Simple: votes needed to win = (votes cast / seats to fill)

== Other Types of Collaborations ==
Not all collaborations are restricted to project creation {{-}} some groups decide to collaborate on other things, such as [[Scratch Modification]]s. Some collaborations try to give advice with Scratch, such as H4U (Help For You).

=== Band Collaborations ===
Band collaborations are collaborations that make music. Some band collaborations record their music separately before sharing it with the others to improvise and record their parts, and then putting it together into one song.

=== Newspaper Collaborations ===
A newspaper collaboration is a collaboration that publishes "newspapers". Some of them publish monthly,<ref>[[users:Scratchable_Mag]]</ref> some of them publish weekly,{{cite post|StarscreamClone|22/7/2013|This is the new weekly ‘scratchpaper’|[[topic:11556]]}} and some aim to publish daily.{{cite post|Tierage|14/8/2013|it was a daily newspaper|[[topic:13466]]}}

Content ranges from articles about parts of Scratch,{{cite post|Centrifugal|17/8/2013|Another proposal piece [...] Moderation Forums|[[post:114321]]}} game reviews,{{cite post|goldfish678|23/7/2013|Game review|[[post:90044]]}} and interviews with Scratchers.{{cite post|ThePancakeMan|14/9/2013|for the interview|[[post:139217]]}} Often members of these types of collaborations will either write new articles or edit existing articles. The finished project will usually contain buttons allowing one to skip from one article to the next.

=== Studio Collaborations ===
Some Scratchers may collaborate in making a studio that serves a specific purpose to the Scratch Community. Projects relating to the purpose of the studio will be added. Since studio collaborations have very specific intentions, curators of studio collaborations may be picked cautiously and sparsely.

== Other kinds of collaborations ==
One of the most often collaborations are where two Scratchers agree to make a collaboration together, and make projects on any kind of topic. Another one can be an account where a certain group of curators in a studio agree to make an account, and make projects that have certain activities for that certain studio.

== Collab Camp 2011 and 2012==
{{main|Collab Camp}}
The Scratch Team released a remix of the [[Collab Challenge]] on August 1, 2011, called the [[Collab Camp]]. Users had to work together to create interactive stories. It was successful the first year so they decided to do it again, but this time it was on February 12, 2012. Users had to create a music mashup.

== I'd Like to Teach the World to Code ==
In May [[Scratch Timeline#2015|2015]],<ref>[[projects:63614162]]</ref> the Scratch Team hosted a collaboration with anyone that was interested on Scratch. People could remix [[projects:63614162|this]] project, record themselves singing the "I'd like to teach the world to code" song, written by [[Scratch Team]] member mres, add their own characters, and submit a link to their project [[studios:1246906|here]]. Many people participated in this collaboration, and it was featured in some news articles.{{cite post|Cory Doctorow|3/6/2015|Scratch creators around the world collaborate on "I'd like to teach the world to code"[title]|https://boingboing.net/2015/06/03/scratch-creators-around-the-wo.html}} The final project can be found [[projects:65347738|here]].

== See Also ==
* [[Collaboration (forum)]]
* [[Collab Challenge]]
* [[Collab Camp]]



{{Tutorial Page}}

== Scratch Links ==
* [[scratch:discuss/10/|Discuss Scratch - Collaboration forum]]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Collaborations| ]]
[[de:Kooperation]]
[[ja:合作]]