A distributed software environment for collaborative web computing

Poster in the proceedingsThis paper describes an extensible core software element of a distributed, peer-to-peer system, which provides several facilities in order to help the implementation of collaborative, Web-based, distributed information storing and retrieval applications based on a decentralized P2P model. Moreover, after an architectural introduction of the core distributed software module, the Core Node, this paper describes a real application, named DART Node, based on it and designed and implemented within the DART (Distributed Agent-based Retrieval Tools) project, which carries out the idea of the design and implementation of a distributed, semantic and collaborative Web search engine, including mobile devices integration use cases.

A DISTRIBUTED SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT FOR COLLABORATIVE WEB COMPUTING

Abstract: This paper describes an extensible core software element of a distributed, peer-to-peer system, which provides several facilities in order to help the implementation of collaborative, Web-based, distributed information storing and retrieval applications based on a decentralized P2P model. Moreover, after an architectural introduction of the core distributed software module, the Core Node, this paper describes a real application, named DART Node, based on it and designed and implemented within the DART (Distributed Agent-based Retrieval Tools) project, which carries out the idea of the design and implementation of a distributed, semantic and collaborative Web search engine, including mobile devices integration use cases

Enabling collaborative numerical modeling in earth sciences using knowledge infrastructure

Knowledge Infrastructure is an intellectual framework for creating, sharing, and distributing knowledge. In this paper, we use Knowledge Infrastructure to address common barriers to entry to numerical modeling in Earth sciences: computational modeling education, replicating published model results, and reusing published models to extend research. We outline six critical functional requirements: 1) workflows designed for new users; 2) a community-supported collaborative web platform; 3) distributed data storage; 4) a software environment; 5) a personalized cloud-based high-performance computing platform; and 6) a standardized open source modeling framework. Our methods meet these functional requirements by providing three interactive computational narratives for hands-on, problem-based research demonstrating how to use Landlab on HydroShare. Landlab is an open-source toolkit for building, coupling, and exploring two-dimensional numerical models. HydroShare is an online collaborative environment for the sharing of data and models. We describe the methods we are using to accelerate knowledge development by providing a suite of modular and interoperable process components that allows students, domain experts, collaborators, researchers, and sponsors to learn by exploring shared data and modeling resources. The system is designed to support uses on the continuum from fully-developed modeling applications to prototyping research software tools

Resource sharing platform architecture for an information product factory

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2003.Page 235 blank.Includes bibliographical references (p. 232-234).Efforts to share resources in collaborative pursuits are hindered by differing data representations, redundant applications, and software incompatibilities. Members of a collaborative effort often span different computational environments and the heterogeneity of contexts disrupts software interoperability. Sharing computational resources has become the focus of many research efforts. Efforts in the 1980s led to the Component Object Model (COM) [Williams, 1998a, 1998b, 1990] and the Common Object Request Broker (CORBA) architectures [Offall et al 1996; OMG, 2003]. In the 1990s both technologies were extended for network support. In recent years, Ian Foster, has phrased the distributed computing problem in terms of sharing computational resources. The grid problem is, "coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in dynamic, multi-institutional virtual organizations", "to support collaborative problem solving in industry, science, and engineering in a data rich environment". [Foster et al, 2001] This work presents a new resource sharing platform architecture for information products that leverages the lessons learned from physical product platforms, the concepts of web services, and grid computing. The platform developed in this thesis integrates the contributions of these three areas into a system that is shown to be more efficient and effective at producing software products.by Abel Sanchez.Ph.D

An Architectural Overview Of HydroShare, A Next-Generation Hydrologic Information System

HydroShare is an online, open-source, collaborative system being developed for sharing hydrologic data and models as part of the NSF’s Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) program. The goal of HydroShare is to enable scientists to easily discover and access hydrologic data and models, retrieve them to their desktop, or perform analyses in a distributed computing environment that may include grid, cloud, or high performance computing. Scientists may also publish outcomes (data, results or models) into HydroShare, using the system as a collaboration platform for sharing data, models, and analyses. HydroShare involves a large distributed software development effort requiring collaboration between domain scientists, software engineers, and software developers across eight U.S. universities, RENCI, and CUAHSI. HydroShare expands the data sharing capabilities of the Hydrologic Information System of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI): It broadens the classes of data accommodated, enables sharing of models and model components, and leverages social media functionality to enhance collaboration around hydrologic data and models. The HydroShare architecture is a stack of storage and computation, web services, and user applications. A content management system, Django+Mezzanine, provides user interface, search, social media functions, and services. A geospatial visualization and analysis component enables searching, visualizing, and analyzing geographic datasets. The integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS) is used to manage federated data content and perform rule-based background actions on data and model resources, including parsing to generate metadata catalog information and the distributed execution of models and workflows. A web browser is the main interface to HydroShare, however a web services applications programming interface (API) supports access through HydroDesktop and other hydrologic modeling systems, and the architecture separates the interface layer and services layer exposing all functionality through these web services. This presentation will describe key components of HydroShare and discuss how HydroShare is designedto enable better hydrologic science concomitant with sustainable open-source software practices

Mobile support in CSCW applications and groupware development frameworks

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is an established subset of the field of Human Computer Interaction that deals with the how people use computing technology to enhance group interaction and collaboration. Mobile CSCW has emerged as a result of the progression from personal desktop computing to the mobile device platforms that are ubiquitous today. CSCW aims to not only connect people and facilitate communication through using computers; it aims to provide conceptual models coupled with technology to manage, mediate, and assist collaborative processes. Mobile CSCW research looks to fulfil these aims through the adoption of mobile technology and consideration for the mobile user. Facilitating collaboration using mobile devices brings new challenges. Some of these challenges are inherent to the nature of the device hardware, while others focus on the understanding of how to engineer software to maximize effectiveness for the end-users. This paper reviews seminal and state-of-the-art cooperative software applications and development frameworks, and their support for mobile devices

A gentle transition from Java programming to Web Services using XML-RPC

Exposing students to leading edge vocational areas of relevance such as Web Services can be difficult. We show a lightweight approach by embedding a key component of Web Services within a Level 3 BSc module in Distributed Computing. We present a ready to use collection of lecture slides and student activities based on XML-RPC. In addition we show that this material addresses the central topics in the context of web services as identified by Draganova (2003)