The Distributed Studio: Towards a theory of virtual place for creative collaboration

Virtual environments intended to support creative collaboration are being built without an informed consideration of the implicit interaction design choices being made. This paper proposes a set of design principles for such environments. Drawing from theory and reflective practice we suggest a conceptual focus on a Distributed Studio designed around the following five principles: Support Reconfiguration, Mix Realities, Control Access, Be A/Synchronous, and Transform Space into Inhabited Place

DIVE on the internet

This dissertation reports research and development of a platform for Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs). It has particularly focused on two major challenges: supporting the rapid development of scalable applications and easing their deployment on the Internet. This work employs a research method based on prototyping and refinement and promotes the use of this method for application development. A number of the solutions herein are in line with other CVE systems. One of the strengths of this work consists in a global approach to the issues raised by CVEs and the recognition that such complex problems are best tackled using a multi-disciplinary approach that understands both user and system requirements. CVE application deployment is aided by an overlay network that is able to complement any IP multicast infrastructure in place. Apart from complementing a weakly deployed worldwide multicast, this infrastructure provides for a certain degree of introspection, remote controlling and visualisation. As such, it forms an important aid in assessing the scalability of running applications. This scalability is further facilitated by specialised object distribution algorithms and an open framework for the implementation of novel partitioning techniques. CVE application development is eased by a scripting language, which enables rapid development and favours experimentation. This scripting language interfaces many aspects of the system and enables the prototyping of distribution-related components as well as user interfaces. It is the key construct of a distributed environment to which components, written in different languages, connect and onto which they operate in a network abstracted manner. The solutions proposed are exemplified and strengthened by three collaborative applications. The Dive room system is a virtual environment modelled after the room metaphor and supporting asynchronous and synchronous cooperative work. WebPath is a companion application to a Web browser that seeks to make the current history of page visits more visible and usable. Finally, the London travel demonstrator supports travellers by providing an environment where they can explore the city, utilise group collaboration facilities, rehearse particular journeys and access tourist information data

A cognitive model of user interaction as a guideline for designing novel interfaces

Adaptive systems behavior based on user models appear promising, mostly for complex environments such as mixed reality environments (MRE). An MRE comprises a virtual representation of the reality as well as physical objects augmented with virtual features. These objects are coupled with the virtual representation so that they can reflect its changes in real time. The proper design of an MRE and the user models that it implies are crucial for its success, but unfortunately, there are no guidelines for the design of these environments. In this paper we present a methodology for designing user models for MRE as well as for the augmentation of physical everyday objects. The user model describes users’ knowledge in two levels of abstraction: objects manipulation (syntax) and its meaning assigned by a community of practice (semantics).1st International Workshop on Advanced Software Engineering: Expanding the Frontiers of Software Technology - Session 2: Software ModelingRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Knowledge discOvery And daTa minINg inteGrated (KOATING) Moderators for collaborative projects

A major issue in any multidiscipline collaborative project is how to best share and simultaneously exploit different types of expertise, without duplicating efforts or inadvertently causing conflicts or loss of efficiency through misunderstanding of individual or shared goals. Moderators are knowledge based systems designed to support collaborative teams by raising awareness of potential problems or conflicts. However, the functioning of a Moderator is limited by the knowledge it has about the team members. Knowledge acquisition, learning and updating of knowledge are the major challenges for a Moderator's implementation. To address these challenges a Knowledge discOvery And daTa minINg inteGrated (KOATING) framework is presented for Moderators to enable them to continuously learn from the operational databases of the company and semi-automatically update their knowledge about team members. This enables the reuse of discovered knowledge from operational databases within collaborative projects. The integration of knowledge discovery in database (KDD) techniques into the existing Knowledge Acquisition Module of a moderator enables hidden data dependencies and relationships to be utilised to facilitate the moderation process. The architecture for the Universal Knowledge Moderator (UKM) shows how Moderators can be extended to incorporate a learning element which enables them to provide better support for virtual enterprises. Unified Modelling Language diagrams were used to specify the ways to design and develop the proposed system. The functioning of a UKM is presented using an illustrative example

A cognitive model of user interaction as a guideline for designing novel interfaces

Adaptive systems behavior based on user models appear promising, mostly for complex environments such as mixed reality environments (MRE). An MRE comprises a virtual representation of the reality as well as physical objects augmented with virtual features. These objects are coupled with the virtual representation so that they can reflect its changes in real time. The proper design of an MRE and the user models that it implies are crucial for its success, but unfortunately, there are no guidelines for the design of these environments. In this paper we present a methodology for designing user models for MRE as well as for the augmentation of physical everyday objects. The user model describes users’ knowledge in two levels of abstraction: objects manipulation (syntax) and its meaning assigned by a community of practice (semantics).1st International Workshop on Advanced Software Engineering: Expanding the Frontiers of Software Technology - Session 2: Software ModelingRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Conception d'un système d'annotation pour prendre des notes en réalité virtuelle

National audienceL'industrie utilise la réalité virtuelle pour tester et concevoir des solutions d'ingénierie en amont du prototypage physique. Les systèmes d'annotations leur permettent de capturer des idées, des observations , des remarques qui peuventémergerpeuvent´peuventémerger durant des sessions de travail collaboratif. De plus, grâcè a la flexibilité du numérique, il est facile de directement lier ce type d'information (les annotations) aux composants virtuels de la maquette numérique. Le bémol est que ces annotations restent dans l'environnement virtuel, si d'autres acteurs du projet veulent accéderaccéder`accéderà ces annotations, ils sont obligés de " retourner " dans l'environnement virtuel. Nous proposons un nouveau système d'annotation réellement utilisable en réalité virtuelle. Le design de notre système a pour ambition de faciliter la circulation de l'information entre le monde physique et les environnements virtuels. Pour cela, notre conception repose sur deux aspects principaux.Premì erement, la représentation des données afin de permettre l'accessibilité et la modification des annotations depuis le monde physique et l'environnement virtuel. Deuxì emement, l'interface a ´ eté conçue pour renforcer l'impression d'emmener des documents du monde physique dans le monde virtuel et vice-versa. Notre contribution est illustrée par l'implémentation d'une preuve de concept

Knowledge discOvery And daTa minINg inteGrated (KOATING) Moderators for collaborative projects

This article was published in the serial, International Journal of Production Research [© Taylor and Francis]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2010.532166A major issue in any multidiscipline collaborative project is how to best share and simultaneously exploit different types of expertise, without duplicating efforts or inadvertently causing conflicts or loss of efficiency through misunderstanding of individual or shared goals. Moderators are knowledge based systems designed to support collaborative teams by raising awareness of potential problems or conflicts. However, the functioning of a Moderator is limited by the knowledge it has about the team members. Knowledge acquisition, learning and updating of knowledge are the major challenges for a Moderator's implementation. To address these challenges a Knowledge discOvery And daTa minINg inteGrated (KOATING) framework is presented for Moderators to enable them to continuously learn from the operational databases of the company and semi-automatically update their knowledge about team members. This enables the reuse of discovered knowledge from operational databases within collaborative projects. The integration of knowledge discovery in database (KDD) techniques into the existing Knowledge Acquisition Module of a moderator enables hidden data dependencies and relationships to be utilised to facilitate the moderation process. The architecture for the Universal Knowledge Moderator (UKM) shows how Moderators can be extended to incorporate a learning element which enables them to provide better support for virtual enterprises. Unified Modelling Language diagrams were used to specify the ways to design and develop the proposed system. The functioning of a UKM is presented using an illustrative example

Knowledge discovery for moderating collaborative projects

In today's global market environment, enterprises are increasingly turning towards collaboration in projects to leverage their resources, skills and expertise, and simultaneously address the challenges posed in diverse and competitive markets. Moderators, which are knowledge based systems have successfully been used to support collaborative teams by raising awareness of problems or conflicts. However, the functioning of a moderator is limited to the knowledge it has about the team members. Knowledge acquisition, learning and updating of knowledge are the major challenges for a Moderator's implementation. To address these challenges a Knowledge discOvery And daTa minINg inteGrated (KOATING) framework is presented for Moderators to enable them to continuously learn from the operational databases of the company and semi-automatically update the corresponding expert module. The architecture for the Universal Knowledge Moderator (UKM) shows how the existing moderators can be extended to support global manufacturing. A method for designing and developing the knowledge acquisition module of the Moderator for manual and semi-automatic update of knowledge is documented using the Unified Modelling Language (UML). UML has been used to explore the static structure and dynamic behaviour, and describe the system analysis, system design and system development aspects of the proposed KOATING framework. The proof of design has been presented using a case study for a collaborative project in the form of construction project supply chain. It has been shown that Moderators can "learn" by extracting various kinds of knowledge from Post Project Reports (PPRs) using different types of text mining techniques. Furthermore, it also proposed that the knowledge discovery integrated moderators can be used to support and enhance collaboration by identifying appropriate business opportunities and identifying corresponding partners for creation of a virtual organization. A case study is presented in the context of a UK based SME. Finally, this thesis concludes by summarizing the thesis, outlining its novelties and contributions, and recommending future research

Grafo de relações : uma metodologia para coordenar dependencias entre atividades em ambientes computacionais

Orientadores: Leo Pini Magalhães, Alberto Barbosa RaposoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: Um dos desafios relacionados à coordenação em ambientes computacionais é a geração de estruturas para equacionar possíveis conflitos decorrentes de relacionamentos de dependências entre as atividades deste ambiente. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para automatizar a geração de mecanismos de coordenação em ambientes computacionais. Estes mecanismos são gerados a partir dos comportamentos temporais especificados para as atividades executadas no ambiente. Permite-se especificar comportamentos temporais alternativos e atividades alternativas, os quais podem ser selecionados em tempo de processamento mudando assim as relações temporais entre as atividades e/ou as atividades que participam destes comportamentos. O algoritmo proposto para este fim implementa uma política de coordenação global permitindo-se que a execução de uma atividade aconteça somente quando não violar qualquer restrição temporal do ambiente. A identificação e modelagem das restrições temporais que cada atividade deve atender resultam no mecanismo de coordenação, obtido em tempo linear no número de atividades. Exploram-se as capacidades de encapsulamento e compactação das redes de Petri coloridas na modelagem dos mecanismos de coordenação sem vincular o uso da metodologia a um conhecimento prévio deste sistema formal (redes de Petri coloridas)Abstract: One of the challenges related to the coordination of computational environments is the generation of structures to address possible conflicts related to dependences among the activities of these environments. This work presents a methodology to automate the generation of coordination mechanisms for computational environments. These mechanisms are generated from the temporal behaviors specified for the activities executed in the environment. It is possible to specify alternative temporal behaviors and alternative activities, which can be selected in processing time changing temporal relationships among the activities and/or the activities that participate in these behaviors. The algorithm proposed for this implements a global coordination policy, allowing that the execution of an activity only occurs when this doesn't violate any temporal restriction of the environment. The identification and modeling of the temporal restrictions that each activity should satisfy result in the coordination mechanism, obtained in linear time in the number of activities. The modular and compacting capacities of colored Petri nets are explored in the modeling of the coordination mechanisms without connecting the use of the methodology to a previous knowledge of this formal system (colored Petri nets)DoutoradoEngenharia de ComputaçãoDoutor em Engenharia Elétric

Technological framework for ubiquitous interactions using context–aware mobile devices

This report presents research and development of dedicated system architecture, designed to enable its users to interact with each other as well as to access information on Points of Interest that exist in their immediate environment. This is accomplished through managing personal preferences and contextual information in a distributed manner and in real-time. The advantage of this system architecture is that it uses mobile devices, heterogeneous sensors and a selection of user interface paradigms to produce a sociotechnical framework to enhance the perception of the environment and promote intuitive interactions. The thrust of the work has been on software development and component integration. Iterative prototyping was adopted as a development method in order to effectively implement the users’ feedback and establish a platform for collaboration that closely meets the requirements and aids their decision-making process. The requirement acquisition was followed by the system-modelling phase in order to produce a robust software prototype. The implementation includes component-based development and extensive use of design patterns over native programming. Conclusively, the software product has become the means to evaluate differences in the use of mixed reality technologies in a ubiquitous scenario. The prototype can query a number of context sources such as sensors, or details of the personal profile, to acquire relevant data. The data (and metadata) is stored in opensource structures, so that they are accessible at every layer of the system architecture and at any time. By proactively processing the acquired context, the system can assist the users in their tasks (e.g. navigation) without explicit input – e.g. by simply creating a gesture with the device. However, advanced interaction with the application via the user interface is available for requests that are more complex. Representations of the real world objects, their spatial relations and other captured features of interest are visualised on scalable interfaces, ranging from 2D to 3D models and from photorealism to stylised clues and symbols. Two principal modes of operation have been implemented; one, using geo-referenced virtual reality models of the environment, updated in real time, and second, using the overlay of descriptive annotations and graphics on the video images of the surroundings, captured by a video camera. The latter is referred to as augmented reality. The continuous feed of the device position and orientation data, from the GPS receiver and the digital compass, into the application, makes the framework fit for use in unknown environments and therefore suitable for ubiquitous operation. This is one of the novelties of the proposed framework, because it enables a whole range of social, peer-to-peer interactions to take place. The scenarios of how the system could be employed to pursue these remote interactions and collaborative efforts on mobile devices are addressed in the context of urban navigation. The conceptual design and implementation of the novel location and orientation based algorithm for mobile AR are presented in detail. The system is, however, multifaceted and capable of supporting peer-to-peer exchange of information in a pervasive fashion, usable in various contexts. The modalities of these interactions are explored and laid out in several scenarios, but particularly in the context of user adoption. Two evaluation tasks took place. The preliminary evaluation examined certain aspects that influence user interaction while being immersed in a virtual environment, whereas the second summative evaluation compared the utility and certain usability aspects of the AR and VR interfaces