CSCW: The development of a taxonomy

Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) is a research field that studies the use of computer technology for group work. A review of the CSCW literature found that the use of terminology and definitions were inconsistent. This paper reports on the process of development of an holistic taxonomy of terminology and related definitions used in the CSCW literature from 1996 to 2003. The taxonomic structure will provide a framework for classifying the terminology and defining each concept to improve communication in this field. The completed structure will be presented to other researchers to determine implications for research practice

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

JACIE - A scripting language for Internet-based multimedia collaborative applications.

"The Internet has opened the opportunity for geographically dispersed computer users to concurrently interact, collaborate and socialise in a virtual group environment. It has shifted the nature of Internet users from "individualistic net-surfers" to "active collaborative teamworkers". But developing Internet-based collaborative applications is very laborious, tedious and time consuming. Besides patience, knowledge and skill in low-level network programming are required especially for managing interactions and communications. This thesis presents a research on the construction of a development tool for collaborative multimedia applications. The tool, named JACIE (Java-based Authoring language for Collaborative Interactive Environments), is a script language which has been developed to support rapid implementation of a wide range of network-based interactive and collaborative applications. In particular, it facilitates the management of interaction and communication through simple communication primitives such as channels and interaction protocols, hence hiding much network programming from programmers. JACIE also features a template-based programming style, a single program for both client and server, and platform-independence by using Java as the target language. A compiler prototype has been developed that translates JACIE codes to Java. Several sample applications have been implemented in JACIE and are discussed in the thesis. The major research contribution is a high-level abstraction language for collaborative multimedia applications that simplifies many programming tasks. JACIE can be a useful multimedia software engineering tool well-suited for a wide range of collaborative applications, be they stand-alone client/server applications or Web-based client/server applets.

An analysis framework for CSCW systems

Software toolkits are under development to help construct applications that support group-working. Toolkit developers adopt different approaches to group-work support in order to tackle different issues and a toolkit is commonly characterised by the approach adopted. It is difficult to compare toolkits because of this lack of apparent commonality and it is difficult to decide which toolkits meet specific application requirements. [Continues.

GeNeMe ´99 - Virtuelle Organisation und Neue Medien 1999: Workshop GeNeMe99 - Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien: TU Dresden, 28./29.10.1999

Aus dem Vorwort: 'Wir freuen uns, mit dem Band GeNeMe99 die Beiträge des zweiten Workshops zu GeNeMe - Gemeinschaften in neuen Medien - präsentieren zu können. Damit erfüllt sich zumindest im Ansatz die mit der GeNeMe98 verbundene Absicht, eine Arbeits und Veranstaltungslinie zu begründen. Treffend aktuell reflektiert folgende dpa-Meldung zum diesjährigen 'European IT Forum' in Paris vom 13. September des Jahres die Herausforderungen an Forschung und Praxis zur Verwirklichung des GeNeMe-Trends. Europa wird nach Einschätzung von Analysten in den nächsten Jahren im elektronischen Handel über das Internet kräftig aufholen. Damit könne Europa zum größten zusammenhängenden Markt im E-Commerce werden. Um im Wettbewerb bestehen zu können, müßten die Unternehmen aber ihre gesamte Firmenstruktur auf die elektronische Zukunft ausrichten. Das gelte auch für Unternehmen außerhalb der Technologie-Branche.:A. EINFÜHRUNG 1 Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien - Quality of Service aus der Sicht von Nutzer, Betreiber und Service Provider 1 Dr.-Ing. habil. W. Pretzsch, Dipl.-Inform. D. Neumann B. AUSGEWÄHLTE ANSÄTZE ZUR ENTWICKLUNG UND TECHNOLOGIE VON VIRTUELLEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN 25 B. 1. Gruppenorientiertes Requirement Engineering auf der Basis von Lotus Notes 25 Prof. Dr. R Liskowsky, Dipl.-Ing. R Pjater, Dipl.-Inf. H. Steher B.2. Die technische Infrastruktur zur Teilnahme von unternehmen an Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien 49 M. Ecks, M. Senft Prof. Dr. J. Raasch B. 3. Context modeling of agile software and a context-based approach to support virtual enterprises 73 Dipl.-Inform. Duy-TuanNguyen, Dr. V. Do B. 4. Stabilität und Sicherheit im Web - Der Test webbasierter Anwendungen 89 Dr. R Schröder C. REFERENZMODELLE UND ARCHITEKTUREN VON GEMEINSCHAFTEN IN NEUEN MEDIEN 109 C. l. Ein Referenzmodell für virtuelle Unternehmen 109 Dipl.-Inform. (FH) J. Homann, Dipl.-Inform. D. Neumann C.2. Ein Referenzmodell fü r Gemeinschaften und Medien - Case Study Amazon.com 125 Dr. U. Lechner, Prof. Dr. B. Schmid, Dr. P. Schubert, Dipl. Inform. M. Klose, Stud. oec. O. Miler VIII C.3. Formalisierung und Architektur von Medien und ihren Gemeinschaften 151 Dr. U. Lechner, Prof. Dr. B. Schmid, Dipl. Inform. M. Klose CA. Analyse und Bewertung von wirtschaftsrelevanten Internet-Auftritten Mittelständischer Unternehemen in den neuen Bundesländern 181 Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf. E. Kosilek D. KOMMUNIKATION IN VIRTUELLEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN 197 D. 1. Das Potential von Virtual Communities auf Basis von Distributed Virtual Environments für Kundengewinnung und -Bindung 197 J. Templin, Dipl.-Inform. R. Dachselt D.2. Der Einsatz von Desktop-VR für E-Commerce-Anwendungen - Konzepte für dreidimensionale Produktpräsentationen 213 Dipl.-Inform. R. Dachselt D. 3. Die 3D Community als ein Frontend für internetbasierte Anlagenmanagementsysteme 233 Dr.-Ing. K. Richter E. LERNEN IN VIRTUELLEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN 255 E. 1. Ein Web-basierter Compuiergraphik-Kurs im Baukastensysten 255 F. Hanisch, Dr. R. Klein, Prof. Dr. W. Straßer E.2. Integration von Telelearning- und Teleworking-Applikationen 271 Dipl.-Inform. I. Braun, Dipl.-Inform. K. Franze, Dipl.-Inform. R. HEss, Dipl.-Inform. O. Neumann, Prof. Dr. A. Schill E.3. Ein Dokumentmodell für Kursdokumente in Webbasierten Virtuellen Lernumgebungen 291 Prof. Dr. K. Meißner, Dipl.-Inform. F. Wehner E.4. Die Net Academy als Medium für die Learning Community eines Masterprogramms an der Universität St. Gallen 307 S. Seufert, P. Schubert E.5. Das Project Net Academy 329 Dipl.-Kffr. D. Wittig E.6. „Distributed Learning“ unter Lotus Notes - ein Erfahrungsbericht 351 W. Schröter IX F. FACHÜBERGREIFENDE ASPEKTE 371 F. 1. Information Systems for Managing Second Order Dynamics of Organizations 371 Dr. F. Wierda F.2. E-commerce und seine Marktplätze 385 M. Skrzypek F.3. Unternehmensübergreifendes Workflow-Management als Instrument zur Unterstützung von Lieferketten (SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT) 393 Dipl.-Inform. M. Halatchev, Dipl.-Phys., Dipl-SWTE. Közle G. ANSCHRIFTEN DER AUTOREN 409 H. HINWEIS AUF DIE SPONSOREN 41

Managing Complexity in TeamRooms, a Tcl-Based Internet Groupware Application

This paper describes TeamRooms, a Tcl-based real time groupware application that provides "network places" for users to collaborate. TeamRooms is significantly more complex than previous groupware applications, providing not only generic tools such as shared whiteboards, but also custom groupware applets running within an OpenDoc-style embedded window. As well as describing TeamRooms itself, the paper relates the use of several Tcl programming techniques --- metaarchitectures, multiple interpreters, and embedded windows --- that are used to manage the resulting complexity of the system. Introduction This paper describes a novel groupware application called TeamRooms, written using Tcl/Tk. Groupware systems provide a means for several users to work together, even though they may be separated by distance. TeamRooms approaches this problem by providing "network places" on the Internet, where users can gather to meet in real-time or can asynchronously leave information for each other. ..