Relational Views as a Model for Automatic Distributed Implementation of Multi-User Applications

Multi-user applications support multiple users performing a related task in a distributed context. This paper describes Weasel, a system for implementing multi-user applications. Weasel is based on the relational view model, in which user interfaces are specified as relations between program data structures and views on a display. These relations are specified in RVL, a high-level, declarative language. Under this model, an application program and a set of RVL specifications are used to generate a multi-user application in which all issues of network communication, concurrency, synchronization, and view customization are handled automatically. These programs have a scalable distribution property, where adding new participants to a session does not greatly degrade over-all system performance. Weasel has been implemented, and was used to generate all examples in this paper

Abstract Bubbles: Navigating Multimedia Content in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

We aim to support spontaneous and opportunistic human behavior by taking advantage of an emerging environment for mobile ubiquitous multimedia applications enabled by the fusion of adhoc networks, peer-to-peer computing, and media-rich mobile devices. Guided by an ethnographic study of spontaneous and opportunistic human behavior, a new concept, called the Bubble concept, is proposed that helps users navigate multimedia content made available in mobile ad-hoc networks. The concept is intended to guide the design of user interfaces that provide users with impulses that may trigger spontaneity and opportunism. We used the Bubble concept to design and implement a portable audio player application that provides music impulses to users. The application runs on WLAN-equipped iPAQs