Asynchronous Collaboration Research Articles

ManyEyes: a Site for Visualization at Internet Scale

We describe the design and deployment of Many Eyes, a public web site where users may upload data, create interactive visualizations, and carry on discussions. The goal of the site is to support collaboration around visualizations at a large scale by fostering a social style of data analysis in which visualizations not only serve as a discovery tool for individuals but also as a medium to spur discussion among users. To support this goal, the site includes novel mechanisms for end-user creation of visualizations and asynchronous collaboration around those visualizations. In addition to describing these technologies, we provide a preliminary report on the activity of our users.

Wiki-Based Stakeholder Participation in Requirements Engineering

Requirements elicitation and documentation are complex activities. So, not only the requirements themselves but also the people involved and the means for managing the requirements will evolve during the project. For example, it might be necessary to add RE personnel, to document templates, or to change the requirements classification scheme. In summary, especially in participative RE, the underlying platform as well the RE approach must be flexible. As the well-known Wikipedia shows, wikis provide a flexible platform for asynchronous collaboration to create content in general. In this article, we investigate how to adapt this approach to support active stakeholder participation in RE. We include a document structure for wiki-based RE and discuss potential problems and solutions based on our experience

Beyond threaded discussion: Representational guidance in asynchronous collaborative learning environments

Although most online learning environments are predominately text based, researchers have argued that representational support for the conceptual structure of a problem would address problems of coherence and convergence that have been shown to be associated with threaded discussions and more effectively support collaborative knowledge construction. The study described in this paper sets out to investigate the merits of knowledge mapping representations as an adjunct to or replacement for threaded discussion in problem solving by asynchronously communicating dyads. Results show that users of knowledge maps created more hypotheses earlier in the experimental sessions and elaborated on them more than users of threaded discussions. Participants using knowledge maps were more likely to converge on the same conclusion and scored significantly higher on post-test questions that required integration of information distributed across dyads in a hidden profile design, suggesting that there was greater collaboration during the session. These results were most consistent when a knowledge map with embedded notes was the primary means of interaction rather than when it augmented a threaded discussion. The paper also offers a methodological contribution: a paradigm for practical experimental study of asynchronous collaboration. It is crucial to understand how to support collaborative knowledge construction in the asynchronous settings prevalent in online learning, yet prior experimental research has focused on face-to-face and synchronous collaboration due to the pragmatic problems of conducting controlled studies of asynchronous interaction. A protocol is outlined that enables study of asynchronous collaboration in a controlled setting.

Computer-supported collaborative supply chain modelling and simulation: a knowledge-centric approach

The availability of objective information and the accommodation of the different perspectives of stakeholders are critical issues in the collaborative design and/or improvement of a supply chain. To address these issues, this paper presents a collaborative, simulation modelling based approach that comprises a theoretically-founded method for the distributed and asynchronous collaboration of supply chain stakeholders, and a web-based tool to support it. The proposed approach aims at augmenting shared understanding, transparency of individual decisions and trust building along the supply chain through an improved, in terms of quality and buy-in, modelling process. Its application is demonstrated through a real case.

Multilayer Architecture in Collaborative Environment

Recently, there are products that have been carried out to develop distributed CAD systems with collaborative methodologies. But how to integrate between horizontal and hierarchical collaboration is difficult. In order to prevent problems occurring while integrating horizontal and hierarchical collaboration, a flexible and multilayer architecture based on Java and solid modeling kernel–Spring Solid–is proposed in this article. By implementing this architecture, we change the system's communication types into three types–‘Stand Alone’, ‘Thin Client-Thick Server’, and ‘Peer to Peer’. The data passed among this architecture are referenced from the concept of macro data. By utilizing this type of data, an asynchronous collaboration can easily be carried out. As these communication types are changeable and can also achieve asynchronous collaboration, we can integrate the horizontal and hierarchical collaboration more easily.

효과적인 분산저작을 지원하는 리눅스 WebDAV 클라이언트의 개발

WebDAV is a protocol which supports web-based distributed authoring and versioning, providing a standard infrastructure for asynchronous collaboration on various contents through the Internet. Current WebDAV-enabled authoring applications that support WebDAV, such as Microsoft office, Photoshop, or Dreamweaver, work by integrating WebDAV capabilities into the application. While this approach provides solid support for collaborative authoring, it has a drawback that each of the applications needs to support WebDAV capabilities in its own way. We developed a WebDAV client named DAView running on Linux KDE, which enables WebDAV-unaware authoring tools to have effective remote authoring capabilities. DAView provides a GUI view of a WebDAV server, similar to existing WebDAV-enabled file managers such as DAVExplorer. Unique among WebDAV file managers, it also provides the ability to launch the authoring application associated to a WebDAV server resource, automatically managing the locks on the resource.

A Study of Synchronous Versus Asynchronous Collaboration in an Online Business Writing Class

A case study examined the collaborative experiences of students in an online business writing classroom. The purpose was to examine the same groups of students working on collaborative writing assignments in both a synchronous (real-time) and an asynchronous (non-real-time) discussion forum. This study focused on examining the amount, pattern, and focus of interactions, as well as assessing students' attitudes toward communicating in the two different environments.

A web-based system for supporting collaboration towards resolving oncology issues

The coordinated consideration of diverse perspectives and knowledge sources in medical decision-making contexts is undoubtedly of crucial importance, in that it augments the quality of both the overall process and decisions to be made. Towards this end, this study presents a web-based system that aims at the exploitation of personalized knowledge through a structured process of collaborative and argumentative resolution of issues raised in such settings. By using the system, a consensus emerges through the process of collaboratively considering alternative interpretations of the issue under consideration. Using an illustrative example of collaboration between a group of experts deciding on the most appropriate treatment for a particular case of breast cancer, we present the design rationale, features and functionality of the proposed system. Much attention is also paid to the associated knowledge management issues. The system can be used for distributed, asynchronous collaboration, allowing users to surpass the requirements of working at the same place and time.

A System for International Telemedicine through Integrated Synchronous/Asynchronous Collaboration

To support international medical collaboration activities carried out among Japan, Sri Lanka and other countries in Asia, we have been developing a collaboration system, which incorporates synchronous and asynchronous collaboration paradigms through network-effective persistent information sharing. The designed system facilitates synchronous collaborative work on maxillo-facial cases through real-time high-quality image delivery and by bringing the system database objects to a shared-workspace. The asynchronous activities are supported through a web based collaborative environment that enables both activity-centric and object-centric navigation of collaboration contents incorporated with email notifications of the system updates. Multimedia records of synchronous sessions are posted to the system database for later reviewing. Geographically dispersed groups experiencing different scales of network heterogeneities are served by a distributed application level multicast overlay and an adaptive multimedia delivery mechanism. The designed collaboration system also features several useful collaboration tools, user friendly GUI and ubiquitous connectivity.

사용자 속성 관리의 효율적 지원을 위한 WebDAV 프로토콜의 확장

WebDAV(Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning)는 웹 기반의 분산 저작과 버전관리를 지원하는 프로토콜로서 인터넷을 통하여 다양한 콘텐츠의 비동기적인 협업을 지원하는 표준 하부구조를 제공한다. WebDAV의 속성 관리는 자원의 주요 정보를 속성으로 설정하여 관리할 수 있는 기능이며, 이들 중 사용자 속성은 사용자 측에서 자유롭게 정의되고 관리될 수 있다는 특징이 있다. 이러한 사용자 속성의 자유로운 설정 기능은 협업시스템과 같은 웍 기반의 응용 시스템을 WebDAV 기반으로 개발하는데 매우 유용하다. 그러나 기존의 WebDAV 속성 관리 기능만으로는 다양한 응용 시스템 개발에 한계가 있다. 본 논문에서는 WebDAV의 사용자 속성 관리를 효율적으로 지원하기 위하여 기존의 WebDAV를 확장한 DavUP(WebDAV User property design Protocol) 프로토콜과 이의 활용에 대하여 기술한다. DavUP은 응용 시스템의 컬렉션 구조와 자원의 속성구조에 대한 정의를 제공하고 있으며, 이를 처리하기 위하여 WebDAV 프로토콜에 새로운 헤더를 추가하고 관련된 WebDAV 메소드의 정의를 확장하였다. DavUP 프로토콜의 실제적인 활용을 위하여 자체 개발한 DAVinci WebDAV 서버가 DavUP 프로토콜을 지원하도록 확장하였으며, 확장된 DAVinci 서버를 이용하여 사용자에게 효과적인 자료 공유 및 교환 기능을 제공하는 일반적인 공개작업장을 실험적으로 개발하여 DavUP프로토콜의 유용성을 검증하였다. WebDAV(Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning), a protocol which supports web-based distributed authoring and versioning, provides a standard infrastructure for asynchronous collaboration on various contents through the Internet. A WebDAV property management is a function to set and manage the main information of the resources as properties, and a user property, one kind of the WebDAV properties, has the ability to be freely defined by users. This free definition of user property makes it very useful to develop web-based applications like a collaboration system based on WebDAV However, with an existing WebDAV property management scheme, there is a limit to develop various applications. This paper describes a DavUP(WebDAV User property design Protocol) protocol which extended the original WebDAV and its uti-lization which efficiently supports management of WebDAV user properties. DavUP needs the definition of the collection structure and type definition properties for an application. To do this, we added a new header md appropriated WebDAV method functions to the WebDAV protocol. To show the usefulness of DavUP protocols, we extended our DAVinci WebDAV server to support DavUP Protocols and experimentally implemented a general Open Workspace, which provides effective functions to share and exchange open data among general users, on the DAVinci.

KNOWLEDGE REUSE THROUGH CHANCE DISCOVERY FROM AN ENTERPRISE DESIGN-BUILD ENTERPRISE DATA STORE

This paper explores the possibilities of chance discovery in building design and construction knowledge towards knowledge reuse from past project experiences captured in a enterprise data store. The proposed approach leverages two innovative technologies, (1) ThinkTank™, a web-based asynchronous collaboration technology developed at the Project Based Learning Lab at Stanford University that provides many of the advantages of face-to-face team meetings combined with the utility of e-mail and the organization of content in a database; and (2) Techniques of chance discovery, composed of the Double Helix process of chance discovery, and KeyGraph, a method of visualizing the content of human communications, developed in the laboratory of Chance Discovery at the University of Tsukuba. An overview of the ThinkTank™ and KeyGraph is presented. The validation testbed is described and a concrete scenario of chance discovery of reusable knowledge from a past project is presented to illustrate the value of linking an enterprise data store such as ThinkTank™ and KeyGraph. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance of the double helix concept, i.e. first helix represented by the KeyGraph computer processing of the ThinkTank™ data, and the second helix represented by human interpretation and exploration of the KeyGraph representation of ThinkTank™ data. We emphasize that without the second helix, i.e. the human interpretation, contextualization and exploration of the results, the KeyGraph would offer only a visual representation of the data, but would not provide valuable input for decision making or knowledge reuse.

Asynchronous communication among clinical researchers: A study for systems design

Group work is an essential part of modern health care. Although there have been advances in the technology of communication, these have not necessarily led to efficient and effective communication among collaborating health-care professionals. Instead, barriers such as varied organizational cultures, different training backgrounds, and varied time schedules can overwhelm technological solutions and impede efficient communication. We focus on one particular sort of collaboration, that of group work around a clinical trial protocol, where the collaboration is asynchronous and the participants are geographically distributed. In this work setting, we have applied a computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) approach in two distinct ways. First, we used observational methods to uncover and understand a complex set of communication behaviors and needs. Second, we used participatory design and iterative prototyping to design a system that aims to improve communication and work flow among these collaborators. We found that these methods work well in tandem-our observational study helped better inform our design, and our prototyping cycles provided additional insight into the work. More specifically, we were able to identify a set of communication problems in the work that led us to specify a set of design desiderata for systems that support asynchronous collaboration around an evolving medical document.

Activity-based computing: support for mobility and collaboration in ubiquitous computing

This paper presents the design philosophy of activity-based computing (ABC), which addresses mobility and cooperation in human work activities. Furthermore, it presents the ABC framework, which is a ubiquitous computing infrastructure supporting ABC. The idea of ABC and the aim of the ABC framework is to: (1) support human activity by managing its collection of work tasks on a computer, (2) support mobility by distributing activities across heterogeneous computing environments, (3) support asynchronous collaboration by allowing several people to participate in an activity, and (4) support synchronous, real-time collaboration by enabling “desktop conferencing” by sharing the activity across several clients. During a period of two years, the ABC framework has been co-designed and evaluated in close cooperation with a range of clinicians in a hospital.

Consistency Control for Synchronous and Asynchronous Collaboration Based on Shared Objects and Activities

We describe a new collaborative technology that bridges the gap between ad hoc collaboration in email and more formal collaboration in structured shared workspaces. Our approach is based on the notion of object-centric sharing, where users collaborate in a lightweight manner but aggregate and organize different types of shared artifacts into semi-structured activities with dynamic membership, hierarchical object relationships, as well as real-time and asynchronous collaboration. We present a working prototype that implements object-centric sharing on the basis of a replicated peer-to-peer architecture. In order to keep replicated data consistent in such a dynamic environment with blended synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, we designed appropriate consistency control algorithms, which we describe in detail. The performance of our approach is demonstrated by means of simulation results.

웹데브를 지원하는 닷넷 기반의 탐색기 개발

WebDAV(Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, RFC 2518)는 인터넷을 통하여 원거리에 위치한 다수의 그룹들간의 협업을 지원하기 위한 프로토콜이다. 웹데브(WebDAV)는 웹 통신 프로토콜인 HTTP/1.1의 확장으로 인터넷을 통하여 다양한 콘텐츠의 비동기적인 협업을 지원하기 위한 표준 하부구조를 제공한다. 웹데브 클라이언트는 이러한 명세를 지원하는 웹데브 서버와 HTTP 요청을 통하여 서버 자원에 대한 변경 및 수정 작업을 수행하게 된다. 따라서 클라이언트는 뛰어난 동시성 제어와 속성 관리를 통하여 자원의 저작과 버전관리의 기능을 제공하는 것이 바람직하다. 본 논문에서는 유용성을 높이기 위하여 윈도즈 탐색기와 유사한 사용자 인터페이스를 가진 닷넷 기반의 웹데브 클라이언트를 개발하였다. 개발된 웹데브 클라이언트는 서버의 자원에 대한 저작 응용 프로그램의 실행과 적절한 잠금 제어를 지원한다. 또한, 프로세스 감시를 통하여 사용자에 의한 자원의 변경이 완료되었을 때 서버 자원에 대한 자동 갱신을 지원한다. 본 웹데브 클라이언트는 C＃ 언어로 개발된 닷넷 기반의 응용 프로그램으로 닷넷 기반구조를 지원하는 모든 플랫폼에서 실행된다. WebDAV is a protocol to support collaboration among one or more groups in geographically distant locations through the internet. WebDAV extends the web communication protocol HTTP/1.1 to provide a standard infrastructure for .supporting asynchronous collaboration for various contents across the internet. A WebDAV client uses HTTP requests to perform a renewal and update action to the resources in WebDAY servers. So, it is desirable that the client supports the ability of authoring and version management with a good concurrency control and property management. In this paper, to enhance usability, we developed a .NET-based WebDAV client with a user interface similar to the Windows Explorer. The developed WebDAV client supports easy launching of the authoring application and appropriate lock control for the server resources. In addition, through the functionality of process monitoring, it supports automatic update of the server resources when the modification of the resources are completed by the user. The WebDAY client is a .NET-based application written in the C＃ language, running on any platform supporting a .NET framework.

아파치 기반의 신뢰성 있는 자원관리를 지원하는 웹데브 서버

WebDAV(Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, RFC 2518)는 인터넷을 통하여 원거리에 위치한 다수의 작업자들 간의 협업을 지원하기 위한 프로토콜이다. 웹데브(WebDAV)는 웹 통신 프로토콜인 HTTP/1.1의 확장으로 인터넷을 통하여 다양한 콘텐츠의 비동기적인 협업을 지원하기 위한 프로토콜을 제공한다. 웹 기반의 협업지원 시스템이나 문서관리 시스템과 같은 기존의 응용 시스템에서 웹데브 기능을 제공 하기 위해서는 이러한 시스템들이 웹데브의 메서드(method)와 헤더(header) 정보를 다루는 추가적인 구현이 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 웹데브 명세를 지원하는 아파치 기반의 DAVinci(WebDAV Is New Collaborative web-authoring Innovation) 웹데브 서버를 개발하였다. 공개 소프트웨어 기반인 아파치(Apache) 웹 서버에는 웹데브를 지원하기 위한 mod_dav 모듈을 제공하고 있다. DAVinci는 mod_dav 모듈의 서비스 제공자 형태로 추가되어 웹데브의 자원과 속성 관리를 담당한다. 본 시스템은 자원을 파일 시스템에 저장하고 속성 정보를 PostgreSQL 데이터베이스로 관리하며 추가적으로 자원과 속성들 간에 비일관성이 발생하지 않도록 보장하는 일관성 관리자(consistency manager)를 제공한다. WebDAV is a protocol to support collaboration among the workers in geographically distant locations through the Internet. WebDAV extends the web communication protocol HTTP/1.1 to provide a standard infrastructure for supporting asynchronous collaboration for various contents across the Internet. To provide the WebDAV functionality in legacy applications such as web-based collaborative systems or document management systems, those systems need to be implemented additionally to handle the WebDAV methods and headers information. In this paper, we developed an Apache-based WebDAV server, named DAVinci(WebDAV Is New Collaborative web-authoring Innovation)which supports the WebDAV specification. DAVinci was implemented as a form of service provider on a mod_dav Apache module. Mod_day, which is an Apache module, is an open source module to provide WebDAV capabilities in an Apache web server. We used a file system for storing resources and the PostgreSQL database for their properties. In addition, the system provides a consistency manager to guarantee that both resources and properties are maintained without inconsistency between resources and their properties.

Tailoring IT support to communities of practice

Many organizations have benefited from recognizing communities of practice (COPs) operating in their midst. By identifying a group as a COP, an organization has made a critical skill area visible. Without this awareness it would be more likely, for example, that the corporate talent in auditing software processes could quietly disappear. With the importance of COPs established, organizations can now turn their attention to ensuring that their IT and knowledge management systems enable COPs to flourish. A simple folder on a corporate server to share documents is an example of such support. More comprehensive support to a COP may include virtual space on the corporate intranet for synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, expertise location, and content structuring (B. Lewis, "On-Demand KM: A Two-Tier Architecture", IT Professional, Jan.-Feb. 2002, pp. 27-33). As organizations decide how to support COPs, they should know that COPs are not in any way uniform entities. There is wide variation among COPs and understanding these differences can go a long way toward providing support that is truly well matched to the needs of each one. Two observations are keys to understanding the variety of COPs that are candidates for organizational support: The number of potential COPs is great, and, there are many kinds of groups and communities; not all of them are COPs.

Estudos de casos hipertextuais: rumo a uma inovação no método Harvard de ensino de gestão

Adaptado ao ensino de gestores há quase um século, o método Harvard de estudos de casos é hoje amplamente adotado em escolas de Administração em todo o mundo. Este artigo propõe que as novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação oferecem oportunidade de enriquecer tal metodologia com recursos como interatividade dinâmica e colaboração assíncrona. Para tanto, são discutidas as principais características das interfaces hipertextuais e o caráter revolucionário da Internet como ferramenta educacional. No tocante ao método de estudos de casos, especificamente, argumenta-se que interfaces hipertextuais possibilitam uma forma inovadora de representar múltiplas perspectivas de análise das situações-problemas típicas de domínios de conhecimento pouco estruturados, conformepropõe a Teoria da Flexibilidade Cognitiva. É descrito, por fim, como estas características foram incorporadas ao Projeto Aplicado de Novas Tecnologias para Estudos de Casos Online - Panteon, uma interface para criação e diagnóstico de casos hipertextuais. O protótipo desta ferramenta de aprendizagem está em fase de testes, tanto em escolas de gestão quanto em organizações.

Collaboration—a new IT-service in the next generation of regional health care networks

During the past 10–15 years, Regional Health Care Networks (RHCN) have been established in many regions throughout the world. RHCN build on well-known techniques, methodologies and appropriate standards. Most of the European Countries today have set up IT strategic plans that focus on the establishment of RHCN. The benefits of having access to all relevant information are tremendous and contribute to cost-effective and coherent health services. By the rapid spread and use of Internet, technology has made it possible to interconnect all kinds of applications. In 2000, the most experienced regions in Europe joined PICNIC, a European project to develop the Next Generation Regional Health Care Networks and to support their new ways of providing health and social care. The previous generation of Regional Health Care Networks supported the interconnection of applications by transfer of messages. Messaging is an effective means of integration for isolated high-specialised systems that only need to exchange data. This service will continue to be one of the most important services in the future health care networks. However, tighter coupling may be desirable in some instances to avoid replicating the same functionality in several applications. In other words, certain services can be common and used by a number of applications instead of building that service inside each application. These common services are called middleware services. In PICNIC ( http://www.medcom.dk/picnic), a new middleware Collaboration IT service has been identified and developed. This service allows the end users to perform real-time clinical collaboration, with exchange of text, structured data, voice and images across the limits of a single region. A clinical collaboration is associated with the shared clinical context to provide a record of relevant clinical information and facilitates synchronous as well as asynchronous collaboration. This new IT service builds on the increasing popularity of instance messaging and presence systems that facilitate smooth transition between synchronous and asynchronous interaction. The new Collaboration IT service is expected to have a strong impact on the practice of health care in the next generation of Regional Health Care Networks.

Supporting activity-centric collaboration through peer-to-peer shared objects[13] (abstract only)

We describe a new collaborative technology that is mid-way between the informality of email and the formality of shared workspaces. Email and other ad hoc collaboration systems are typically lightweight and flexible, but build up an unmanageable clutter of copied objects. At the other extreme, shared workspaces provide formal, structured collaboration, but are too heavyweight for users to set up. To bridge this gap between the ad hoc and formal, this paper introduces the notion of "object-centric sharing", where users collaborate in a lightweight manner but aggregate and organize different types of shared artifacts into semi-structured activities with dynamic membership, hierarchical object relationships, as well as real-time and asynchronous collaboration. We present a working prototype implemented with a replicated peer-to-peer architecture, which we describe in detail, and demonstrate its performance in synchronous and asynchronous modes.