A novel user interface for group collaboration (original) (raw)
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Flexible User Interfaces for Group Collaboration
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 2003
Flexible user interfaces that can be customized to meet the needs of the task at hand are particularly important for telecollaboration. This article presents the design and implementation of a user interface for DISCIPLE, a platform-independent telecollaboration framework. DISCIPLE supports sharing of Java components that are imported into the shared workspace at run-time and can be interconnected into more complex components. As a result, run-time interconnection of various components allows user tailoring of the human-computer interface. Software architecture for customization of both a group-level and application-level interfaces is presented, with interface components that are loadable on demand. The architecture integrates the sensory modalities of speech, sight, and touch. Instead of imposing one "right" solution onto users, the framework lets users tailor the user interface that best suits their needs. Finally, laboratory experience with DISCIPLE tested on a variety of applications with the framework is discussed along with future research directions. telecollaboration that can be dynamically adapted to the user's needs. Our approach offers architecture for end-user customization through on-demand loadable software components and XML documents. The architecture is an integral part of DISCIPLE (Distributed System for Collaborative Information Processing and Learning; . DISCIPLE provides a different look and feel not only across different groups but also across individuals within a group.
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This paper presents a framework for sharing JavaBeans applications in real-time synchronous collaboration. A generic collaboration bus provides a plug-and-play e n vironment that enables collaboration with applications that may o r m a y not be collaboration aware. Research on knowledgebased quality-of-service management and multimodal human machine interface is described.
User-Interface Support to Group Interaction
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Abstract This paper describes a user-interface system developed to support group interaction for same-time/different-place cooperative applications. The user-interface system is based on a model which defines four types of objects, each one dedicated to address a specific issue of group interaction support: information sharing, interaction control, structuring of group interactions and awareness of user activities in the system.
A Collaboration-Enabling framework for Java-Beans
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In the last years the production of systems supporting learning and work in-group has been high. However, the design and development of this kind of systems is difficult, especially due to the multidisciplinarity involved. We propose a design and development process of the presentation layer. This process is based on the use of several models for representing collaborative and interactive aspects of this kind of systems. In this process several techniques and notations are used. In this paper we introduce our methodological approach and the conceptual framework on which our proposal is based.
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ACM Transactions on Information Systems
We have developed a high-level and flexible framework for supporting the construction of multi-user user-interfaces. The framework is based on a generalized editing interaction model, which allows users to view programs as active data that can be concurrently edited by multiple users. It consists of several novel components including a refinement of both the Seeheim UIMS architecture and the distributed graphics architecture that explicitly addresses multi-user interaction; the abstractions of shared active variables and interaction variables, which allow users and applications to exchange information; a set of default collaboration rules designed to keep the collaboration-awareness low in multiuser programs; and a small but powerful set of primitives for overriding these rules. The framework allows users to be dynamically added and removed from a multi-user session, different users to use different user interfaces to interact with an application, the modules interacting with a particular user to execute on the local workstation, and programmers to incrementally trade automation for flexibility. We have implemented the framework as part of a system called Suite. This paper motivates, describes, and illustrates the framework using the concrete example of Suite, discusses how it can be implemented in other kinds of systems, compares it with related work, discusses its shortcomings, and suggests directions for future work. different members of a project team to display and modify the status of a project; a program demonstrator allowing one or more users to demonstrate a program to a group of users; a browser allowing a teacher to browse through a text-book with a group of students; and a design tool allowing several designers to compose a design document.
Groupware: A Tool for Interpersonal Computing
1993
Computer networks have provided a foundation for interpersonal computing, and new tools are emerging, the centerpiece of which is called "groupware." Groupware technology is reviewed, and the theoretical framework that will underlie interpersonal collaborative computing is discussed. Groupware can consist of hardware, software, services, and support. It utilizes networking, communications, concurrent processing, and windowing environments. It creates a shared work space for dynamic collaboration in a work group over space and time constraints. The collaboration that it provides also opens many problems that must be addressed in the implementation of groupware in organizations. (Contains 7 references.) (SLD)
An application framework for synchronous collaboration using JavaBeans
Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. 1999. HICSS-32. Abstracts and CD-ROM of Full Papers, 1999
This paper presents a JavaBeans framework that supports real-time synchronous collaborative applications. We contribute a generic collaboration bus as an enabling virtual "channel" that spans network fabrics and integrates collaborating clients. The bus provides a component-based plug-and-play environment that enables collaboration with applications that may or may not be collaboration aware. Any (including single-user) applications can be plugged in as is and made collaborative with no modifications to the application or to the collaboration bus. One of the activities supported by the framework is multi-user visual programming using JavaBeans: the users at geographically separate locations can collaboratively compose complex applications using component Beans. The framework has been implemented and tested on a variety of applications.
Journal of Universal …, 2008
This paper presents a proposal to tackle the design and development of user interfaces for groupware applications. This proposal includes important design and implementation issues of special relevance for this kind of interfaces. In particular, group awareness requirements in the development of groupware applications are addressed, both in the sense of the basic manipulation actions of the interface widgets, as well as in the sense of other kinds of group awareness in relation to the presence of actors, the roles they play in a concrete moment, etc. The design proposal we present is part of a complete development process (called TOUCHE) which defines a set of facets to describe Abstract Interaction Objects. These objects, at design level, provide the basis for the definition of Concrete Interaction Objects at implementation level within a software platform intended to facilitate the development of user interfaces for groupware applications. This way, we get an integral approach to tackle the development of this kind of user interfaces, taking into account in an explicit way the perception of the joint activity of a group of users involved in a common task and thus achieving a more effective collaboration.