A Desktop Design for Synchronous Collaboration

This paper presents a novel graphics user interface for desktop management of a synchronous groupware client. The interface is part of the Rutgers University DISCIPLE framework that enables sharing of applications. The interface presents an individual view of a collaboration space that contains collaboration artifacts, collaborators, their groupings and relationships. The conceptual model of the collaboration process is described since it strongly influences the design of the user interface. We establish the requirements, describe the components of the user interface and then discuss alternative approaches. JavaBeans applications are shared by being imported into the shared workspace, but additionally, importing Beans allows user tailoring of the interface and thus supports end-user programming. Interface customization is demonstrated with multimodal human/machine interfaces and the collaboration components (such as group awareness widgets, concurrency controllers, etc.). Another activity supported is multi-user visual programming using the JavaBeans technology. Users at geographically separate locations can collaboratively build complex applications using pre-existing components. This interface has been implemented and tested on a variety of Java applications