Integrating User- and System-Centric Perspectives into Collaborative Compound Document Authoring

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Computer-supported collaborative work is increasingly common in our professional and personal life. However, the expectations and requirements of the users are frequently neglected when addressing the ... [more ▼]

Computer-supported collaborative work is increasingly common in our professional and personal life. However, the expectations and requirements of the users are frequently neglected when addressing the technological challenges associated with the development of a distributed collaboration system. The proposed collaboration environment employs an integrative approach to distributed compound document authoring, including both a user- and system-centric perspective on collaborative work. An interruption-free, reliable, and responsive shared work environment with a near real-time representation of the work of others is a core expectation from the users. In order to provide these features, a fine-granular, graph-based data representation has been developed to serve as the basis for this approach. The data representing individual compound document elements is partitioned over sets of three distinct nodes in the graph structure. This separation of metadata and payload data enables the precise attribution of editing operations while maintaining an adaptable and extensible data representation. User-specific preferences allow for the individualization of a user's work environment to account for personal preferences, requirements from the current collaboration scenario, or limitations of the employed computer system. Support for complex, data type-specific editing commands is integrated with a concurrent command application and Layered Consistency Management model. This enables a near real-time representation of the work of others, the preservation of the users' editing intentions, and the maintenance of a globally consistent data state. Intra- and inter-document relations retain semantic connections between distinct data structure elements. Together with an element's supplemental data, this related information enables additional, autonomous conflict resolution approaches and facilitates a comprehensive representation of the conflict in case of a manual resolution process. By integrating these functionalities into one coherent system, the users are provided with an unobtrusive, yet reliable and feature-rich distributed work environment able to actively support collaborative compound document authoring. [less ▲]

Concurrency-Based and User-Centric Collaboration for Distributed Compound Document Authoring

in Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE 21st International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD) (2017)

The collaborative authoring of complex document structures by geographically distributed users is no longer a special case in today's global economy or people's personal lives. However, integrating single ... [more ▼]

The collaborative authoring of complex document structures by geographically distributed users is no longer a special case in today's global economy or people's personal lives. However, integrating single-user application responsiveness and feature sets with the additional demands and expectations presented towards distributed multi-user environments remains a challenge. Current solutions approaching this challenge almost exclusively rely on traditional, file-based data structures. This often introduces arbitrary workflow restrictions to the user and reduces the potential to benefit from an otherwise inherently concurrent system. Our distributed compound document authoring environment aims at addressing these challenges while providing system-level collaboration support to the user. We attain this through the close integration of a fine-grained data structure with a highly scalable, priority-based concurrency model for command distribution and application. This paper discusses our enhanced data representation and concurrency model together with the evaluation of their prototypical implementation. [less ▲]

Distributed Document Authoring for Location-Independent Collaborative Learning

in ICERI 2017 Proceedings (2017)

Employing computer-supported collaborative learning for cooperative problem solving or as the basis for a shared learning environment regularly entails arbitrary restrictions and requirements for the ... [more ▼]

Employing computer-supported collaborative learning for cooperative problem solving or as the basis for a shared learning environment regularly entails arbitrary restrictions and requirements for the participants. Frequent interruptions to the individual’s and the group’s workflow due to transitions between data type-specific applications, the manual synchronization of one’s work, or the prerequisite of a constant server connection are common examples. In this paper, we propose the utilization of a distributed compound document authoring environment to address these issues and apply a user-centric rather than the traditional, system-focussed perspective on computer-supported collaborative learning. This includes fine-granular, real-time management and assessment functionalities for the supervisor as well as a responsive, unobtrusive and feature-rich work environment for the participants. [less ▲]

Layered Consistency Management for Advanced Collaborative Compound Document Authoring

in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Collaborative Computing: Networking, Applications and Worksharing (CollaborateCom) (2015)