Towards a consolidated model for a collaborative courseware authoring system

Abstract In an effort to reduce the expensive resource requirements in courseware production and to allow effective management of, and communication and collaboration between authors, a model is needed to harmonize the diverse theoretical backgrounds such a process requires. To this end we look at five abstract models which where chosen for their apparent appropriateness within the general area of collaborative authoring and reuse of multimedia courseware. These models consist of a functional model of hypertext, an infrastructure model for an open collaborative authoring system, two object-oriented communication models, and a courseware production model. We attempt a consolidation of these models and ultimately make several conclusions, which are exposed during a conceptual harmonisation. The principal conclusion is that a hypermedia logical model is not by itself adequate to support collaboration and reuse. Our modeling conclusions have driven the design of a system which will be implemented and tested.     

From ethnographic record to system design

This paper explores the issues involved in moving from ethnographic explorations of work in context to a practical contribution to system design. It does so using the example of an interdisciplinary research project involving sociologists and computer scientists in the domain of air traffic control systems. It forms a pair with another paper (Sommerville et al., 1992) exploring these questions from the perspective of our computer science partners. We characterise ethnography as a research method, and consider the differences between undertaking it for strictly sociological or anthropological purposes by contrast with interdisciplinary and design purposes. We summarise some of our results in ethnographic explications of the work of air traffic controllers, and the sociality which it manifests. We describe the dialogues involved in rendering these observations informative for systems design, and the mutual translations implied in attempting to reconcile sociological with software engineering questions about supporting the work. We conclude by specifying some features of cooperative work which an engineering approach is in danger of overlooking; the ways, and limits, in which ethnographers can form a bridge between users and designers; and some of the conflicts of interest entrained in generating technical change.The research is funded by the UK MRC/SERC/ESRC Cognitive Science/HCI Initiative with the title Social Analysis of Control Systems for HCI Design, grant number SPG 8931598. The computer science partners are Professor Ian Sommerville, Dr Tom Rodden, Dr Pete Sawyer and Mr Richard Bentley. Thanks are due to Val King, Kjeldt Schmidt, Ian Sommerville and Tom Rodden for very helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

一种面向软件产品概念设计的CSCW模型

随着计算机和网络技术的发展,各种CSCW模型和技术先后被提出,来满足各行业产品和概念设计的复杂工作需求。软件产品的概念设计作为一项复杂的工作和业务流程,对CSCW系统的需求也越来越高。文中针对软件产品概念设计的特殊性质,提出一种新的CSCW软件产品概念设计模型,并且对其中包含的冲突检测和协调机制进行了详细的设计和优化。使用基于Java平台的相关技术对模型主要功能架构和冲突协调过程进行了仿真。实验表明,文中提出的模型具有更加简洁和高效的复杂冲突解决能力和用户交互能力。     

SOA架构下协同式自动化组卷系统的设计与实现

学校实行教考分离,推进科学化、信息化的自动化组卷系统势在必行,而各学校的组织结构、信息化程度不尽相同,这些内在和外在因素制约着学校信息化的发展。该文讨论以一种基于SOA架构,实现多用户协同参与和协作的自动化组卷系统,文中分析了系统实现的步骤和方法,给出了一种基于SOA和协同工作理念的自动化组卷系统解决方案,并且具有松耦合、分布式、业务流灵活等特点,具有较高的实用价值。     

分布式多媒体技术的研究及其展望

伴随着“信息高速公路”的兴起,分布式多媒体这一综合的跨学科的研究领域越来越受到人们的重视。如何认识分布式多媒体技术,以及如何把握其未来的发展方向对于从事这一领域工作的科研开发人员是十分必要的,本文从计算机学科的角度出发,对分布式多媒体技术的产生、分布式多媒体的通信平台、分布式多媒体通信协议、分布式多媒体数据库及其应用等方面做了概要的阐述,并对每一部分的发展做了展望。     

基于CSCW技术的多媒体网络教学系统的设计

介绍了计算机支持的CSCW协同工作技术在多媒体网络教学系统中的重要作用,并利用该技术设计一种模型,该模型可以实现多媒体网络教学的人机互交功能。     

Requirement-based approach for groupware environments design

Groupware applications have special features that, if they were taken into account from the very beginning, could reasonably improve the quality of the system. Such features concern human-computer-human interactions, i.e. a further step in the human-computer interaction field: communication, collaboration, cooperation and coordination, time, space, and awareness are issues to be considered. This paper presents a novel approach to gather requirements for groupware applications. The proposal is based on a methodology that includes the use of templates to gather the information regarding the different types of requirements. The requirements templates have been extended to include new information to give account of specific features concerning groupware applications. The information gathered is managed in a CASE tool we have developed; then general and specific diagrams are automatic or semi-automatically generated.     

Electronic Meeting Support for Councils

City councils hold meetings several times a week. There is a need for computer support at certain meetings. This paper examines the potential for group support systems for use in city council meetings and shows in what ways they can be helpful in pre-meeting and post-meeting activities. The study is based on 17 computer-supported city council meetings, carried out in Stuttgart, Kornwestheim and other cities as part of the Cuparla Project between 1996 and 1998. Three of these meetings are described in the paper as brief case studies. Following this, all 17 meeting sequences are evaluated and analysed. Guidelines have been developed from the results of the study for the introduction of group support systems in city council meetings.     

协同商业CAD系统中的协同设计模型的研究与实现

介绍了协同商业ＣＡＤ系统中的协同设计模型,基于ＳＱＬＳｅｒｖｅｒ解决了协同设计模型设计中的并发控制,一致性保证和多用户界面等问题。由于可实现数据共享、并行设计,从而可缩短设计周期;而 计算机进行协调又可减少协 时间并保证正确性。     

Work-arounds and Boundary Crossing in a High Tech Optronics Company: The Role of Co-operative Workflow Technologies

This study examines how some employeescoped with the exceptions that they encountered withtheir on-going use of a co-operative workflowtechnology in an optronics company. By drawing on thecase material, this paper will indicate thatapproaches which view work as being capable of beingplanned and managed through the formal authority ofthe hierarchy are insufficient. Instead, this paperwill suggest that exception handling, work-arounds andimprovisation are more characteristic of humanactivity. Computer supported co-operative work will beconceptualised as being embedded in a dynamicrelationship between the context it is situatedwithin, and the actors that engage in it. Theprinciples underlying ethnography have informed theresearch approach.