GROUPWARE TOOLKITS FOR SYNCHRONOUS WORK
Date
1996-10-01
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Abstract
Groupware toolkits let developers build applications for synchronous and
distributed computer-based conferencing. This chapter describes four
components that we believe toolkits must provide. A run-time
architecture automatically manages the creation, interconnection,
and communications of both centralized and distributed processes that
comprise conference sessions. A set of groupware programming abstractions
allows developers to control the behaviour of distributed processes, to
take action on state changes, and to share relevant data. Groupware
widgets let interface features of value to conference participants
be added easily to groupware applications. Session managers let
people create and manage their meetings and are built by developers to
accommodate the group's working style. We illustrate the many ways these
components can be designed by drawing on our own experiences with
GroupKit, and by reviewing approaches taken by other toolkit developers.
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Computer Science