Saul Greenberg Groupware Infrastructures Saul Greenberg Professor Department of Computer Science University of Calgary

Groupware Infrastructures Goal: Infrastructure/architecture that allows a developer to program a robust, high quality groupware system with modest effort Should not get in the way of end users -i.e., how the system is built is transparent to end users

Typical features Run-time architecture automatically manage processes, interconnections, and communications Also: security, robustness, access control, … Groupware programming abstractions Simple ways (e.g., API, patterns) that a programmer uses to synchronize interaction events and the data model between processes as well as the views presented across displays Groupware widgets Let a programmer add generic groupware constructs of value to conference participants Session Management / access control Mechanisms by which end-users create/join/leave ‘meetings’ and how access to these are restricted/controlled

Basic models Client-Server usually one centralized server with many connected clients -a connection point to discover who is registered -holds shared resources e.g., shared state -synchronizes all interactions Server Client

Basic models Replicated (Peer to peer) copy of the program executes at each site communicates and coordinates directly with other replicas Replica