Mark Roseman
Saul Greenberg
Abstract
This article presents an overview of GroupKit, a groupware toolkit that lets developers build applications for synchronous and distributed computer-based conferencing. GroupKit was constructed from our belief that programming groupware should be only slightly harder than building functionally similar single-user systems. We have been able to significantly reduce the implementation complexity of groupware through the key features that comprise GroupKit. A runtime infrastructure automatically manages the creation, interconnection, and communications of the distributed processes that comprise conference sessions. A set of groupware programming abstractions allows developers to control the behavior of distributed processes, to take action on state changes, and to share relevant data. Groupware widgets let interface features of value to conference participants to be easily added to groupware applications. Session managers—interfaces that let people create and manage their meetings—are decoupled from groupware applications and are built by developers to accommodate the group's working style. Example GroupKit applications in a variety of domains have been implemented with only modest effort.
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Index Terms
- Building real-time groupware with GroupKit, a groupware toolkit
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Reviews
Len Bass
Groupware systems are essentially following the development path of single-user systems a decade ago: from underlying substructure, to public-domain toolkits, to commercial and standard toolkits, and finally to public-domain user interface management systems. Right now, groupware systems are at the public-domain toolkit stage. Since there does not seem to be the same commercial interest in groupware tool kits as there was in single-user toolkits, the public-domain toolkit phase will likely last longer and be more influential to groupware users. As was the case with single-user systems, there are both conceptual issues and platform issues in developing a groupware toolkit that will be widely used. This excellent paper about GroupKit is a welcome addition to the conceptual foundations. Functionally, GroupKit provides tools for session management (allowing participants to join sessions already in progress, and managing multiple sessions), runtime infra structure for application support, and widgets for user interface activities. It appears from the authors' examples that the user interface for session management is included with the session management support. (If I am correct, this is an unfortunate coupling, but separating issues is an essential portion of defining a toolkit, and the authors have gone far in this direction.) On the platform side, this is an X-based toolkit. It would be interesting to see how the GroupKit ideas play in a WWW/Java world, with the looser coupling and stateless protocols involved. This is an important paper, and I recommend it to both practitioners and researchers interested in groupware.
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