Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

This paper argues that one reason for the success of collaborative problem solving where individual attempts failed is the polyphonic character of work in small groups. Polyphony, a concept taken from music, may occur in chats for problem solving, transforming dialog into a “thinking device”: Different voices jointly construct a melody (story, or solution) and other voices adopt differential positions, identifying dissonances (unsound, rickety stories or solutions). This polyphonic interplay may eventually make clear the correct (“sound”) construction. The paper illustrates the polyphonic character of collaborative problem solving using chats. It also proposes prototyped software tools for facilitating polyphony in chats.

During computer-mediated synchronous collaboration there is need for supporting reflection of the partners involved. In this paper we study techniques for determining the state of an evolving collaborative process, while the activity is in progress, making the users aware of this state. For this reason, a State of Collaboration (SoC) indicator has been defined, which is calculated using a combination of machine-learning and statistical techniques. Subse-quently a study was performed during which SoC was presented to a number of groups of collaborating partners engaged in problem-solving activities. It was found that this group awareness mechanism influenced in a significant way the behavior of the groups in which it was used. This study has wider implications to the design of groupware and in particular towards gaining an insight into the effect of group awareness mechanisms on computer-mediated collaborative learning.

Interaction analysis (IA) methods and tools aim to enhance collaboration, providing support for basic functions such as awareness, regulation or evaluation. The importance of these functions depends on the roles played by the participants in a collaborative experience. For this reason, IA tools need to recognize the dynamic role transitions that usually occur in authentic learning settings, as well as to interpret and manage the information needs required by these changing roles. We are working in the definition, developing and validation of a conceptual framework for characterizing roles in collaborative learning contexts that aims at supporting IA tools in achieving these goals. In this paper we present the main results obtained from an experience that illustrates how this framework, initially proposed in a previous paper, supports the definition of IA indicators and values for detecting role transitions in a dynamic way. This experience is part of a longitudinal validation process of the framework that we are carrying out in various authentic learning contexts.

Orchestra is a new formalism on which we are working in the field of cooperative systems design. In CoCSys methodology for Cooperative Capillary Systems design, we transform partial scenarios describing particular cooperative situations in a more comprehensive Cooperative Behaviour Model (CBM). In this paper, we describe our contribution to the need for a graphical formalism which would be able to express in a natural way, understandable by different actors (users, designers, developers,...) different cooperation situations in an ambient intelligence environment (mobile, context-aware, proactive and ubiquitous). ORCHESTRA is complementary to CTT and UML Use cases, and its objective is to express clearly cooperation situations (explaining easily synchronous or asynchronous cooperation activities) and the role (active or passive) played instantaneously by each actor. We take into account main concepts of “cooperative world” which are Actors, Roles, Groups, Tasks, Processes, Artefacts (Tools and Objects) and Contexts (Platforms, Situations and Users). With Orchestra formalism we try to express by a sort of music staff individual and collective behaviours. In this way we can model either individual works or organized collective activities. We present this formalism, its metamodel and its use for the description of two cooperative situations. We describe also a transformational process projecting a ORCHESTRA description on the cooperative architecture.

This paper presents a system called CodeBreaker for supporting small and medium size software development based on an extreme program-ming principle. The system follows a decentralized model of development, which means, it does not requires a central repository. A set of rules for code ownership maintains the synchronization of the work among all members of the developing team which can work on- or offline. It allows fine-grained locking of parts of the code.

This paper proposes a framework to support the modeling of services in (EMLs). EMLs have been proposed to support the modeling of educational units (e.g. a theoretical distance learning course, a lab practice, a discussion-based course). Their modeling approach is based on the featuring of the elements involved in educational units (e.g. participants, data, tasks) and the coordination among these elements (e.g. the order between tasks, the data flow, the assignment of participants to tasks). A key issue in EMLs is the modeling of environments where participants are intended to interact. This part of the modeling involves the featuring of the services and the coordination requited to obtain appropriate service interactions. The paper describes the perspectives of a new EML proposal named PoEML () devoted to the modeling of services and their coordination: operational, interaction, awareness and authorization.

The recent proliferation of using mobile devices in collaborative scenarios increases the need for sophisticated and flexible groupware frameworks for heterogeneous environments. This paper presents the architectural design of Agilo, a groupware framework that has been designed explicitly for synchronous groupware applications involving the use of heterogeneous devices. By respecting device heterogeneity from the ground up, the framework provides an architectural design that is highly flexible along different architectural dimensions on the one hand and simple yet powerful to use on the other hand. Two applications from different application domains based on Agilo are described together with first usage experiences from the developer’s point of view.

We are interested in integrating and exploiting the from a group by an existing infrastructure of plasticity, as another parameter more to be embedded in the adaptation process. The aim is to offer the benefits from and jointly, providing a systematic support in both issues. In this paper we focus on the proactive adaptation to contexts of use under a plasticity viewpoint. The aim is to promote interaction and real time coordination, contributing to real collaboration in multiple and changing groupware scenarios.

Advances in wireless communication and mobile computing extend collaboration scenarios. A current strategy to address productive, educational and social problems is to incorporate mobile workers using computing devices into work practices. Typically, collaborative applications intended to support mobile workers involve some type of centralized data or services. This situation constrains the collaboration capabilities, particularly in ad-hoc communication scenarios. We propose an autonomous software module able to provide and consume services from others units. We call it a Service-Oriented Mobile Unit (SOMU). A SOMU has been implemented as a middleware running on laptops and PDAs. Collaborative mobile applications developed on this middleware are then able to interact among them almost in any communication scenario. Availability of this tool is particularly relevant to support mobile collaboration when there is no stable communication support or no communication at all.

To improve their efficiency and competitiveness, organizations are increasingly interested in applications that support team work, usually know as groupware. Beside interoperability, familiarity with the application and users’ mobility support, a feature that is of outmost importance in groupware is the notification of events produced by cooperative activities. Web Services have emerged recently to support the exchange of data in distributed environments using common Internet technologies and have been used mainly to build business-to-business applications. However, Web Services have capabilities that make them suitable to meet the requirements posed by groupware applications, a field where little work has been carried out. This article describes a model for developing cooperative applications based on Web Services technology and using asynchronous notification of events, and presents a brief description of the implementation of the support services for that model and of a prototype application that uses them.