Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

With the development of new web technologies, web-based collaborative applications, exemplified by office applications, are emerging to take advantage of web’s attractive features. We propose to plug a collaborative engine into web-based office applications so that advanced collaboration capabilities can be seamlessly integrated without compromising or modifying their conventional capabilities. This engine lies on application-independent data addressing and operation models to be reusable for a wide range of diverse applications without being modified. In this paper, we present a data addressing model for web-based word processors, which complies with the model used by the engine and shall lay a good foundation for investigating data addressing models for other web-based applications.

Efficiency and timeliness of collaborative communication among geographically distributed design teams are vital to collaborative product design for synchronous exchange of product design information and faster product availability. This paper introduces a preliminary research work about P2P&VRML-based collaborative communication environment that attempts to support synchronous collaborative product design in the way of WYSIWIS (What You See Is What I see). A prototype with communication means of document co-sharing & editing, draft co-drawing, instant message and VRML-based visualization space is developed on the basis of JXTA platform. Collaborative model modification is performed by cooperation between document co-editing space and VRML visualization.

Large-scale scientific investigation often includes collaborative data exploration among geographically distributed researchers. The tools used for this exploration typically include some communicative component, and this component often forms the basis for insight and idea sharing among collaborators. Minimizing the tool interaction required to locate “interesting” communications is therefore of paramount importance. We present the design of a novel visualization interface for representing the communications among multiple collaborating authors, and detail the benefits of our approach versus traditional methods. Our visualization integrates directly with the existing data exploration interface. We present our system in the context of an international research effort conducting collaborative analysis of accelerator simulations.

This paper describes how information visualization techniques can be used to monitor a web-based collaborative platform and to support workplace awareness by providing a global overview of the activities. An innovative prototype is described. Its originality relies on using some enclosure-based visualization methods in the context of activities monitoring, which is rather unusual. In addition, a new layout is described for representing data trees. The use of the system is illustrated with the case of a EU-funded Network of Excellence.

During product development processes, collaboration has become a common practice between different departments and companies that are involved in their activities. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools can facilitate collaboration among distributed teams within the context of an extended enterprise, but the efficient use of them is still hard to achieve. In this work, we propose a workflow based approach in order to implement product development collaboration, focusing the discussion on a case study of the integration of design and manufacturing activities, using workflow functionality offered by PLM software.

In this research, a bridge product model named New IFC-BRIDGE was developed to represent entities of various types of bridges in a standardized manner. To solve problems identified in planning and design of reinforcing bar works, a cooperative reinforcing bar arrangement support system using Augmented Reality technology was developed. In this system, multiple users can move tangible markers that represent entities of reinforcing bars and that are linked to computer graphics images represented from the New IFC-BRIDGE product model data. A prototype system was developed by deploying head mounted displays with video cameras. Furthermore, to enhance the reinforcing bar checking task at construction sites, a cooperative reinforcing bar checking support system was developed by using AR technology. The test of the prototype system showed the practicality of the system, and some problems were identified for future study.

Analysis of existing ICT-based solutions for the education of long-term ill children reveal several weaknesses with respect to social and cooperative involvement, cost of development, and mobility issues. We present a scalable and affordable solution that supports both the social needs and learning process of these children. An educational platform was created based on the concepts of 3D networked virtual environments and Virtual Interactive Communities. In this work we describe the system architecture, network setup and protocols, and how we implemented the educational support. Our solution incorporates innovative hardware, software and connectivity features, set in a user friendly user interface based on networking and 3D technologies. It helps to establish high quality involvement of the long-term sick children in a communication based scenario between the place where the child stays/has been moved and their original classroom learning setting.

Automatic testing and learning methods are of great benefit in many engineering areas. They provide the possibility for training without the need of personal communication and eliminate related barriers that hold up project progress. As most technical systems include components that are related to each other and need to form a properly working system, a knowledge base which allows to retrieve the relations of a component to others regarding its properties and targeted functionality can support this task in many ways. Our system for assisted model composition forms a highly structured documentation system, based on model semantics. An important aspect of our system is the combination of user activated information retrieval and pro-active model composition assistance. The model semantics define specialized dependency annotations that can be attached to selected parts of the model, and with the help of which relevant guidelines for related processes, such as model couplings, and belonging remarks about materials, integration oddities, exceptions and other dynamically defined properties, can be brought to the designer’s attention.

Due to the numerous important decisions with major consequences which have to be taken within a short period of time in case of disasters like fire, terror attacks or floods up-to-date information about the site affected as well as positions and activities of the deployed rescue teams should be available in real-time. This information can firstly be gathered from Computer Aided Facilities Management-systems (CAFM-systems), which are based on the graphical and alphanumerical base data of the building, and are used to manage large real estates and infrastructural installations in developed countries nowadays and secondly by real-time data from master control systems and security installations of the building. Thirdly data from an “inertio-tracker” based on accelerometers and gyroscopes and used for tracking rescue teams within buildings or underground constructions can be implemented to superimpose the building data with actual position information.

The Institute for Building Informatics at Graz University of Technology in cooperation with the security industry is currently researching and developing such a CAFM-based Disaster Management System (DMS). The main challenges are locating and tracking persons, the local information management and the communication between the on-site staff and the command center. This paper gives a brief introduction and description of the whole system with a main focus of outlining the special aspects of an efficient and easy-to-use user interface.

Organizations are under increasing pressures to manage all of the personal data concerning their customers and employees in a responsible manner. With the advancement of information and communication technologies, improved collaboration, and the pressures of marketing, it is very difficult to locate personal data is, let alone manage its use. In this paper, we outline the challenges of managing personally identifiable information in a collaborative environment, and describe a software prototype we call SNAP (Social Networking Applied to Privacy). SNAP uses automated workflow discovery and analysis, in combination with various text mining techniques, to support automated enterprise management of personally identifiable information.