2129731
Sensing activity in video images
Video-based awareness tools increase familiarity among remote group members and provide pre-communication information, Low-cost iconic indicators provide less but more succinct information than video images while preserving privacy. Observations of and feedback from users of our video awareness tool suggest that an activity sensing feature along with a variety of privacy options combines advantages of both the video images and iconic indicator approaches. We introduced the activity sensing feature in response to user requests. It derives activity information from video images and provides options to control privacy and improves the usability of video-based awareness tools.
40848730
User's command line reference behaviour: Locality versus recency
8964703
Experiences in developing collaborative applications using the World Wide Web “shell”
The components of the World Wide Web, which we call the World Wide Web Shell, provide a framework for collaborative application development in much the same way as an expert system shell does for expert system development. This development is quick enough to support rapid prototyping. Once the collaborative application is developed, the WWW Shell facilitates the distribution of the application and its data to geographically-separated users on diverse computing platforms. We have developed and deployed two collaborative applications, Design Intent and NYNEX Portholes, using the WWW Shell. These applications are described and our experiences developing them with the WWW Shell are detailed. In the process of developing these applications we discovered limitations of the WWW Shell which we present, along with suggested modifications and extensions to address them.
52854115
Developing collaborative applications using the World Wide Web "Shell"
The World Wide Web is often viewed as the latest and most user friendly way of providing information over the Internet (i.e., server of documents). It is not customarily viewed as a platform for developing and deploying applications. In this tutorial, we introduce and demonstrate how Web technologies can be used in combination with Web browsers to design, create, distribute and execute collaborative applications. We discuss how HTML in combination with CGI scripts, JavaScript, and Java can be used to develop interactive and collaborative applications. We discuss recent extensions and additions that support sophisticated application development as well as the constraints with the WWW 'Shell' approach. The term World Wide Web 'Shell' is used in a manner analogous to the use of the term Expert System Shell. Specifically, the components of the WWW provide basic functionality and services for developing application in much the same way as an expert system shell provides components for developing expert system applications.
31071229
Enhancing web accessibility
This demonstration will illustrate the key technical and user interface aspects of the Web Adaptation Technology. Various transformations underlying the system will be shown that illustrate how this approach enables a wide range of users with reduced visual, cognitive, and motor abilities to access a large proportion of Web pages using a standard browser.
5106605
Prototyping considered dangerous
In this paper, we argue that prototypes can hinder, rather than aid effective communication. The dangers are: (1) prototypes may contain hidden assumptions which might surface too late; (2) obtaining feedback in the context of use is prohibitively expensive and rarely done; and (3) partly as a consequence of these problems, prototypes cause a focus on displays and other surface features of computers, not on the more difficult problem of how people function in their environments to solve problems. We propose design intent which specifies how a system will fit in and interact with the environment in which it is placed and expectation agents which monitor the system in use and detect uses counter to the intent as ways to alleviate these dangers.
1879649
Low-Complexity Approaches to Slepian&#8211;Wolf Near-Lossless Distributed Data Compression
This paper discusses the Slepian-Wolf problem of distributed near-lossless compression of correlated sources. We introduce practical new tools for communicating at all rates in the achievable region. The technique employs a simple "source-splitting" strategy that does not require common sources of randomness at the encoders and decoders. This approach allows for pipelined encoding and decoding so that the system operates with the complexity of a single user encoder and decoder. Moreover, when this splitting approach is used in conjunction with iterative decoding methods, it produces a significant simplification of the decoding process. We demonstrate this approach for synthetically generated data. Finally, we consider the Slepian-Wolf problem when linear codes are used as syndrome-formers and consider a linear programming relaxation to maximum-likelihood (ML) sequence decoding. We note that the fractional vertices of the relaxed polytope compete with the optimal solution in a manner analogous to that observed when the "min-sum" iterative decoding algorithm is applied. This relaxation exhibits the ML-certificate property: if an integral solution is found, it is the ML solution. For symmetric binary joint distributions, we show that selecting easily constructable "expander"-style low-density parity check codes (LDPCs) as syndrome-formers admits a positive error exponent and therefore provably good performance
15346826
Open implementation analysis and design
This paper describes a methodology for designing Open Implementations -software modules that can adapt or change their internals to accommodate the needs of different clients. Analysis techniques are used for capturing domain knowledge, user requirements, and domain properties that influence the module’s eventual implementation. Design techniques are used for determining and refining the interfaces by which clients control the modules implementation strategies. The methodology has evolved over the past two years in several pilot projects.
7521097
Using a case study to test the role of three key social enablers in ERP implementation
The literature indicates that three key social enablers--strong and committed leadership, open and honest communication, and a balanced and empowered implementation team are necessary conditions/precursors for successful enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation. In a longitudinal positivist case study, we find that, while all three enablers may contribute to ERP implementation success, only strong and committed leadership can be empirically established as a necessary condition. This presents a challenge to future ERP researchers for resolving apparent contradictions between the existing literature and the results of our analysis. One possible direction for future research would be to undertake an interpretive re-examination of the rationalisitic assumptions that underlie much of the existing literature on ERP systems implementation.
28520987
Object-oriented protocol specification