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Using metalevel techniques in a flexible toolkit for CSCW applications

Editor: Jonathan Grudin Author:

Paul DourishAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), Volume 5, Issue 2

Pages 109 - 155

https://doi.org/10.1145/287675.287676

Published: 01 June 1998 Publication History

Abstract

Ideally, software toolkits for collaborative applications should provide generic, reusable components, applicable in a wide range of circumstances, which software developers can assemble to produce new applications. However, the nature of CSCW applications and the mechanics of group interaction present a problem. Group interactions are significantly constrained by the structure of the underlying infrastructure, below the level at which toolkits typically offer control. This article describes the design features of Prospero, a prototype CSCW toolkit designed to be much more flexible than traditional toolkit techniques allow. Prospero uses a metalevel architecture so that application programmers can have control over not only how toolkit components are combined and used, but also over aspects of how they are internally structured and defined. This approach allows programmers to gain access to “internal” aspects of the toolkit's operation that affect how interaction and collaboration proceed. This article explains the metalevel approach and its application to CSCW, introduces two particular metalevel techniques for distributed data management and consistency control, shows how they are realized in Prospero, and illustrates how Prospero can be used to create a range of collaborative applications.

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Using metalevel techniques in a flexible toolkit for CSCW applications

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction Volume 5, Issue 2

June 1998

75 pages

ISSN:1073-0516

EISSN:1557-7325

DOI:10.1145/287675

Editor:
Jonathan Grudin
University of California, Irvine

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1998 ACM.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 June 1998

Published in TOCHI Volume 5, Issue 2

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Cited By

Wilner TAdavi KMandava SBhimdiwala AFrluckaj HTurns JArif A(2024)From Concept to Community: Unpacking the Work of Designing Educational and Activist ToolkitsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642681(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642681
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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3359148
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