SBIR Phase I: A Reconfigurable Collaborative Services Framework

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is for an architectural framework for reconfigurable collaborative services as a customizable and efficient solution to computer-supported cooperative activities. The key technical areas in which this project intends to develop innovative solutions are: customizable collaboration software, robustness, and heterogeneity sup-port. Based upon the principle of a flexible backplane that supports core facilities, the project is for an idea of collaboration modules that may be plugged-in as appropriate to a given cooperative endeavor. This research addresses the current dichotomy in collaboration software, and aims to devise new methodologies and systems to bridge the gap between general-purpose and custom-made tools. The objective of this research is to design such architecture and develop prototype software to establish its viability. A framework and a usable system will result from this work. In the conduct of this work, new techniques for multiway collaboration across heterogeneous platforms will be explored, and will likely contribute new and useful scientific findings to the field. Owing to its strong pragmatic bias, the project will have broad impact, both through the framework and via the software produced, on network based platforms for cooperative work in a large number of domain specific situations. This project will fill the large void between simplistic general purpose collaboration systems and expensive, custom built tools thereby bringing appropriate and efficient collaboration technology to numerous cooperative endeavors. Key design concepts in the proposed framework make it effective and usable without substantial infrastructure in terms of devices, networks, and administrative support thereby encouraging adoption in all sorts of communities. In particular, collaborative systems such as this research have substantial potential for broadening the participation of underrepresented groups via remote access to advanced educational, research, and technological facilities using simple, low end client systems.