Fostering Asynchronous Collaborative Visualization

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Fostering Asynchronous Collaborative
Visualization

• Francis T. Marchese and Natasha Brajkovska
• Pace University
• New York, NY 10038
• fmarchese_at_pace.edu

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Collaboration

Synchronous Real Time
Asynchronous Any Time
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Collaboration Visualization Annotation

• Issues
• Synchronous
• Powerful idiom for bringing groups of individuals
  together over a distance
• Basis for all collaborative visualization
  environments (CVE)
• Minimal annotation capabilities
• Asynchronous
• Essential part of group process
• Much collaborative scientific research is
  asynchronous
• Basis for computer supported cooperative work
  (CSCW)
• Software supports text-based collaboration

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Asynchronous CVE

• System Requirements
• Interactive real-time visualization.
• Visualization session recording.
• Playback by means of replay by re-execution.
• Support for disconnected use.
• Information foraging.
• Annotation.
• Isolation of work practices.
• Support for replication of data.
• Automatic resolution of conflicts.
• Version control.

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Asynchronous CVE by Mash-up

• Wiki Engine
• Hundreds of Wikis
• Written in (Perl, PHP, Python, Java, C, etc.)
• JSPWiki selected
• Visualization Software
• Jmol selected
• Embedding
• Create plugin (e.g. MoinMoin, MediaWiki)
• Use HTML/JavaScript

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Jmol

• Open-source molecule viewer for chemistry
• Written in Java
• Reads many molecular structure files, including
  CML
• Directly manipulates 3D molecular data
• Reads command scripts that control data display
• Uses LiveConnect
• JavaScript's ability to call methods of Java
  classes within existing Java infrastructure
• Connects Jmol's functionality with UI objects
  embedded within HTML

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Asynchronous CVE by Mash-up
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Asynchronous CVE by Mash-up

• JSPWiki
• Isolation of work practices.
• Support for replication of data.
• Automatic resolution of conflicts.
• Version control.
• Information foraging.
• Annotation.

• JMol
• Interactive real-time visualization.
• Session recording.
• Playback by means of replay by re-execution.
• Support for disconnected use.
• Information foraging.
• Annotation.

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Usage Scenario

• Scientist 1
• Creates wiki entry with descriptive text and
  embedded Jmol commands.
• Attaches a molecular coordinate file to the wiki
  page.
• Scientist 2
• Explores wiki page using embedded Jmol scripts or
  interactive pop-up console for interactive script
  entry.
• When done, collaborator may
• enter a comment
• edit the document to include the new scripts
• download the molecule structure file to refine
  the data analysis on a local machine.
• After analysis has been completed, a new
  commentary may be uploaded to the wiki.

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Summary

• Scientific document and data delivery
• Hypermedia publications with embedded interactive
  visualization software
• Links between visualization systems and
  documentation
• Collaborative asynchronous visualization
• Wiki-based mash-up creation
• Use of open source technologies

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Opportunities for Future Work

• Authoring
• Expanding Wikis for visualization
• Expanding applets with LiveConnect
• Fostering emergent collaboration