Using Electronic Document Repositories (EDR) for Collaboration
A first definition of EDR and technical implementation

Hilda Tellioglu

Vienna University of Technology, Department for CSCW
Argentinierstrasse 8, A-1040 Vienna, Austria
tel: +43.1.58801.4492, fax: +43.1.5042478, e-mail: hilda.tellioglu@tuwien.ac.at

Abstract

Due to enhancements in telecommunication and database technologies, distributed data processing is becoming very promising for the most companies. Databases with sophisticated library services and configuration management functions what I call electronic document repositories (EDR) offer a computer infrastructure. EDR can be used as a platform for collaboration between distributed actors. This paper shows by drawing from a practical example (on work practices of architects in case of cooperation with producers and other professionals) how to implement a shared workspace by using EDR between spatially distributed collaborating users. The prototype described in this paper on a conceptual level is currently under development.

  1. Introduction

    2. Rapid data exchange, intense interaction and sharing of information resources between professionals become essential for many enterprises in order to improve their productivity and services. The WWW offers a new communication network enabling cooperation, on the one hand between enterprises’ distributed actors, on the other hand between different companies cooperating around a joint project. Since more connectedness and more concurrent access to common data resources are required, it is necessary to develop new technologies to arrange collaboration among distributed actors and to ensure the consistency of shared data resources during the collaboration process.

    People cooperating with people in their own or other organizations have to understand the full context and meaning of the shared data. That data is mostly identified within a common context. The context of and the relations between the data must be defined and maintained thoroughly during all interactions. Brackett defines a data resource framework as a discipline for complete management of the data resource (Brackett, 1994). The goal of the data resource framework is "the cooperative management of an enterprise-wide data architecture that ensures readily available data to support the enterprise’s mission, goals, and business activities" (p.27).

    In order to support distributed users and new forms of work (telework) and organizations (enterprises), according applications must be implemented by using standard formats (like SGML or XML to structure documents), networks (like the Internet or Intranet), protocols (like HTTP to access Web pages, FTP to access file systems, TELNET to access servers) and available commercial computer systems and applications (Web browsers, FTP servers and clients, TELNET and e-mail applications, etc.) (see Figure 1).


    Figure 1:     Infrastructure for data exchange between companies
    which can easily be configured by using the currently available tools and protocols.

    Development of the framework described in the following is based on empirical and conceptual work within the project ‘Flexible Standardisierung’ finished in 1997 (Lainer et al., 1997), the on-going projects ‘Kooperative Planung’, and ESPRIT LTR-Project DESARTE Phase 1 (Wagner ed., 1997) and Phase 2. The ethnographic studies are carried out in an architectural office. They included participant observation of on-going activities, interviews with the architects and producers who may cooperate with these architects. We discussed the current architectural design projects including the methods applied in design processes and the computer support needed. We evaluated the existing technological environment of the architects and of their potential and actual partners. It is within the scope of the mentioned research projects that the technical platform of the architectural office will be augmented and updated accordingly during the investigations.

    The next section contains the framework EDR. In Section 3 the implementation and maintenance of EDR are described. Before concluding the paper the prototype-in-development will be presented shortly.

  2. EDRs: Electronic Document Repositories

Inspired by Clement and Wagner’s paper about fragmentation and regionalization of communication spaces and their implications for possibilities of shared communication (1995), Bannon and Bø dker illustrate the dialectical nature of common information spaces (CISs), "emphasizing on the one hand the open and malleable role of a CIS within a local community of practice, and, on the other, the role of CISs as boundary objects, packaged and being turned into immutables to allow for sharing across contexts and different communities of practice" (1997, p.94).

In this paper I try to look at this CSCW topic from a technical point of view. To implement an infrastructure for users to arrange their work practices around a common information space, a platform which I call electronic document repository (EDR) is needed. An EDR stores, controls, and manages documents that can be accessed both locally and remotely. It consists of a database and a file system. In the database metadata about the documents - but not the documents themselves - and the management data such as version numbers are stored. The database also contains pointers that link the database and the file system. The main repository functions can be categorized as follows:

Configuration management is primarily used as a technical term and is strongly associated with specific tools especially in software development (Tellioglu and Wagner, 1997). Besides software modules CM is usually applied to all types of documents. There are three particular purposes of CM: (i) creating an overview of the documents-in-development (organization and construction, identification and description of its parts, dependency definitions and project status); (ii) affording the transparency of practices and control of changes; (iii) and reducing the amount of articulation work necessary.

EDR offers a computer infrastructure which can be used as a platform for collaboration between distributed actors (see Figure 2). This platform can be configured as a shared workspace used by cooperating companies. It is a virtual space where distributed actors can work on a solution of a specific problem. For complex projects it is not efficient enough to have only exchange of text data, e.g. via e-mail, because the information which must be communicated can have different forms. It can be a database, a spreadsheet, a text-based document or a bunch of linked hypertexts. If document types vary enormously, data access and transfer become more complicated, and compatibility issues more important. In an architectural office these documents can be, on the one hand, design documents like 2D plans, sketches, 3D visualizations, figures, on the other hand textual descriptions and drawn details about the elements and components of architectural plans. The latter could be supported by means of element databases and hyperlinked documents showing e.g. building regulations and restrictions.


Figure 2: Infrastructure with an EDR (electronic document repository)
as a platform for cooperation of distributed actors.

  1. Steps of implementation

On the technological level there are several steps to achieve a valuable cooperation between companies by means of using EDR:

  1. Constructing a unified computer-based work environment: Structuring, standardizing and networking the local work environment

After introducing a standard work environment in a company it is important to unify and standardize the computer-based interaction between its actors. Benefits gained from telecommunicated collaboration with other companies are restricted and inefficient if the company initiating collaboration is not networked locally. All data that is created and used by the company must be structured by means of databases or linked documents. It must also be saved on a central computer (server) that must be accessible by all users in the company. All previous and on-going projects with texts, calculations, plans, visualizations, and protocols about the corresponding tasks can be taken as core data which must be in digital form in order to be able to access it independently form space and time. An e-mailing system, an electronic calendar, a central database with customer and project data, electronic todo-lists, checklists, together with protocols enabling the management of projects and project members constitute the computer-based work environment.
  1. Searching for cooperation partners

After having a standardized and networked computer environment in the office, the company initiating cooperation with others must first create a requirement specification. It must contain, on a general level, work fields and processes in which cooperative support is needed, and, on a detailed level, the definition of elements, drawings, textual specifications, known parameters, and dependencies between the parameters. In an architectural office these are e.g. window, wall, or door elements. Changes of window size can e.g. cause modifications of wall elements or surfaces or materials.

In case of an actual cooperation, the design concept of the product that the company is working on must be communicated, e.g. an architectural office looks for producers to use their products like doors or windows in their buildings-in-development. Additionally, technical restrictions must be taken into account by all companies involved in cooperation. Requirement specifications together with the design concept clearly specify the product, and provide a first requirement document for the potential partners.
  1. Creating a shared workspace: Electronic Document Repository

In this stage, requirements of the initiating company and offers of responding companies must be hosted by the common shared workspace - EDRs - which can be located in the company initiating the cooperation. The aim of a cooperation in this phase is mainly to discuss the alternatives for a solution whereas the technical details must be considered accordingly.
  1. Maintaining the shared workspace

If both companies decide to cooperate along a project, they furnish the partly shaped EDR with their documents which are compatible and accessible for both sites. They add data into the shared documents and databases, modify and extend the contents of the common documents and databases. Through making the authors explicit, their access to the common workspace visible (i.e. to the shared documents in the EDR), and adding functionalities to annotate and comment on all data entries (no matter who is their creator), a continuous and asynchronous collaboration between all distributed users can be achieved.

The prototype-to-be-developed consists of a server application which is being implemented in Java. Any commercial Web browser can be used as a client application. Using CGI (Common Gateway Interface) the Web server can communicate with other programs running on the server e.g. a document repository. "With CGI, the Web server can call up a program, while passing user-specific data to the program (such as what host the user is connecting from, or input the user has supplied using HTML from syntax). The program then processes that data and the server passes the program’s response back to the Web browser." (Gundavaram, 1996, p.1). The following figure illustrates the environment of the prototype-to-be-developed (see Figure 3).


Figure 3: The environment of the prototype-to-be-developed.

  1. Conclusion

    2. Due to increasing complexity of the work management, computer techniques to support local- and wide-area cooperation between actor networks are changed and enhanced. The problem becomes more complicated when the networked cooperation must be held between different companies and not only between the distributed offices of the same company because the technical and organizational infrastructures of these companies may vary. That can cause incompatibilities in case of data exchange and remote data access. The steps described in this paper to achieve a common workspace for cooperating companies by using EDRs and to maintain this space collectively show the complexity of a collaboration on the one hand and the possibility to support these complex procedures by means of computers and well-defined interaction mechanisms on the other. Further work must be done to implement this vision in real work environments in order to see whether it fits to the user requirements from all sites.

  2. References

Bannon, L., Bø dker, S. (1997). "Constructing Common Information Spaces." Proceedings of the Fifth European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 81-96.

Boyle, J. (1997). "A Blueprint for Managing Documents." Byte, pp. 75-80.

Brackett, M. H. (1994). Data Sharing. Using a Common Data Architecture. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.

Clement, A., Wagner, I. (1995). "Fragmented Exchange. Disarticulation and the need for regionalized communication spaces." Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work ECSCW’95, pp. 33-49.

Gundavaram, S. (1996). CGI Programming on the World Wide Web (Nutshell Handbook). O’Reilly & Associates.

Lainer, R., Wagner, I., Tellioglu, H. (1997). Flexible Standardisierung. Möglichkeiten der computerunterstützten Integration von Design und Produktion am Beispiel Architektur. Forschungsarbeiten der Abteilung für CSCW No 7, Technische Universität Wien.

Tellioglu, H., Wagner, I. (1997), "Negotiating Boundaries. Configuration Management in Software Sevelopment Teams." Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing, Vol. 6, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, pp. 251-274.

Wagner, I. Ed. (1997). DESARTE First Phase Final Report. Technische Universität, Wien.