Web services and software agents for tailorable groupware design

Abstract

We present a new groupware architecture model called UD3 that explicitly introduces the notion of tailorability in designing collaborative applications. This model is based on the integration of web services and software agents technologies, thus using protocols of each while reinforcing their individual strengths in the context of tailorable groupware design. In our work, web services are dynamically invoked by software agents in order to bring new behaviors, and hence, enhancing the collaboration process by dynamically adapting the services offered in the system to the users’ preferences and not the other way around. Web services and agents were originally developed with different standards, thus their integration becomes important in the context of groupware tailorability, giving a totally innovative approach in the area of CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work). We apply our model on the DIGITAL OCEAN project for the creation and distribution of multimedia files on the Internet.