1 / 39

Data Collaboration in Support of Academia and Research: An Analysis

This analysis explores the use of data collaboration tools in academia and research, focusing on the needs of academics, researchers, and administrators. It examines various technologies and protocols such as T.120, T.121, T.123, and T.124 and discusses their implementations, uses, and limitations. Additionally, alternative technologies and tools for collaboration are also discussed.

goods
Download Presentation

Data Collaboration in Support of Academia and Research: An Analysis

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Data Collaboration in Support of Academia and Research: An Analysis Mary Trauner Georgia Institute of Technology Video Development Initiative (ViDe) Internet2, Spring 2001 Member Meeting March 8, 2001 Washington, DC

  2. Some Definitions Collaboration: to work with one another, to cooperate towards common goals, to participate. Collabication: represents the merged skills that the media (video, application sharing, and document conferencing) require. Data Collaboration: represents, in our emerging multimedia environment, participating and working in a virtual workspace.

  3. Mission: Education Three groups contribute to this mission: Academics Researchers Administrators

  4. Needs Analysis - Academics Classroom - shared whiteboards, browsers, chats, back-channels, telepointers, annotation tools, scientific/engineering software Faculty and School Advisors - guidance and counseling, mentor relationships, individualized support (“office hours”) Course Developers - course design products such as WebCT, IMS Students - personal notes, personal whiteboard copy Special Needs - equitable access Other - equitable experience, elapsed time, course repositories

  5. Needs Analysis - Researchers General - proposals, budgets, status reports, publications Scientists and Engineers - large scale models, CAD renderings, scientific visualization of model output, remote control interfaces Medical Professionals - collaborative discussions and curriculum planning, virtual rounds, remote and collaborative diagnosis, X-Rays, MRI’s, video tapes, online resources Other - telepointers, annotation tools

  6. Needs Analysis - Administrators Administrators and administrative users - strategic/operational planning, presentations, student records, student aid, budget preparations/tracking, accounts payable/receivable, database systems, brainstorming Developers - database design/applications, institutional software development or tailoring End Users - administrative uses, staff development Service Providers - HelpDesk functions Other - economic development, sports, community service

  7. Needs Analysis - General Chair Control Scheduling and Timers Agendas for Meetings or Classes Cursor Distinction Automatic vs Individual/Custom Screen Layouts Participant Status Participant Lists Security, Authentication Recording of Meeting or Collaboration Shared Repository Elements

  8. T.120 Analysis What is T.120 What portions are mandatory Current implementations Tested Uses

  9. T.120: The Standard Common Protocol - Network Independent Protocol Data Units Layered Services • Peer to Peer Communications • Still Image and annotation • Multipoint binary file transfer • Generic application template Generic Application Template

  10. T.121: The Standard • Application Protocol Entities • Application Resource Manager • Application Service Element

  11. T.123: The Standard Maps Network Specific Protocols into a Common Interface

  12. T.122/T.125: The Standard MCS Collects Sessions to Form a Multipoint Domain

  13. T.124: The Standard • GCC Handles: • Establishment/Termination • Conference Roster • Application Roster • Application Registry • Shared Resources • Conductor Assignment • Timing Tools • Operator Assistance • Text Messaging

  14. T.127: The Standard • General Purpose File Transfer • Mandatory • Single Broadcast • Optional • Multiple File Broadcast • Conductor Control • Private Distribution

  15. T.126: The Standard White Board Bitmap Images Annotation Virtual Pointers Parametric Drawing Workspace N depth-ordered planes

  16. T.128: The Standard Application Sharing Logical Desktop Window Model Z Layers Flow Control

  17. Workspace or Desktop S.B.’s Workspace Mary’s Workspace

  18. T.120: Current Implementations Microsoft NetMeeting SGI SGIMeeting VCON MeetingPoint Lotus SameTime Sun SunForum HP Visual Conference PictureTel LiveShare Plus CUseeMe

  19. T.120: Tested Uses Still Image File transfer Chat Whiteboard Xwindows Animation Video (with audio)

  20. T.120: Summary • Positive • Does MBFT and SI well • Fairly widespread • Inexpensive or Free • Negative • Implementation Compliance • Dueling cursor • Shared versus Private Layer Displays • Limited Support for Video or Animation • Scalability

  21. Alternate Technologies, Tools ZofX SurfNchat Access Grid’s dxpc ReLaTa TANGO VRVS hipbone NetShowLive GroupKit CVW InfoWorkSpace Vxtreme IP/TV mDesk MBone Odyssey CoBrow Habanero CWW TeleDraw DCV, MERCI

  22. Alternate Technologies, Categories • Shared Browsers • hipbone • SurfNChat • Netscape Conference • ZofX • JAVA/Javascript Tools • Habanero • JCE • mDesk • TANGO • Whiteboards/Chat • Voxphone • CuSeeMe • Eventware • MERCI • TeleDraw • Multicast • VRVS • Mbone • MECCANO • CWW • Specific Applications • dxpc Centralized Distributed

  23. Virtual Rooms Videoconferencing System ….to provide a low cost, bandwidth-efficient, extensible tool for videoconferencing and collaborative work over networks within the High Energy and Nuclear Physics communities and to some extent within Research and Education at large.

  24. VRVS Web User Interface Others ?? MPEG QuickTime V4.0 Mbone Tools (vic, vat/rat,..) H.323 Collaborative Applications VRVS Reflectors (Unicast/Multicast) QoS Real Time Protocol (RTP/RTCP) Network Layer (TCP/IP) Work in progress done Partially done Continuously in development Implementation Model

  25. User Interface Information: Virtual Room name,Title, Current time and ending time Participants: geographical origin, media started, Full name and email Click to start: audio, video, whiteboard, chat, and web links

  26. CHAT WhiteBoard RAT VAT VIC QuickTime Player 4.x User Interface • Client Applications currently used in VRVS. • Public-Domain or Free Players • Good “Sense of Presence”: 10 Frames/sec Within 100-200 Kbps or 20-25 Frames/sec within 300-500 Kbps • Tunable Bandwidth/Quality/Resource Matching • Multi-Platforms : Linux, Unix’s, Windows95/98/NT/2000, Macintosh (only with QuickTime) • Efficient, Tunable

  27. User Interface Example: 9 Participants, CERN(2), Caltech, FNAL(2), Bologna (IT), Roma (IT), Milan (IT), Rutherford(UK)

  28. R&D: H.323 Integration

  29. R&D : Sharing Desktop VNC technology integrated in VRVS

  30. SurfNchat

  31. SurfNchat

  32. ZofX

  33. ZofX

  34. ZofX Windows only Java One-way only (Post/View) Snapshot or Continuous Via file area (with ftp option) No audio Performance based on network

  35. TANGO Interactive Unix or Windows NT Java(script) with browser startup Bi-directional, flexible session control Apps on multiple HTTP servers Supports video and gaming Shared Event vs Shared Display Apps required on each system Record and Playback Centralized server Scalability via RTSP/RTP C, C++, Lisp integration for high quality viz/video apps

  36. TANGO Interactive

  37. Conclusions • What criteria should we follow in selecting tools? • Needs Analysis • Stability • Availability and Cost • Performance • Standards Compliance, Open Source • Security • Authentication • Scalability • Will T.120 fit our bill? • Should we look to other solutions? • Can we get what we need today from either?

  38. Future Work • Complete study of T.12x standards • Continue overview of alternate collaboration tools • Complete paper (stages) • Develop collaboration section on ViDe web site • Study deployment issues (separate from VC) • Set up a Data Collaboration Working Group • (Interested?)

  39. Questions? www,vide.net/ www.vide.gatech.edu/outreach/ Contact Information Voice: (404)894-6166 H.323: 130.207.179.209 Email: mary.trauner@oit.gatech.edu Web: www.hpc.gatech.edu/Mary.Trauner/

More Related