Mobile Collaboration

Updates

2008-04-22T23:51:00.002-04:00

1 - Updated backgrounds LINK

2 - Updated paper LINK

3 - Powerpoint presentation LINK

Updates

2008-04-16T09:04:00.003-04:00

1 - Added backgrounds and link to page of prioritized list for PDA and Laptops LINK

2 - Updated Paper LINK

Updated Work Flow

2008-04-08T23:11:00.001-04:00

INDEX

PDA
- Splash Page
- Add
- View

Laptop
- Splash Page
- Add
- View

Moderator
- Splash Page
- Moderator View
- Filter
- Pick Attributes
- Sorted
- Reset

Paper Update

2008-04-06T23:08:00.000-04:00

Added paragraphs comparing similar products.

Smart Technologies has been around for over twenty years and has persistently improved on touch sensitive technology. The board itself is listed for over $2000 and works in conjunction with a computer and projector and you can network up to 10 Smart Boards together. They also offer Synchronize, which is a classroom management tool that costs $1000/classroom. It allows the teacher to work with both local and remote students.

Overall, the product gets rave reviews. The heart of the software is the durability during real-time meetings and a familiar interface. Some complaints include no annotation of information, the software has many components which are not transparent, expensive for smaller organizations and not portable.

Microsoft Live Meeting 2007 relies on users downloading a client to use any of their advanced features which include support for features like 360 webcam support, integrated full-duplex VoIP, and support for multiple rich-media formats. A web based interfaced is also available with limited functionality. The main complaints are that the software is not very reliable, confusing instructions, no confluence of collaboration and expensive for licensing.

Lotus Notes Domino 8’s primary hurdle is its reputation. The name Lotus Notes has been associated with complicated User Interfaces, slow processing and poor work flow. Other than that, this deployment contains real-time collaboration, annotated collaboration history tool and management via a single console.

Week 10 - Critique

2008-04-02T23:05:00.001-04:00

Change work flow.
1 - Brainstorm (raw list)
2 - Filter
3 - Sort (prioritize)

Web-centric brainstorming application for a distributed organization.

Blanka's Awesome Design

2008-04-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

Splash screen for PDA/SmartPhones designed by Blanka Lenart

Enhancement/Change in direction

2008-04-01T23:00:00.000-04:00

Since the moving and linking of thought clouds seems beyond my current skill set and I feel the need to enhance the project more, I have decided to move on and work on the task list exporting.

So the thought is that after the moderator gets to the thought clouds, the clouds will have a radio button and one idea is picked to move on to R&D. Something like this. This has check boxes, but imagine it is radio buttons.

This will lead the group to another screen where they can create tasks that they think need to be done and assign to the appropriate person/group. This can then be exported to a PDF document.

Paper Update

2008-04-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Trying to create some type of structure. Came up with this...

Abstract
Dync is a dynamic collaboration tool to help facilitate brainstorming sessions. It attempts to level the playing field for groups that don’t have the capital, the space or resources to collaborate and be competitive. ???

Personal Statement
Having been involved in many projects with a team of people with varied skills, it has always been a challenge to annotate all of the ideas/conversations/thoughts created at the meeting.

In 2001, my senior design team and I developed a product called PilotStorm. It’s primary task was to utilize the networking capability of the Palm III to share and develop ideas among many people. Using an Oracle database and a GUI designed in JAVA it was a smooth way to input, link and share ideas. The project was awarded the Technogenesis award for it’s innovative use of technology.

PilotStorm was innovative for the time, but it’s limitation lies with the software being hardware specific and would require the user to install software on their device. This would be very limiting to groups without the resources or funds to buy this product to optimize their brainstorming sessions. The development of PHP and MySql have rendered this type of rigid coding practice obsolete.

Products in the market have made good progress in the organizing of the brainstorming dialog. Some products available include the Smartboard, Microsoft Office Live, ….

Companies have relied on brainstorming session to create strategies, develop new ideas and to pool resources. It has been said that many minds are better than one.

The usual scenario is to coordinate everyones schedule to set up a meeting at a central location.

Spring Break - Thesis Paper

2008-03-25T11:30:00.000-04:00

Preliminary draft of paper.

Not really organized. A bit short on text. Will need to try a different outline. Had my draft proofed and reader says that the concepts make sense.

Programming woes...

2008-03-19T22:00:00.002-04:00

Did more research...to try to get the functions I deemed as high priority working. May need to totally re-write function...not sure...

select : function()
{
this.element.addClass( 'Selected' );

// adjust for border
var pos = this.element.getPosition();
this.element.setStyles({
left : theLeft -1,
top : top - 1
});
},

Week 8

2008-03-12T12:26:00.002-04:00

Things that I would like to see on the program:

High:

1 - Moveable thought clouds
2 - Link thought clouds
3 - Save position of clouds

Medium:

1 - Add ideas in GUI screen
2 - Doodle in GUI screen

Low:

1 - Checkbox and text field on clouds to assign tasks
2 - Export task list document

Updated Timeline

2008-03-11T17:20:00.003-04:00

More or less on schedule. Had lots of good suggestions which required the Round 2: Programming to begin sooner than expected. May wind up doing a third round of programming/User testing before finalizing.

Would really like to implement Seth's suggestion, else it will be included in the section of the paper with other future implementations.

For the paper, will need to create a flow diagram. I think that would provide a greater understanding of how a meeting will flow in a new and fairly seamless way.

Week 7 - Midterm Critique

2008-03-05T13:59:00.002-05:00

Seth Bauer, Editor of The Green Guide says it would be handy to have a download-able output such as a tasking list since it is common that after brainstorming sessions tasks are divided.

Need to add more functionality to the GUI.

Midterm Presentation

2008-03-04T22:42:00.003-05:00

Click here to download slides for Midterm Presentation:

Powerpoint Presentation

Clean up links.

2008-03-03T23:00:00.002-05:00

Participants:
1 - ADD
2 - VIEW

Use Opera Mini to view page from SmartPhone/PDA emulator.

Moderator:
1 - VIEW w/ Checkboxes
2 - DISPLAY
3 - RESET

Logo/Name finalized

2008-03-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

Week 6 - Critique

2008-02-28T22:28:00.003-05:00

For presentation:

1- Clean up links
a) list of links for participants
b) list of links for moderator

2- Activate checked with GUI. Change stickies logo to thought clouds

3 - Possibly make a flyer. Or just save paper...

Powerpoint Presentation Outline

2008-02-27T09:04:00.002-05:00

10 Minute Presentation must answer the basic questions of What, Why, Who, Where and How.

This should take 5-7 minutes and leave 3 minutes for questions and discussion.

What
- A dynamic collaboration tool to help facilitate brainstorming sessions.

Why
- To be portable and easily replicate information.

How
- Using PHP, MySql and WAP standards the software tool will work on any platform with an internet connection and a web browser.

Where
- Since this is essentially a website, this site can be accessed anywhere.

Who
- For anyone that has brainstorming sessions. For companies that have multiple locations and require a tool for collaboration.

Things to do...

2008-02-27T02:04:00.001-05:00

1 - Design participant and moderator pages
2 - Put functionality together
3 - Attach to GUI

More Moderator Functions

2008-02-27T01:59:00.001-05:00

View a list of raw data with checkboxes:
LINK
After submit is clicked, a list of the items that were just checked are displayed. If nothing is checked, there is an error.

View a list of items that have been checked:
LINK
After submit is clicked, the checked column will zero out to reset the counter.

Duh! Making the checkbox work. (Part 2)

2008-02-26T23:29:00.000-05:00

In addition, each item listed needed to be defined in an array:

<input type="checkbox" name="entry[]" value="$row[0]"/>

Then you can call it like this:

$entry = $_POST['entry'];
foreach($entry as $checked)
{
$SqlStatement1 = "UPDATE database_01 SET checked=1 WHERE id=$checked";

Duh! Making the checkbox work.

2008-02-25T23:56:00.001-05:00

First get the syntax to UPDATE a database entry correctly. I had quotes where I didn't need them and that broke things.

Should look like:

$SqlStatement = "UPDATE table_name SET table_item=item, table_item2=item2 WHERE table_item="something";

So where it stands now is that the checked entry seems to update, but only one item. If I have multiple items checked, only the last item checked registers. Not sure why my loops are not working.

Week 5 - Critique

2008-02-20T16:53:00.002-05:00

1 - Instead of post-its: perhaps thought bubbles or light bulbs
2 - Work on Powerpoint presentation
3 - Have working demo by next week

What needs to happen...

2008-02-17T23:09:00.001-05:00

Participants can add their ideas to the pool. Participants can also view the list of ideas.

The moderator can view the same pool of ideas, but with check boxes so that the moderator can select key ideas. The moderator also has the ability to delete ideas that have no relevance.

Issues:
1 - Checking box to change "checked" status on database.
2 - Only post stickies that are "checked."
3 - Make stickies with ideas movable.

Week 4 - Critique

2008-02-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

Participants:
Raw capture- Chronological

Moderator:
Sort & Evaluate
Yields GUI

* Select from a list of viable/useful ideas
* Only GUI selected ideas

Possible future addition, posts editable on GUI

Links in progress

2008-02-13T09:35:00.002-05:00

Can add new stickies. Can move stickies around. Can poll ideas from database, but can't move.
Add and Move

Can grab ideas from database and randomly post stickies around screen.
Grab from database

Multi-location, single collaborative meeting

2008-02-10T23:04:00.000-05:00

This diagram represents one company with departments in New York, Los Angeles and London. They can collaborate together without being in the same conference room. All locations receive the same information at the same time.

Week 3 - Critique

2008-02-07T19:52:00.000-05:00

Need to work on more sketches.

Sketch 1: Multiple instances. How the different locations would communicate with each other.

Sketch 2: How moderator shepherds conversation. Maybe showing the moderators touch screen.

Sketch 3: Wire frame network.

Concept, context, sketch

2008-02-05T18:20:00.000-05:00

This concept is inspired by corporate brainstorming sessions where a team leader is trying to gather and organize ideas from his/her team. By utilizing tools ubiquitous to the environment, this software would be an inexpensive way to systematically gather ideas without the obstacles of a high learning curve.

Methodology & Timeline

2008-02-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

The plan is to be finished with everything by April 9th. April 16th is just in case.

There are 2 rounds for programming. The goal is to finish implementing the software I have outline before week 7. The second round will be for tweaks and upgrades based on suggestions from the evaluators critique.

Week 2 - Critique

2008-01-31T15:51:00.000-05:00

1- Need to work on pitch. Should involve how wireless technology and cellphones are ubiquitous. Also, how real time collaboration for companies located on multiple coasts is essential.

2- Work on data visualization. Sort by time/relevance/etc... Voting? Color/transparency/etc...

3- Research current products available and make a comparison. Smartboards, etc...

Proposal

2008-01-24T01:51:00.000-05:00

In a digital society, brainstorming is still completed in a very analog way. With societies ever growing dependence of their mobile phones and PDAs, mobile brainstorming seemed like the obvious next step.

Back in 2000, my team attempted to tackle this by creating Pilotstorm.

Using a network of PDAs, multiple users were able to share and save the ideas collected during their brainstorming session.

Pilotstorm Proposal

Pilotstorm Interim Report

Pilotstorm Final Report

The project now is to update this idea with current methods and technology.

The basic framework has been created using MySQL, PHP and AJAX.

Current screen shot:

Link to last UPDATE