ACTIVITIES :: @Work :: Collaboration@Work :: Collaborative Environments Glossary

Glossary of terms pertaining to Collaborative Environments

These terms have been collected by Jean-Pierre Briffaut, GET Institut National des Télécommunications. If you would like to update / add an information, please contact him at Jean-pierre.briffaut At int-evry.fr.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Access control: Access control refers to the prevention of unauthorised use of a resource. It also includes the prevention of use of the resource in an unauthorised manner.
Activity: An activity is the exertion of energy and/or other resources to produce a piece of work and as a consequence to deliver a product or a service. It can be decomposed in tasks. An activity uses resources to be operational.

From a psychological point of view an activity is the engagement of a subject (actor) toward a certain objective and involves direct action between a subject and an object. It is always mediated by physical and social tools.
Agent: An agent can be defined as a computational entity; • acting on behalf of other entities in an autonomous fashion
• performing its actions with some level of proactivity and/or reactiveness
• exhibiting some level of the key attributes of learning, co-operation and mobility

Several agent technologies are operated mainly in the telecommunications realm. They fall into two main categories, i.e. distributed agent technology and mobile agent technology.
Architecture: Architecture is the art or science of building.

An architecture defines the functional capabilities of the parts of a system and the specifications of the relationships between these parts.

A layered architecture is based on layers of functional operations. Any layer delivers services to an upper layer and consumes services from underlying layers: an example is the OSI (Open System Interconnection) architecture of telecommunication networks.
Authentication: Authentication refers to verification of the claimed identity of a person or process.

In the telecommunication sense authentication applies to the identification of peer entities (persons or processes involved in the communication) and also to the identification of sources of data since data may originate from a source other than the entity that has forwarded it.
C-etiquette: C-etiquette stands for collaborative etiquette. C-etiquette considers implicit rules and patterns which enable face-to-face collaboration between people in different societal contexts. It is a domain related to social science and organisation theory, on which software developers draw for developing ergonomic collaborative working environments.

When collaboration is mediated by technology, explicit models and representations of these rules and patterns have to be engineered for providing effective and efficient support for collaboration. C-Etiquette is important to support the design of groupware and workflow systems in virtual contexts.
C-pod: C-pod stands for collaborative pod. It is a set of heterogeneous devices engineered with embedded collaboration capabilities. Collaborative services need to be instantiated (invoked) on a multitude of devices ranging from desktops to lightweight SmartPhones and PDAs. This requirement challenges the software architecture and service container model of today’s middleware and development approaches.
Collaboration: Collaboration means working together with shared dynamic goals to achieve collective results that benefit to all parties involved. It implies a higher degree of commitment, mutual trust, sense of belonging and common interest than cooperation.
A critical feature of collaboration is vision sharing by all the stakeholders involved in producing targeted results in complex contexts.
It is often used for cooperation which etymologically means acting together.
Concept: A concept is a construct of mental objects split into classes.
Context: Generally speaking a context refers to the parts surrounding an object or a subject under consideration. It defines ambient conditions and gives meaning to the situation of an entity.

In a collaborative environment where human actors interact, a context is comprised of three dimensions:
• the actors involved characterized by their capabilities and roles
• shared objectives and/or a common vision evolved from overlapping individual goals
• an environment surrounding the actors.

Interaction patterns distinguish between direct and indirect interaction. Indirect interaction between actors takes place via the environment.

In a data processing environment context is any piece of information that can be used to characterize the situation of an entity. An entity is either a person, or a place or an object considered relevant to the interaction between a user and an application, including the user and applications themselves.
Context-awareness: Context-awareness is the ability to use any piece of context information to contribute to the environmental situation of an entity (person, place, object), thus rendering human-machine interaction more personalized and efficient (discovery and provision of context-aware services). Such context information is delivered by physical and/or logical sensors. The former sensors measure real world properties whereas the latter ones derive context from existent data sets.
Cooperative processing: In distributed processing cooperative processing is an environment that enables the services (processing, data) of a distant server to be transparent to an application program running in a computer system. The cooperative processing interface provides a set of virtual services in a way that their local and remote locations are transparent to the user (virtual service interface)
Co-operativity: Co-operativity is a neologism characterizing the capability to cooperate.
Creativity: Creativity refers to bringing something new into existence: innovation is the outcome.
Information and communication technologies strongly impact the way creativity is fuelled by leveraging good ideas from both inside and outside companies and tapping the expertise capabilities of suppliers, competitors and universities at the speed of light. E-enabled creativity gives a whole new meaning to R&D and produces the best results and the highest return on investments.; External partners and customers are acknowledged in many contexts as the two most valuable sources for idea generation and validation.
Cryptography: Cryptography is the basis of many security techniques. It involves applying a transformation to a plain text message to “scramble” the message in such a way that another transformation restores the plain text message with a key. A key is a parameter used to control each transformation so that the transformation algorithm is well known. The encrypted message cannot be deciphered without the decryption key. This means that the algorithm need not be changed when it is thought that the key is compromised, just the key.

Customer: A customer is the entity requesting a service from a given service provider. It is possible that this could be a proxy of the customer rather than the true service user.

Digital signature: A digital signature is a value that is appended to a message and is derived from the message in such a way that the receiver can verify that only the claimed sender could have sent the message. As well as being a way to identify the sender digital signatures can be used to prove that the sender did actually send the message (non-repudiation). Information with an appended digital signature is said to be “signed information”.
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange): EDI is an asynchronous exchange of data without human intervention between two application programs run in different computing systems linked by a telecommunication network.
Function: When considering the function of an entity a distinction has to be made between
{a} what the thing does in the normal course of events (its activity)
{b} what the thing brings about in the normal course of events (the result of its activity)

Of course it is understood that the activity of an entity and the outcome thereof are strongly correlated with the structure of the entity under consideration. When a function is ascribed to an agent it is implied that a certain purpose is served in the form of products or services.
Game (serious): A game is a form of contest played according to rules and decided by skill, strength or luck. It can be a scheme, a line of action, an undertaking engineered and followed like a game. The game theory is the mathematical analysis of conflicts in warfare, economics, business negotiations …
The idea behind the term "serious games" is to use the motivational aspects of games as a fun- and competition-focused activity for serious and useful purposes. The targeted objectives of serious games are
{a} learn how to do new things using customised learning strategies, relying on games to introduce new concepts, skills, and social attitudes;
{b} perform work or work-related tasks with better efficacy and efficiency.
Groupware: Groupware is technology designed to communicate, cooperate, coordinate, solve problems, compete or negotiate. The term is ordinarily used to refer to a specific class of technologies relying on computer networks.; Groupware technologies are typically categorised along two dimensions:
• whether users of groupware work together at the same time (synchronous groupware) or different times (asynchronous groupware)
• whether users work together in the same place (collocated) or in different places (distance); Typical groupware applications are e-mail, newsgroup, shared whiteboards, decision support systems, multi-player games …
Integration: The term integration is found in many design contexts. Its general meaning is bringing together components to produce a workable system by deploying a bottom-up approach. Integration engineering is found in many an economic sector such as assembly industries, software development, telecommunications …; In the information technology sense the system components provided by the collaborative infrastructures are offered as services to the design level. Service integration deals with the process of aggregating available services to deliver user-focused applications. Several levels of services may be organised to break down complexity into manageable units. A key issue is to make services interoperable, i.e. the output of a service must be compatible with the required format of another service input.
Integrity: Integrity refers to checking that a message has not been altered. In the tele- communication sense integrity includes connection integrity for all user data on a connection, connection integrity with recovery where an attempt at recovering the original data is made if it is found to have been altered, connectionless integrity for the user data in a connectionless data unit, connection and connectionless field integrity when only some of the user data is protected.
Intelligence: Generally speaking intelligence is the capacity of individuals to act purposefully, to think rationally and deal effectively with their environments in terms of adjusting their thinking to new requirements, conditions and problems.; In hardware, a property of a programmable device storing a sequence of instructions and containing local processing power to perform them: intelligent terminals, intelligent disk servers …
Interactivity: An interactive application is a timely sequence of two-way communication events between a human user and an application program run in a computing system. Interaction takes place via a user interface. Typical user interfaces are based on text, graphics, voice, gesture or a combination of those.
Internet: Internet is a worldwide network of telecommunication networks all connected using the TCP/IP suite of protocols and functioning as a single virtual network. It provides universal connectivity and three levels of network services: connectionless packet delivery, full-duplex stream delivery and application-level services (mainly electronic mail).
Interoperability: Interoperability is used today in many different situational conditions.; Traditionally the term interoperability was used in the data processing arena. It is the ability to operate software and exchange data in a heterogeneous network the best example of which is a large network made up of local area networks. Interoperability testing is an important application of this concept. It covers the integration of a software entity with other software entities to ensure that this entity conforms to alleged standards. Communication between entities without hardware modifications and with easy-made software configuration is the metrics of good interoperability.; In collaborative environments the concept of user interoperability is introduced to describe the ability to access and share knowledge between user communities, irrespective of their physical locations, interaction devices, collaborative models and tools. When the focus is put on cultural aspects the expression cultural interoperability can be found.
Key management: Key management is an ancillary aspect of security which is concerned with the management of cryptographic keys that are used in many security techniques. Keys need to be generated, stored, distributed, revoked from time to time and archived.
Logical channel: In data communications a logical channel is a circuit used for packet-switching operations between a terminal and a network node. The circuit may be a permanent virtual connection or set up for the duration of a call.
Message: A message is sequence of characters intended to convey information. It may be encrypted or not.

In data communications messages are in a format agreed by the sender and the recipient, with a header establishing the destination of the message and the body which consists of the data sent.
Middleware: As a general term middleware refers to a logical software layer between the underlying platform (hardware) and the application programs. It is intended to offer appropriate services to application programs (upper layer), provided by hardware facilities.
Typical middleware services depend on the different contexts considered. In the grid computing context middleware manages the interface between corporate and industrial networks on one hand and the underlying supercomputing infrastructure on the other hand. Today the grid infrastructure is still visible for application developers.
In the collaborative work environment the middleware layer should deliver the following services in a diversity of complex situations:
• resources discovery and seamless allocation
• group environment awareness
• sharing support to create a common shared knowledge space
• group management
Model: The term model is used in many a knowledge domain (economics, biology, psychology, physics, linguistics …). In fact model has two core meanings. Either a model is a simplified representation of reality (object) generally based on a theory or a bundle of theories, or a model is an abstract or real implementation of concepts. By real implementation it is understood as a prototype.
OSI (Open System Interconnection): OSI is a reference model for a seven-layer network architecture used for the definition of network protocol standards enabling all OSI-compliant computers or devices to communicate with each other.
Pattern: A pattern is an ambiguous word that is usual in physiology, psychology, sociology and refers to a model, a schema, a stereotyped form.
A pattern is in fact a reoccurring set or sequence of facts or events observed in a given context or domain. An example thereof is a sequence of actions taken by people to solve a given problem (best practices).
Peer-to-Peer (P2P): The term "peer-to-peer" describes systems that use a decentralized architecture allowing individual peers to provide and consume resources without centralized control.
Peer-to-peer solutions can be defined by their degree of decentralization and the types of resources shared by peers.; From the point of view of resources shared the following types of p2p systems can be distinguished:; • applications where peers share computational resources (grid computing)
• applications share application logic (service-based architectures)
• applications where peers share information (classical p2p systems); A peer-to-peer interface is an interface between two service providers (or two administrative units within a service provider) related to a specific management activity
Platform: Platform is a loosely-defined word for a software operating system and/or open hardware which an outsider (not the original manufacturer) can write software for.; Platform independence is a feature often referred to and applied to software programs. It is produced by a layer of software resting atop any operating system on any piece of hardware so that applications can be written once and run on different computer systems.
Portability: Portability is described by the properties of application programs that assist in estimating the degree whereby they can run in different computing environments. Levels of portability can be defined from the CPU level to the man-machine interface as follows:
• user interface (graphic symbols, icons..)
• application program
• programming language (versioning)
• software tools (DBMS)
• operating systems (versioning)
• hardware
• microprocessor (portability of source code without re-compilation)
Process: A process is a course of event-driven tasks performed to yield an intended final product/service. It is modelled by a sequence of activities aggregating tasks and making use of resources.
Protocol: A protocol is a formally specified set of conventions governing the format and control of inputs and outputs (messages) between two communicating entities (systems, programs…).
Reality: Augmented reality (AR) can be defined in a very broad sense as augmenting natural feedback to an operator with simulated cues from head-mounted devices (optical see-through and video see-through displays).
Repudiation: Non-repudiation refers to the provision of proof that a person or process actually participated in a communication between parties.; In the telecommunication sense non-repudiation applies to proof of origin so that the sender cannot falsely deny sending a message and proof of delivery so that the recipient cannot falsely deny receiving it. One technique for non-repudiation is based on digital signature.
Scalability: Scalability has several meanings:; • volume of data collected when applied to data collection system
• number of users supported
• enhancement of existent function capabilities.
Server: In computer networks a server is a unit at a node that provides a specific service for network users, e.g. a data server stores user files, a data processing server offers computing capacity, a remote access server provides access to a LAN for distant users …
Service: A service is a course of action performed by an object or a subject and capable of producing intended results for reaching an objective.; In the IT realm it is a set course of action engineered by a controlling function (print services, POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), gateway service, proxy service for networks, authentication service…). It is described by an event-driven sequence of operations the outcome of which is defined by a service level agreement (SLA). One operation in the sequence can be itself a service.; The possible attributes of a SLA are availability rate, backup facility, response time, hit rate, security, user support ...
SLA (Service Level Agreement): A SLA is a commitment or group of commitments made to a customer and requiring routine measurement and reporting of actual service delivery against targets. The SLA measures must all have significance for the customer. That means that the negotiated parameters mentioned in a SLA must be definable, controllable and measurable.
SOA (Service-oriented architecture): SOA is an architectural paradigm: it is a set of components which can be invoked, and whose interface descriptions can be published and discovered. It aims at building systems that are extendible, flexible and fit with legacy systems. It promotes the re-use of basic components called services. Applications are built on service blocks.; SOA is comprised of four main types of services:; • transaction services which automate business processes
• data services which read, display and analyze data created by transaction services
• services repository serving as a directory for all the available services
• orchestration services which tie together services in a coherent manner and coordinate interactions and interoperability between the other services.; Services are described by patterns.
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): SOAP is a lightweight XML-based messaging protocol used to encode data in web service request and response messages before sending them over a network.
UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration): UDDI is a web-based directory service that gives businesses and organisations a uniform way to publish their services, discover other companies’ services and understand the procedures required to conduct business with a specific company.
Virtuality: In computer architecture and data communications virtual specifies a facility offered to a user, or a system, as it were a physical reality.
Virtual call: A virtual call describes a connection between two parts of a network whereby the two parts are able to interact as if a specific circuit were dedicated to them throughout the transmission, whereas in reality a logical connection only is established with appropriate back-up facilities, the actual physical circuits being dynamically allocated according to route availability, overload conditions, other traffic…It is controlled by the source terminal.
Virtual network: A virtual network is a logical connection between two specific terminals over a packet-switched network. This virtual network is made of two logical channels between the terminals and the network nodes, and a virtual network circuit.
Virtual network = logical channel LCi + virtual circuit + logical channel LCj; The virtual network can be a permanent service so that the call set-up and the release procedures of packets by the source are eliminated.
Virtual terminal: A virtual terminal is a concept applied in networking whereby a set of logical functions for terminal operation is defined so that support by the network and by host computers for user terminals is buffered by an internal network procedure (‘’virtual network protocol’’). This approach alleviates the problem of having different terminal types connected to a network in order to access different types of computer, each of which would otherwise have to be capable of supporting each type of terminal.

Virtual workplace

A virtual workplace is a memory workspace required by an interactive program for holding temporary results (mainly input/output data) in addition to that for its own storage.
WEB services: "A web service is a software application identified by a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) whose interfaces and bindings are capable of being defined, described and discovered as XML artefacts. A web service support direct interactions with other software agents using XML-based messages exchanged via internet-based protocol." W3C
Web services provide a method for implementing a client-server architecture while offering additional features and extensibility. The following figure depicts the basic web service architecture.; Service providers communicate to the UDDI registry their intents to offer services in an appropriate language (WSDL Web Services Description Language). When a requester wants to consume a service, it searches the UDDI registry to find a service provider. If the registry finds a match, it returns the WSDL description to be interpreted by the client. The client then formats a request and forwards it to the service provider which returns a response. All the messages and data are in XML and encapsulated in SOAP messages.
XML: XML is a standard for creating markup languages which describe the structure of data.


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Last update: 24/11/2006