Integrating Collaborative Tools into Browsers for Enhanced Workspace Management and Navigation

1. New “Collaborate” Button Integrate UI directly into the browser. Possible Targets: IE (via SpiceIE) & Firefox (via standard extensions & NPAPI plugins

2. Collaboration Interface Breaks out into FullScreen either easily, or by default Presumably a Silverlight app “under the hood”. Novel input schemes found here. Can be broken out into a stand alone app as well (or at least, in appearance)

3. Input • Ideas • Hand gestures/sign language* • Implies some sort of LED glove • Requires a novel and discoverable set of gestures • The “Bat” • Mouse + a third dimension • Requires that people be able to navigate in 3-dimensions *This seems like the way to go – less 3d thinking, and less fatigue.

4. Adding to the Workspace • Context menu on: • Selected Text • URLs • Images • Videos (tricky, given Flash and all) • Add files directly from workspace • Standard file selection dialog • Move collections of items between different workspaces (cut/copy & paste) • Some sort of partial serialization

5. Manipulation Within Workspace • Add “links” • Symmetric or not • Think “correlated” versus “thus” semantic • Carry information (labels, or other documents) • Tags • Required by spec • Grouping & Categorization • “cats” & “beta deliverables” • Its possible to implement links as a special form of tags

6. Manipulation Within Workspace (continued) • Zoom on workspace (links and document previews scale/hide) • Select related documents (Expose style?) • View history of workspace (or some history) • I’m picturing a visual playback with a timeline • Select all documents of a given type • All of these operations can be performed on the currently selected subset of the Workspace (all Images in Tag A related to …)

7. Tags • Tags can be implemented in a couple of ways • Google style – simple labels applied to a document • Facebook style – have a side-effect (notice, or export to a feed, etc.) in addition to categorizing • Proposed hybrid • Google style by default, but any user can “listen” on a tag; getting notice (on login, or through some other medium) when a tag is applied • A few tags should be Facebook style by default – say “important” or “user:Kevin.Montrose”.

8. Server XML or JSON Describing Workspace Browsing History “Interesting” Webpage Data Etc. Links (between items) New Documents Changes to Organization Plugin Security/Privacy Boundary UI Clients

9. Document Workspace Webpage URL Image Video Text Arbitrary File Browsing History (whole or part) Query on a Database (w/ or w/o results) Documents …………. Link between documents Optionally annotated (with another Document) Workspace should be versioned, so its development over time can be replayed

10. History (as a document) Paths Website • Keep track of path taken with respect to time, so it can be replayed (and added to a workspace as such) • “All children of a node” (not following links that lead back up the hierarchy) is meaningful • Possibly all related • Possibly search results • If we add some outside knowledge (like, Google is a search engine) we can guess certain user behaviors • Email, Directions (Google/Live Maps), etc.

11. Some thoughts on Identity • The easiest thing to do is roll our own username/password system • However, that’s a security nightmare (even for a prototype) & we’re forcing users to remember another username/password combo. • Consider OpenID • http://openid.net/ • Supported by: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Wordpress, Flickr, Live Journal, and others.