MULTIMEDIA MAIL SYSTEMS: Asynchronous Computer Supported Cooperative Work.

A Final Degree Project in Computer Science and Engineering (ISSN 0349 - 6023).

Abstract
--------

The Two main purposes of this final degree project are:

  1.  Explore the area of asynchronous Computer Supported Cooperative
      Work (CSCW) and perform a survey of existing literature and results,
      with an emphasis on support for widely distributed cooperation.
  2.  Design and implement a prototype Multimedia Mail System. To investigate
      practical limitations and problems.


The goal of CSCW can be defined as:

  The use of computers and communication to improve the means for cooperation
  between people, through the elimination of differences in place and time,
  while adding extra quality to the process.


Multimedia Mail Systems are used to compose, transmit and reply to messages
containing mixed forms of media such as audio, video, text and graphical data.


The outcome of this final degree project is at least two fold, this report and
a program known as "SAWPAD", which is an acronym for "Synchronized Audio With
Pointing And Drawing". Sending sawpad messages extends the multimedia  mail
technology with new dimensions, namely:

  The sawpad prototype allows recording and playing of messages consisting of
  a sequence of arbitrary background pictures onto which the user may point
  and draw with the mouse pointer while verbally (synchronized) explaining
  and making comments on the picture.


Additional material
===================

This archive contains:

  - The report in a PostScript representation.
  - Sources, binaries and manual pages to sawpad.
  - Some usefull scripts to be used with sawpad.


	/Magnus.Hedberg@ludd.luth.se