"Sieve: A Java-Based Framework for Collaborative Component Composition"
 Dr. Clifford Shaffer, Associate Professor, Dept. of Computer Science
			  September 22, 1998

                  Computer Science Graduate Seminar
                          CS 5944 Index 9743
                        Tuesday 3:30 - 4:45 pm
                  Newman Library 6th Floor Boardroom

			    Sponsored by:
			    	Department of Computer Science
				Information Systems
				University Libraries
				Digital Library Research Laboratory
				Internet Technology Innovation Center

Abstract: 
We seek to develop a web-based collaborative environment for
interactive design, visualization, and data analysis.  Our prototype
system, named Sieve, allows collaborative construction of data-flow
networks from an extensible set of modules.  Modules may read data
from a variety of sources, filter and transform the data in various
ways, and generate visualizations.  Annotation tools are also provided
for mark-up and documentation of the environment's shared workspace.

Sieve supports collaboration through a replicated architecture and 
provides real-time information about participants' actions and
locations in the workspace.  Sieve exploits JavaBeans functionality
both to provide dynamic, interactive modules and also to support
module state consistency among distributed replicas.

For more information see:  http://simon.cs.vt.edu/sieve


Biography:
Dr. Clifford A. Shaffer is an Associate Professor in the Department of 
Computer Science at Virginia Tech.  He has extensive experience in
developing simulations and computer-based courseware for use in both
college and K12 classes.  His present work focuses on infrastructure
and toolkits to support collaboration and data visualization over the
WWW.  Other projects have included a system for developing data
structure visualizations, and simulations of demographics and
migration within the U.S.  Dr. Shaffer earlier work involved designing
data structures and algorithms for spatial applications such as
Geographic Information Systems, robotics, and computer graphics.  He
is the author of a recent data structures textbook from Prentice Hall.
        Phone: (540) 231-4354   Email: shaffer@cs.vt.edu