Real-time groupware in the browser: testing the performance of web-based networking

Standard web browsers are becoming a common platform for delivering groupware applications, but until recently, the only way to support real-time collaboration was with browser plug-ins. New networking approaches have recently been introduced – based on re-purposed techniques for delivering web pages (Comet), or integration of realtime communication directly into the browser (HTML5 WebSockets). Little is currently known, however, about whether these new approaches can support real-time groupware. We carried out a study to assess the performance of the three different networking approaches, based on a framework of groupware requirements, in several network settings. We found that web-based networking performs well – better than plug-in approaches in some cases – and can support the communication requirements of many types of real-time groupware. We also developed two groupware applications using Comet and WebSockets, and showed that they provided fast and consistent performance o...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Carl A. Gutwin, Michael Lippold, T. C. Nicholas Graham
• Keywords: CSCW 2011, Groupware Developers, Social Sciences, Time Collaboration, Time Groupware