Transcript slides - University of Virginia

Crosspoint
Collaboration Services for the 21st Century
Patrick Gabriel (James Madison University)
Joel Coffman (CS Graduate Student, University of Virginia)
NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates, University of Virginia
What is Crosspoint’s Vision?

Crosspoint is a web-based collaboration service which is intended
to enhance interaction among problem holders.

End users issue a Request for Information (RFI) and identify the
nature of the solution needed.

An analyst picks an RFI for review, and then works to
 understand the problem,
 sharpen the question,
 and clarify the end user’s goals.
Crosspoint’s Vision

The analyst uses Crosspoint to locate Subject
Matter Experts (SMEs) whose skill set and
availability match the requirements of the problem
being addressed.
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Crisis Action Teams (CATs) for short-term problems
Communities of Interest (COIs) for long-term problems
Communication
Subject Matter
Experts (SME)
End User (Problem
Holder)
RFI
Analyst
Crosspoint Query
Subject Matter
Experts (SME)
Subject Matter
Experts (SME)
Clarification
Crosspoint’s Vision

The CAT/COI collaboration team members:




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collectively develop an action strategy,
locate and collect relevant information and data assets,
perform analyses,
and produce information products and visualizations relevant to the
desired end-state.
The analyst delivers the collaboration team’s response to the
problem holder.
End User (Problem
Holder)
Response
Response
Analyst
SME
SME
SME
SME
CAT/COI team
Crosspoint’s Vision

Over time, each analyst and SME acquires an
electronic reputation regarding the utility of their work
product.

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Analysts provide feedback for the SMEs
End users provide feedback for the analysts
End User (Problem
Holder)
Feedback
Feedback
Analyst
Subject Matter Expert
(SME)
Why is Crosspoint Needed?

Today’s collaboration tools assume that the user already knows the
identities of those with whom he or she wishes to collaborate.

In contrast, with Crosspoint, problems can be described from the
problem holder’s perspective, and the characteristics of the desired
outcome can be identified.

Crosspoint is collaborator-focused, in that the analyst uses a query
service to locate SMEs with relevant skills.


SME profiles
Crosspoint is implemented using web services

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Avoids adding another application to run and manage
Users can integrate Crosspoint into their existing and future projects without
undergoing a complete redesign.
Bridging the Gap
SMEs known to
analyst
RFI
Analyst
End User
SMEs unknown
to analyst
SMEs unknown
to analyst
RFI
End User
Crosspoint
Analyst
SMEs known to
analyst
What are Crosspoint’s Capabilities?

To achieve its vision, Crosspoint must support the following capabilities:

user-friendly creation and management of RFIs

interaction between the analyst and the RFI’s author

collaboration among the CAT/COI team members

definable search queries for the SME profile database

customizable priorities and preferences for search queries

delivery of requested information end-state to the end user
Technology

Crosspoint utilizes three main technologies to
accomplish its goal:
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Apache HTTP Server 2.2.4
PHP 5.2.3
PostgreSQL 8.2.
PostgreSQL 8.2.4 was implemented for the following
reasons:

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It is faster with a large feature set
Provides excellent data integrity
Is stable and reliable
Crosspoint Demo

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Login
User Interface
Profiles
 End User
 Analyst
 Subject Matter Expert
RFIs
Search
Results
Future Work

Formation of CATs/COIs

Search algorithm development (currently a boolean
search)

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Must be specific for a relational database (google operates on
text, not tables)
Weighted search
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Electronic reputation (feedback)
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User defined tags (like del.icio.us)
Acknowledgements

Dr. Alfred Weaver (Dept. of Computer Science, University of Virginia)

Joel Coffman (CS Graduate Student, University of Virginia)

Andrew Jurik (CS Graduate Student, University of Virginia)

Bob Dorsey (National Reconnaissance Office)