Innovative concepts for configuring shared workspaces through visual programming

CSCW systems like BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work), HyperNews, and Lotus Notes have been successfully introduced to support the cooperation of geographically distributed work groups. Unfortunately, some of these software systems are not flexible enough to be customized easily to the requirements of an individual user. Most of the environments can only be configured by experts through complex programming. In this article we introduce VIP space, a shared workspace space in the sense of exchanging and processing shared objects between members of distributed work groups. VIP space can be easily adapted to the user's individual views and needs by means of a visual programming language. In VIP space, objects of the shared workspace are moved by drag and drop between task fields. Task fields are programmed by visual "if-then" rules applying a combination of icon- and form-based techniques. When a document represented by an icon is dropped on a task field its rules are checked and actions of the selected rules are excited. VIP space is finally demonstrated in an Internet course application.