The Peer2Me Framework: A Framework for Mobile Collaboration on Mobile Phones

Abstract

This project continues the work started in our depth study project in the fall of 2004, develop- ing a framework for mobile collaborative applications on mobile phones utilizing Personal Area Networks (PANs). This paper describes central, theoretical concepts connected to the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) comput- ing, the Mobile Ad Hoc NETworks (MANETs) and the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) domains, focusing on "Same-Place-Same-Time" collaboration. We argue how the spread of PAN technology and mobile phones enable for a broad range of new collaborative applications supporting both collocated work and spontaneous interaction. Updated information about relevant technologies and related projects are discussed and evaluated. The requirements for the Peer2Me framework are presented and updated along with a revised and improved design. The design and the requirements are a product of an explorative development effort to develop the next generation of the Peer2Me framework using Java 2 Micro Edition and the Java APIs for Bluetooth wireless technology (JABWT). The Peer2Me framework is then tested on actual developers in a workshop arranged in May 2005. Data gathered from this workshop is used to illustrate the benefits of using a framework like Peer2Me for developing mobile collaborative applications. In addition to the actual Peer2Me framework implementation along with its Bluetooth network module, example applications are designed, implemented and tested in order to verify the suit- ability of the Peer2Me framework in the problem domain. These applications illustrate different kinds of aspects of the Peer2Me framework and the domain of mobile collaborative applications. The tests of these applications are done through enactment of the usage scenarios from which the applications were derived. The main results of this project are the technical products comprised of the Peer2Me framework, the Bluetooth Network module and the example Peer2Me applications, as well as the empirical data supporting the advantages of Peer2Me and the evaluations upon the suitability of the applied technologies.