Abstract
This paper describes a simple versioning system which we have developed to support collaborative authoring on the WWW. The system provides facilities for versioning pages and allowing readers access to different versions of web pages. We discuss why such a system is needed and present the versioning model which we have developed. This model allows existing web pages to be converted to versioned entities without affecting links to these pages. Central to the model, is a set of access control facilities which allows authors to provide co‐authors with access to versions of pages under development. We describe the instantiation of this model and assess our work against the requirements identified in the first part of the paper.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appelt, W. (1996), “CoopWWW - Interoperable Tools for Cooperation Support Using the World-Wide-Web,” In Proceedings of ERCIM Workshop “CSCW and the Web,” GMD, St. Augustin, Germany, pp. 91–94. http://orgwis.gmd.de/projects/W4G/proceedings/coopwww.html
Bentley, R., W. Appelt, U. Busbach, E. Hinrichs, D. Kerr, K. Sikkel, J. Trevor, and G. Woetzel (1997), “Basic Support for Cooperative Work on the World Wide Web,” International Journal of Human- Computer Studies: Special Issue on Innovative Applications of the World Wide Web 46, 6, 827–846.
Cybulski, J.L. and K. Reed (1992), “A Hypertext-Based Software Engineering Environment,” IEEE Software 9, 2, 62–68.
Delisle, N. and M. Schwartz (1986), “Neptune: A Hypertext System for CAD Applications,” In Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD Conference on the Management of Data, ACM Press, New York, NY, pp. 132–143.
Douglis, F. and T. Ball (1996), “Tracking and Viewing Changes on the Web,” In Proceedings of the 1996 USENIX Technical Conference, USENIX, Berkeley, CA, pp. 165–176.
Estublier, J. (1985), “A Configuration Manager: the Adele Data Base of Programs,” In Workshop on Software Engineering Environments for Programming-in-the-Large, ACM Press, New York, NY, pp. 140–147.
Garg, P.K. and W. Scacchi (1990), “A Hypertext System to Maintain Software Life-cycle Documents,” IEEE Software 7, 3, 90–98.
Haake, A. and J.M. Haake (1993), “Take CoVer: Exploiting Version Support in Cooperative Systems,” In Proceedings of InterCHI'93, ACM Press, New York, NY, pp. 406–413.
Hann, B., P. Kahn, V.A. Riley, J.H. Coombs, and N.K. Meyrowitz (1992), “IRIS Hypermedia Services,” Communications of the ACM 35, 1, 36–51.
Leblang, D. (1994), “The CM Challenge: Configuration Management that Works,” In Configuration Management, W. Tichy, Ed., John Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 1–37.
MacArthur, K., S. Virdhagriswaran, G. Dakin, and M. Webb (1997), Pow-Pow - A World Wide Change Management System, Crystaliz, Inc., Concord, MA. http://www.crystaliz.com/PowWow/PowWow.html
Palfreyman, K. and T. Rodden (1996), “A Protocol for User Awareness on the World Wide Web,” In Proceedings of CSCW'96, ACM Press, New York, NY, pp. 130–139.
Patterson, J.F., M. Day, and J. Kucan (1996), “Notification Servers for Synchronous Groupware,” In Proceedings of CSCW'96, ACM Press, New York, NY, pp. 122–129.
Pino, J. (1996), “A Visual Approach to Versioning for Text Co-authoring,” Interacting with Computers 8, 4, 299–310.
Reuter, J., S.U. Hänß gen, J.J. Hunt, and W.F. Tichy (1996), “Distributed Revision Control via the World Wide Web,” In 6th International Workshop on Software Configuration Management, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 166–174.
Rochkind, M.J. (1975), “The Source Code Control System,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 1, 4, 255–265.
Tichy, W. (1985), “RCS - A System for Version Control,” Software Practice and Experience 15, 7, 637–654.
Vitali, F. and D.G. Durand (1995), “Using Versioning to Support Collaboration on the WWW,” In World Wide Web Journal (Fourth WWW Conference) 1, 1. http://cs-pub.bu.edu/students/grads/dgd/version.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sommerville, I., Rodden, T., Rayson, P. et al. Supporting information evolution on the WWW. World Wide Web 1, 45–54 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019295110666
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019295110666