INTEGRATING PRIVATE METADATA INTO A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20080155430A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Prager, Scott H., Shalabi, Sami M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,928,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to meta-data management for an activity thread in an activity-centric collaborative environment, and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for private metadata integration. In one embodiment of the invention, a private meta-data integration method can be provided for an activity-centric collaborative environment. The method can include selecting an activity thread for display to a collaborator in an activity map of the activity-centric collaborative environment, and identifying the collaborator. For meta-data instances associated with corresponding activity objects in the activity thread, the meta-data instances can be excluded that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator.

Claims

1. A private meta-data integration method for an activity-centric collaborative environment, the method comprising:

selecting an activity thread for display to a collaborator in an activity map of the activity-centric collaborative environment;

identifying the collaborator; and

,

for meta-data instances associated with corresponding activity objects in the activity thread, excluding meta-data instances that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a meta-data instance for an activity object in the activity thread;

labeling the created meta-data instance private; and

,

associating an identity of the creator of the meta-data instance with the meta-data instance in a data store of meta-data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein excluding meta-data instances that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator, comprises:

looking up each meta-data instance in the data store of meta-data;

reading a privacy flag for each meta-data instance; and

,

excluding each meta-data instance when a corresponding privacy flag indicates privacy requested by a creator other than the identified collaborator.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein excluding each meta-data instance if a corresponding privacy flag indicates privacy requested by a creator other than the identified collaborator, comprises:

reading an indication of a creator for each meta-data instance; and

,

excluding each meta-data instance when a corresponding privacy flag indicates requested privacy and when the indication of the creator differs from the identified collaborator.

5. A collaborative computing data processing system configured for activity-centric collaboration, the system comprising:

an activity-centric collaboration tool configured for rendering an activity map of an activity thread of a plurality of activity objects to an identified collaborator communicatively coupled to the tool over a computer communications network;

a data store of meta-data for the activity objects, the data store comprising a plurality of records, each of the records comprising a reference to a meta-data instance, a corresponding activity object instance in the activity thread, a privacy flag and an identification of a creator of the meta data instance; and

,

private meta-data integration logic comprising program code enabled to exclude meta-data instances from display in the activity thread that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator.

6. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium embodying computer usable program code for private meta-data integration for an activity-centric collaborative environment, said computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for selecting an activity thread for display to a collaborator in an activity map of the activity-centric collaborative environment;

computer usable program code for identifying the collaborator; and

,

computer usable program code for excluding meta-data instances that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator for meta-data instances associated with corresponding activity objects in the activity thread.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

computer usable program code for creating a meta-data instance for an activity object in the activity thread;

computer usable program code for labeling the created meta-data instance private; and

,

computer usable program code for associating an identity of the creator of the meta-data instance with the meta-data instance in a data store of meta-data.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer usable program code for excluding meta-data instances that have been marked private by a creator other than the identified collaborator, comprises:

computer usable program code for looking up each meta-data instance in the data store of meta-data;

computer usable program code for reading a privacy flag for each meta-data instance; and

,

computer usable program code for excluding each meta-data instance when a corresponding privacy flag indicates privacy requested by a creator other than the identified collaborator.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer usable program code for excluding each meta-data instance if a corresponding privacy flag indicates privacy requested by a creator other than the identified collaborator, comprises:

computer usable program code for reading an indication of a creator for each meta-data instance; and

,

computer usable program code for excluding each meta-data instance when a corresponding privacy flag indicates requested privacy and when the indication of the creator differs from the identified collaborator.