Providing Collaboration

• US 20100077317A1
• Filed: 09/21/2008
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mazzeo, Thomas S., Kritt, Barry A., Shepard, Rodney E. II
• Application Number:
  US12/234,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20100077317A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Collaboration support for collaboration among groups of people is provided by leveraging e-mail messaging. Content for collaboration messages is created, and is embedded within e-mail messages and sent to recipients (such as member of a collaboration team, managers who are identified for receiving notification of collaborations, and so forth). A template-driven approach may be used for creating the collaboration content. A unique identifier is associated with a particular collaboration and is included in each message pertaining to that collaboration, enabling those related messages to be correlated or aggregated.

Claims

1. A method for providing collaboration, comprising:

embedding content for a collaboration in an e-mail message; and

sending the e-mail message to participants in the collaboration.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the content using a collaboration template.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the collaboration template dictates what content is needed in view of a type of the collaboration.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a message header of the e-mail message indicates that the content for the collaboration is embedded in the e-mail message.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating a unique identifier for the collaboration, and wherein the embedding also embeds the generated unique identifier in the e-mail message.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

upon subsequently creating further content for the collaboration, embedding the further content and the generated unique identifier for the collaboration in a subsequent e-mail message; and

sending the subsequent e-mail message to the participants.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the embedded unique identifier enables collecting together all of the e-mail messages which embed content for the collaboration.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, upon receiving the e-mail message by a particular one of the participants, that the content for the collaboration is embedded therein; and

storing the embedded content in a collaboration repository for the participant, responsive to the detecting.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

responding to a request for displaying the embedded content by retrieving the stored extracted content and displaying the retrieved extracted content on a display screen.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, upon receiving the e-mail message by a particular one of the participants, that the content for the collaboration is embedded therein; and

storing the e-mail message, responsive to the detecting.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

responding to a request for displaying the embedded content by extracting the embedded content and displaying the extracted content on a display screen.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the display screen is presented by an e-mail application.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising processing the e-mail message as a conventional e-mail message upon receiving the e-mail message at one of the participants whose e-mail client is not adapted for detecting the embedded collaboration content.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a representation of the collaboration in a hierarchical summary view of an e-mail application.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sending sends the e-mail message to participants in the collaboration excepting that one of the participants who provides the embedded content for that e-mail message.

16. A system for providing collaboration, comprising:

a computer comprising a processor; and

instructions executable using the processor, the instructions configured to;

embed content for a collaboration in an e-mail message; and

send the e-mail message to participants in the collaboration.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the instructions configured for sending send the e-mail message to participants in the collaboration excepting that one of the participants who provides the embedded content for that e-mail message.

18. A computer program product for providing collaboration, the computer program product embodied on at least one computer-readable medium and comprising computer-readable program code for:

generating a unique identifier for a collaboration;

embedding content for the collaboration in a plurality of e-mail messages for the collaboration;

embedding the generated unique identifier in each of the plurality of e-mail messages, thereby enabling collecting together all of the plurality e-mail messages which embed content for the collaboration;

inserting, in a message header of each of the plurality of e-mail messages, an indication that the content for the collaboration is embedded in that e-mail message; and

sending each of the plurality of e-mail messages to participants in the collaboration.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the computer-readable program code for sending sends the e-mail message to participants in the collaboration excepting that one of the participants who provides the embedded content for that e-mail message.