Community enrollment modeling

• US 8,527,589 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2003
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Russo, Joseph A., Yates, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, WEN TAI
• Application Number:
  US10/737,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20050132033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,550 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method and system for managing enrollment in a collaborative computing environment community are provided. One or more of a group of users wishing to enroll in the collaborative computing community are identified and an enrollment model is implemented. It is then determined if any of the group of users are selected to be enrolled based upon the selected enrollment model. The current community membership is then updated as a result of determining whether to enroll any of the group of users based upon the selected enrollment model.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing member enrollment in a collaborative computing community, the method comprising:

identifying one or more end user persons for enrollment in the collaborative computing community;

implementing an enrollment model, executing in memory by a processor of a collaborative computing server, to determine whether to enroll the one or more identified end user persons as members in the community;

updating community membership in an electronic storage medium of the collaborative computing server to enroll the one or more end user persons based on the implemented enrollment model; and

wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes designating one or more community members as a sponsor member having privileges, the sponsor member granted a further privilege of sponsoring one or more of the end user persons for community membership as a sponsored member, wherein the sponsored member is granted a sponsored role in the community with privileges less than the privileges of a full member role.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes designating one or more community members as administrators with the authority to grant enrollment to the one or more end user persons.

3. The method of claim 2, further including providing the one or more community members with the ability to remove a community member from the community.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the implementing an enrollment model to determine whether to enroll the one or more identified end user persons as members in the community includes:

identifying one or more criteria for defining a role in the collaborative computing community;

obtaining role profiles for each of the end user persons; and

determining if one or more role profiles match the one or more criteria.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more criteria for defining a role in the collaborative computing community includes payment of a predetermined fee.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes providing one or more of the end user persons with the ability to grant enrollment to themselves.

7. The method of claim 6 further including providing the one or more end user persons with the ability to remove themselves from the community.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sponsored member is enrolled as a full community member if voted into the community.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sponsored member is enrolled as a full community member after the passage of a predetermined amount of time.

10. An electronic computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which when executed defines a method for managing member enrollment in a collaborative computing community, the computer program performing a method comprising:

identifying one or more end user persons for enrollment in the collaborative computing community;

implementing an enrollment model, executing in memory by a processor of a collaborative computing server, to determine whether to enroll the one or more identified end user persons as members in the community;

updating community membership to enroll the one or more end user persons based on the implemented enrollment model; and

wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes designating one or more community members as a sponsor member having privileges, the sponsor member granted a further privilege of sponsoring one or more of the end user persons for community membership as a sponsored member, wherein the sponsored member is granted a sponsored role in the community with privileges less than the privileges of a full member role.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes designating one or more community members as administrators with the authority to grant enrollment to the one or more end user persons.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method performed by the stored computer program when executed further includes providing the one or more community members with the ability to remove a community member from the community.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the implementing an enrollment model to determine whether to enroll the one or more identified end user persons as members in the community includes:

identifying one or more criteria for defining a role in the collaborative computing community;

obtaining role profiles for each of the end user persons; and

determining if one or more role profiles match the one or more criteria.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more criteria for defining a role in the collaborative computing community includes payment of a predetermined fee.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes providing one or more of the end user persons with the ability to grant enrollment to themselves.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method performed by the stored computer program when executed further includes providing the one or more end user persons with the ability to remove themselves from the community.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the sponsored member is enrolled as a community member if voted into the community.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the sponsored member is enrolled as a community member after the passage of a predetermined amount of time.

19. A system for managing member enrollment in a networked collaborative computing community, the system comprising:

a workstation; and

a collaborative computing server in data communication with the workstation via the network, the collaborative computing server being operative to;

identify one or more end user persons for enrollment in the collaborative computing community;

implement an enrollment model to determine whether to enroll the one or more identified end user persons as members in the community;

update community membership to enroll the one or more end user persons based on the implemented enrollment model; and

wherein the implement an enrollment model includes designating one or more community members as a sponsor member having privileges, the sponsor member granted a further privilege of sponsoring one or more of the end user persons for community membership as a sponsored member, wherein the sponsored member is granted a sponsored role in the community with privileges less than the privileges of a full member role.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein implementing an enrollment model includes designating one or more community members as administrators with the authority to grant enrollment to the one or more end user persons.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the collaborative computing server is further operative to provide the one or more community members with the ability to remove a community member from the community.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the implementing an enrollment model to determine whether to enroll the one or more identified end user persons as members in the community includes:

identifying one or more criteria for defining a role in the collaborative computing community;

obtaining role profiles for each of the end user persons; and

determining if one or more role profiles match the one or more criteria.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more criteria for defining a role in the collaborative computing community includes payment of a predetermined fee.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the implementing an enrollment model includes providing one or more of the end user persons with the ability to grant enrollment to themselves.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the collaborative computing server is further operative to provide the one or more end user persons with the ability to remove themselves from the community.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the sponsored member is enrolled as a community member if voted into the community.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the sponsored member is enrolled as a community member after the passage of a predetermined amount of time.