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International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology  (IJCAT)

        Special Issue on: “Patterns for Collaborative Systems”

      https://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=76
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Since they were first described by the architect Christopher Alexander
in the 1970’s, patterns have become a widely accepted means to describe
proven solutions to recurring problems. The explicit goal of patterns is
to empower people to find and evaluate solutions in a field in which
they are no experts. Especially within the field of HCI and software
design, there is a lively community promoting the idea of patterns to
convey and share best practices.

The goal of this special issue is to collect patterns and experiences
with patterns for collaborative systems. We consider patterns on two
levels with different target groups:
- High-level patterns describe issues and solutions typically targeted
at end users
- Low-level patterns describe issues and solutions typically targeted at
software developers on a more technical level

High-level patterns focus on the system behavior, as it is perceived by
the end user. They empower the end users to shape their groupware
application to meet their demands. Thus, high level patterns need to be
more descriptive and prosaic than low level patterns that focus on how
to implement that behavior. Low level patterns focus on the
implementation of the system and thus include more technical details.

Both low-level and high-level patterns can be positioned on a seamless
abstraction scale. The more a pattern discusses technical issues, the
lower is its level. Groupware technology patterns that deal with class
structures, control flow, or network communication form the lower bound
on the abstraction scale of patterns. Groupware usability patterns that
focus on human interaction and address computer systems just as tools to
support the human interaction would be placed near the upper bound on
the abstraction scale. In the extreme, high-level patterns would
describe how the end user can compose off-the-shelf components and embed
them in his/her work process. This would then mean that the software
developer would no longer need to assist the end user in implementing
the pattern.

The topics relevant to this Special Issue may include, but are not
limited to:
- Base technology for distributed collaborative applications
- HCI patterns describing usability issues of collaborative applications
- Socio-technical patterns describing group interaction in the context
of communication technology
- Experiences in all the above fields

Important Dates
===============
Deadline for paper submission: 31 January 2005
Acceptance notification:       31 April 2005
Final version due:             30 June 2005

Guest Editors
=============
Stephan Lukosch, University of Hagen, Computer Science Department,
Germany, E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Till Schümmer, University of Hagen, Computer Science Department,
Germany, E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Submission of papers
====================
Interested authors are encouraged to submit their papers electronically
in either PDF or MS words format by the end of June 2004 to one of the
guest editors. Please note that the final version of the manuscript will
have to be a word document (just in case you planned to create a LaTeX
paper). Papers should be the original work of the authors and must not
have been previously published or submitted for consideration in any
other journal. All papers will be subject to peer review. Pattern
contributions will be shepherded, which means that the authors will be
able to interact with an experienced pattern author before a decision on
acceptance to improve their submissions.
Guide for authors and sample papers as well as information about the
journal and information about other relevant journals are available on
the website:

www.inderscience.com/editoral.html


-- 
Dr. Stephan Lukosch
Juniorprofessor

University of Hagen
Computer Science Department
Distributed systems for cooperative working/learning environments
Universitaetsstr. 1
D-58084 Hagen

Tel.:    +49 2331 987-4117
Fax:     +49 2331 987-313
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]