Sharing information resources in mobile ad-hoc networks

Abstract

Many people are sharing digital resources through networks in order to facilitate, enhance or improve collaborative work. Information sharing is not only important to support collaborative work but it also represents the basis for design and implementation of solutions for typical design aspects of groupware applications, such as: floor control, group memory, shared objects replication and sessions and users management. Advances in mobile technology have extended the sharing information scenarios to Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs), which has brought new challenges. This paper presents a simple service platform to share information resources among members of a MANETsupported groupware session. People interact using notebooks and PDAs. In addition, a shared presentation tool which has been developed using the services of the platform is described. This presentation tool can be used to assist other collaborative activities, such as: technical presentations, casual interactions, meetings for decision making and software technical reviews.