OfficeTalk-D: An experimental office information system
Abstract
WHAT: Herein is described an experimental Office Information System designed and built at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center to allow multi-computer experiments in distribution and sharing of control within an office environment.
WHY: Current office systems go a long way toward aiding the individual user to transact his/her personal office work. Future office information systems need to aid tightly coupled communities of users. Thus, this investigation into communal computing systems is motivated.
HOW: Using the Alto/Dorado machines, and the Cedar database and programming environment, we have devised a system which allows the flexible manipulation of electronic forms on the display screen of users and helps to coordinate and control the flow of forms between user workstations. Novel facilities implemented in the system include distributed schedulers, dispatchers, office observer workstations, alerters, a data dictionary synthesizer, change agents, and on-line office modeling, simulation and design facilities.
References
[1]
Barber, J., "Reasoning about Change in Knowledgable Office Systems", Workshop on Research in Office Semantics, Chatham, Massachusetts, June 1980 (also PhD Thesis, MIT-AI Lab).
[2]
Barber, J., "Supporting Organizational Problem Solving with a Workstation", Proceedings of the ACM-SIGOA Conference on Office Information Systems, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1982.
[3]
Brown, M. R., Cattell, R. R., and N. Suzuki., "The Cedar Database System" Proceedings of the 1980 ACM Conference on the Management of Data, Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 1981.
[4]
DeJong, S. P., "The System for Business Automation(SBA): A Unified Application Development System", Proceedings of the IFIP Congress 80, August 1980.
[5]
Ellis, C. A., "Information Control Nets: A Mathematical Model of Office Information Flow", Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Simulation, Modeling, and Measurement of Computer Systems, August 1979.
[6]
Ellis, C. A., and G. J. Nutt., "Office Information Systems and Computer Science", ACM Computing Surveys, March 1980.
[7]
Ellis, C. A., "An Office Information System Based on Migrating Processes", INRIA International Workshop on Office Information Systems, October 1981.
[8]
Fikes, R., "Odyssey: A Knowledge-Based Assistant", Artificial Intelligence Journal, Volume 16, Number 3, July 1981.
[9]
Hewitt, C., Attardi, G., and M. Simi, "Knowledge Imbedding in the Description System Omega", Proceedings of the First Annual National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, August 1980.
[10]
Lycklama, H., "An Integrated Office System Based on UNIX", IEEE Lake Arrowhead Workshop on Office Information Systems, Lake Arrowhead, California, September 1980.
[11]
Metcalfe, R. M., and D. R. Boggs., "Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks", Communications of the ACM, Volume 19, Number 7, July 1976.
[12]
Morgan, H. L, and O. P. Buneman, "Implementing Alerting Techniques in Database Systems", Proceedings of the AFIPS National Computer Conference, 1977.
[13]
Morris, J. B. "The CEDAR Experimental Programming Environment", presented at the ACM National Conference, Nashville, Tenn, 1980.
[14]
Mott, T., "Design, Implementation, and Installation of an Office Information System" OFFICE80 Symposium on Office Information Systems, University of Toronto, Canada, September 1980.
[15]
Naffah, N., "The KAYAK Office Information System Research Project" presented at the SOGESTA summer school on Office Information Systems, Urbino, Italy, September 1981.
[16]
Nutt, G. J., and C. A. Ellis., "BackTalk: An Office Environment Simulator", Proceedings of the 1979 ICC, volume 2, June 1979.
[17]
Nutt, G. J., and C. A. Ellis., "On the Equivalence of Office Models", Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Report No. SSL-79-8, December 1979.
[18]
Purvy, R., Farrell, J., and P. Klose "STAR Records Processing: Data Processing for Non-Computer Professionals", Proceedings of the ACM-SIGOA Conference on Office Information Systems, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1982.
[19]
Ricci, P. A., and G. J. Nutt., "Quinault: An Office Modeling System", IEEE Computer Magazine, Special Issue on Office Automation, June 1981.
[20]
Sandelin J., Kanerva, P., and J. H. Siegman., "Specification of a Computer-based Text System" SIGOA Newsletter (ACM Special Interest Group on Office Automation), Volume 1, Number 2, May 1980.
[21]
Sandewall, E. H., et. al., "Provision for Flexibility in the Linkoping Office Information System", Proceedings of the AFIPS National Computer Conference, June 1980.
[22]
Sirbu, M., "Understanding Managerial Group Work", Proceedings of the Third AFIPS Office Automation Conference, April 1982.
[23]
Thacker, C. P, McCreight E. M, Lampson, B. W, Sproull, R. F, and D. R. Boggs, "Alto: A Personal Computer", Computer Structures: Readings and Examples, Siewiorek, Bell, and Newell, Eds, 1980.
[24]
Thurber, K. J., (editor) Tutorial Office Automation Systems, Computer Society Press, IEEE Computer Society, 1980.
[25]
Tsichitzis, D., et. al., "Omega Alpha", University of Toronto, Computer Systems Research Group, Technical Report CSRG-127, March 1981.
[26]
"The Wang Corporation Office Information System" in The Seybold Report, Media, Pennsylvania; Seybold Report on Word Processing, v. 2, no. 12, 1980.
[27]
Wohl, A., "Office Automation Systems: Integration Issues", Proceedings of the Third AFIPS Office Automation Conference, April 1982.
[28]
"Xerox's STAR" in The Seybold Report, Media, Pennsylvania; Seybold Publications, v.10, no. 16, 1981.
[29]
Zloof, M. M., "A Language for Office and Business Automation", Proceedings of the First AFIPS Office Automation Conference, March 1980.
Index Terms
- OfficeTalk-D: An experimental office information system
Recommendations
OfficeTalk-D: An experimental office information system
Proceedings of the SIGOA conference on Office information systemsWHAT: Herein is described an experimental Office Information System designed and built at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center to allow multi-computer experiments in distribution and sharing of control within an office environment.
WHY: Current office ...
A Meeting Scheduler for Office Automation
Scheduling of meetings is one of the basic functions demanded in office automation, since office workers spend much time on meetings. This paper discusses a schedufkng problem of meetings and presents a meeting scheduler for office automation which ...
Specification of Forms Processing and Business Procedures for Office Automation
Business activities, in general, involve data processing (such as queries, extraction, manipulation, and restructuring of data, etc.) as well as conventional office work centered around preparation, distribution, and filing and retrieval of documents. ...
Comments
Information & Contributors
Information
Published In
Copyright © 1982 Authors.
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
New York, NY, United States
Publication History
Published: 01 June 1982
Published in SIGOA Volume 3, Issue 1-2
Check for updates
Author Tags
Qualifiers
- Article
Contributors
Other Metrics
Bibliometrics & Citations
Bibliometrics
Article Metrics
- View Citations41Total Citations
- 702Total Downloads
- Downloads (Last 12 months)135
- Downloads (Last 6 weeks)28
Reflects downloads up to 10 Nov 2024
Other Metrics
Citations
View Options
Get Access
Login options
Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.
Sign in