One of the first applications of the ToolSpace project at
Emory University is a collaborative molecule viewer.
This allows any number of people to work together on a shared
three-dimensional model. They can be in the same room,
across campus, or across the world (as long as they're on the
internet). Applications range from interactive learning to research
collaboration.
It's easy to use:
1. Visit http://mulder.mathcs.emory.edu/toolspace
and create a space for you and your collaborators using the
ToolSpace construction set.
2. Inform your collaborators that the collaboration session has
begun (perhaps by phone or email) and they can join from their
respective web browsers with the construction set "List" link.
Once everyone has joined, molecules can be imported from anywhere on the
web (as long as they're in .pdb format, such as from
http://www.pdb.bnl.gov).
The structures can then be measured, positioned, and annotated in
various ways.
We suggest creating spaces that include:
Vector-measurable Molecule Importer
Plane Dragger
Vector Measurer
Van der Waals Radii
tools for manipulating molecules and
Space Chat
Hilite Box
Text Annotation
tools for general collaboration capabilities. For an initial
test session, we suggest simply using the Hilite Box or
Molecule Importer with no other tools.
To use ToolSpace, you need:
1. Netscape (version for IE in development)
2. a java-accessible VRML browser such as CosmoPlayer or WorldView
(It is possible to satisfy both of these requirements under MacOS 7.6,
Win95/NT, and IRIX.)
This is an ongoing research project, so we're very interested in your
feedback, in terms of bug reports, feature requests, and general
comments.
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Ted Goddard
goddard at mathcs.emory.edu
Collaborative Computing Frameworks
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
http://ccf.mathcs.emory.eduhttp://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~goddard/toolspace
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