A collaborative site or center runs a server, known in LabSpace as an ``elab'', that acts as the interface for that site. It controls access to the resources for which it is responsible and mediates connections between researchers. It is extensible by a powerful programming language, allowing spaces to be created and organized, as well as allowing new interfaces and capabilities to be developed within the space. The elab is up at all times, creating a permanent location on the network. Thus, the elab becomes a persistent presence on the net for information storage and personnel interaction.
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The fact that the elab is persistent makes it very much like a physical location. It may be visited at any time. One may store objects such as documents or experiment data, there. With the addition of playback engines, the space will take on a history and an identity. People may connect rarely, often, or constantly. Adler and Henderson [Adle94] cite the importance of a permanent link to have minimal interference and setup cost when working toether.
Initially, the LabSpace project will build elabs using a MOO server from Xerox PARC, after having added extensions for windowing, audio, video, secure networking, and multicast networking. The MOO server already provides much of the power needed for LabSpace, allowing us to create an elab environment very quickly. We anticipate that the national elab infrastructure will grow too large for MOO within several years, therefore we will develop an alternate system that is designed for more scalable and distributed operation, yet will provide compatible functionality to the user community.
LabSpace will provide the following deliverables to create the elab environment: