Report Number: CS-TR-97-1584
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: Grassroots: a System Providing a Uniform Framework for
Communicating, Structuring, Sharing Information, and
Organizing People
Author: Kamiya, Kenichi
Author: Roscheisen, Martin
Author: Winograd, Terry
Date: January 1997
Abstract: People keep pieces of information in diverse collections such
as folders, hotlists, e-mail inboxes, newsgroups, and mailing
lists. These collections mediate various types of
collaborations including communicating, structuring, sharing
information, and organizing people. Grassroots is a system
that provides a uniform framework to support people's
collaborative activities mediated by collections of
information. The system seamlessly integrates functionalities
currently found in such disparate systems as e-mail,
newsgroups, shared hotlists, hierarchical indexes, hypermail,
etc. Grassroots co-exists with these systems in that its
users benefit from the uniform image provided by Grassroots,
but other people can continue using other mechanisms, and
Grassroots leverages from them. The current Grassroots
prototype is based on an http-proxy implementation, and can
be used with any Web browser. In the context of the design of
a next-generation version of the Web, Grassroots demonstrates
the utility of a uniform notification infrastructure.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/97/1584/CS-TR-97-1584.pdf