Weflow: we follow the flow

Abstract

Web applications, such as social networking platforms and Web X.0 applications have transformed average users from consumers to producers of content. While this transition has been very successful with respect to content, the same can not be said for behavior generation. Non-savvy Web users have practically no ability to introduce any behavior on the Web. The computational powers o ered by the Web are limited to those who are in the know or can a ord to develop applications. Yet, there are many simple applications that average users could conceive and utilize if they were empowered to introduce behavior. This work aims to empower average web users with the ability to create simple web applications for purposeful communities. We suggest an environment with information and processes speci c to a communities needs, as opposed to the ad hoc information sharing and coordination achieved via social networking platforms, in order to retain the long term value of the generated information. An interesting class of Web applications are human computation applications, where tasks are distributed among humans and computers based on their suitability for performing those tasks. Web based human computation applications seem appropriate for purposeful communities. This thesis presents a framework for the development of human computation applications for purposeful communities. In order to create such an environment, we propose a web based work ow framework. The WeFlow Framework, supports the speci cation, generation, and execution of community speci c virtual environments. These environments are based on a work ow model, which are de ned by the communities that use them. The environment is based on a work ow model, which consists of tasks, control and data ow among tasks, and people who perform those tasks. A WeFlow framework prototype is shown by examples and case studies.