AMMP-EXTN: A USER PRIVACY AND COLLABORATION CONTROL FRAMEWORK FOR A MULTI-USER COLLABORATORY VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEM by

In this thesis, we propose a new design of privacy and session control for improving a collaborative molecular modeling CVR system AMMP-VIS [1]. The design mainly addresses the issue of competing user interests and privacy protection coordination. Based on our investigation of AMMP-VIS, we propose a four-level access control structure for collaborative sessions and dynamic action priority specification for manipulations on shared molecular models. Our design allows a single user to participate in multiple simultaneous sessions. Moreover, a messaging system with text chatting and system broadcasting functionality is included. A 2D user interface [2] for easy command invocation is developed in Python. Two other key aspects of system implementation, the collaboration Central deployment and the 2D GUI for control are also discussed. Finally, we describe our system evaluation plan which is based on an improved cognitive walkthrough and heuristic evaluation as well as statistical usage data. INDEX WORDS: Collaborative Virtual Environment, Access control, Privacy protection, Molecular modeling, GUI, CVE survey, System evaluation AMMP-EXTN: A USER PRIVACY AND COLLABORATION CONTROL FRAMEWORK FOR A MULTI-USER COLLABORATORY VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEM