Semantics-based collaborative systems: Combining the advantages of unstructured and structure-based systems

Systems that support collaboration can be classified into three categories based on how they model the objects and user activities involved in the supported collaborations. Unstructured systems such as desktop sharing systems make no assumptions about the objects and user activities. Structured systems such as shared document editors and whiteboards understand and exploit the structure of the shared objects. Semantics-based systems understand and exploit the semantics of the objects and user activities.