Webs of Archived Distributed Computations for Asynchronous Collaboration

We identify the mechanisms needed to construct archivable webs of distributed asynchronous collaborations and experiments. The distinguishing feature of our approach is that the component tools, software, data, and even participants are distributed over a worldwide network. We perform a requirements analysis of an infrastructure that supports such applications, and present the Caltech Infospheres Infrastructure as a prototype that satisfies the requirements identified. In describing this prototype, we highlight the useful mechanisms provided, present an algorithm for using the Infospheres Infrastructure to perform asynchronous global snapshots for archiving, and suggest future areas of exploration.