Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Using Provenance to Support Real-TimeCollaborative Design of Workflows

Tommy Ellkvist1, Erik Anderson2, David Koop2, Juliana Freire2, and Claudio Silva2

(1) Linköping University (http://www.liu.se)(2) University of Utah (http://www.utah.edu)

20082Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Outline

Motivation Workflow evolution Demo Architecture Technical issues Use cases Conclusion and Future Work

20083Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Collaborative workflow design - example

Scientists at CMOP (Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction)

collaborating with researchers at University of Utah Combine knowledge of visualization with knowledge

about data. An efficient method of workflow specification sharing is

needed.

20084Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Collaborative workflow design - motivation

Designing workflows can be time consuming In data analysis and exploration, workflows are iteratively

refined Multiple users, with different expertise, need to

collaborate

20085Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Current approaches to collaboration

Interactive

Stores workflowprovenance

Parallel workflow design

Workflow merging

E-mail (√) √

Version Control √ √

Remote desktop √ N/A

Synchronous workflow design

√ (√) N/A

20086Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Our Approach: Provenance-enabled synchronous workflow design

Share workflow provenance, not only workflow specifications!

Leverages change-based provenance [Freire et al., IPAW 2006]

Unobtrusive– Does not interfere with the users activities– The user can choose whether to incorporate changes

Immediate– Changes are propagated instantly– You can track other users progress

Automatic– No extra operations need to be performed by the users– Once connected, the synchronization is automatic

20087Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Workflow Evolution

Version Tree

Workflows Data Products

20088Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Collaboration using workflow evolution

Version Tree

User

juliana

eranders

eranders

eranders

stevec

Workflows

20089Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Demo

200810Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Architecture

MySQL database VisTrails clients

User 1 User 2

200811Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Propagating Changes

Provenance is monotonic!Provenance is monotonic!

200812Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Synchronization Algorithm

Monotonicity is preserved!Monotonicity is preserved!

200813Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Monotonicity is good: users need not worry about interfering the work of others

Can combine workflows from different branches using analogy operation– Compute difference between workflow versions– Apply difference to other workflow

Integrating Branches using Analogy

(Scheidegger et al., TVCG 2007)

200814Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Collaborative Design as a Teaching Aid

Correcting errors Highlighting interesting nodes Suggesting alternate solutions

200815Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Collaborative Design in Multi-disciplinary Research

Immediate sharing of workflow specifications Real-time explorative design between users

200816Using Provenance to Support Real-Time Collaborative Design of Workflows

Conclusion and Future Work

New mechanism for enabling synchronous collaborative workflow design– Unobtrusive, real-time, automatic

User studies needed Extend to other domains

– Graphics design– Other design tools– Parameter exploration tools