Collaborative content generation system and method
A system and method for managing the collaborative generation of content for an electronic document such as software applications, computer programs and the like. A source content item is created at a source development environment and accessed over a network by a plurality of users of a user community. Each of the plurality of users is located at a unique remote site. The source content item can be downloaded by each of the plurality of users and maintained at each remote site as a unique content presentation item. In one embodiment, the user can edit his or her content presentation item and upload the edits for incorporation into the source content item.
1. A method for managing content items stored at a data repository to be presented by user interfaces of a software application, where the software application is configured to be executed in an offline manner at one or more remote sites, each of which comprising a display and data storage and being connected to the data repository via a network, the method comprising the steps of:
installing the software application on the data storage of a first remote site;
retrieving source content items from the data repository to be used by the software application;
transforming the source content items into a plurality of presentation formats that enable editing of the content items stored at the data repository;
storing the source content items on the data storage of the first remote site;
executing the software application at the first remote site;
retrieving a first of the source content items from the data storage of the first remote site and displaying the first source content item via the display of the first remote site when any user interface of the software application comprising a first content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site, wherein the first source content item corresponds to the first content item;
editing the first source content item at the first remote site to produce a first edited content item;
storing the first edited content item on the data storage of the first remote site; and
retrieving the first edited content item from the data storage of the first remote site and displaying the first edited content item via the display of the first remote site when any user interface of the software application comprising the first content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of retrieving the source content items and storing the source content items on the data storage of the first remote site is accomplished concurrently with the step of installing the software application on the data storage of a first remote site.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting the first edited content item from the first remote site to the data repository.
4. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of incorporating the first edited content item into the source content items resulting in a first edited source content items.
5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:
installing the software application on the data storage of a second remote site;
retrieving the first edited source content items from the data repository to be used by the software application;
storing the first edited source content items on the data storage of the second remote site; and
retrieving the first edited content item from the data storage of the second remote site and displaying the first edited content item via the display of the second remote site when any user interface of the software application comprising the first content item is requested by the software application executed at the second remote site.
6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:
installing the software application on the data storage of a second remote site;
retrieving the source content items to be used by the software application from the data repository;
storing the source content items on the data storage of the second remote site;
executing the software application at the second remote site; and
retrieving the first source content item from the data storage of the second remote site and displaying the first source content item via the display of the second remote site when any user interface of the software application comprising the first content item is requested by the software application executed at the second remote site.
7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:
retrieving the first edited content item from the data repository;
storing the first edited content item on the data storage of the second remote site; and
retrieving the first edited content item from the data storage of the second remote site and displaying the first edited content item via the display of the second remote site when any user interface of the software application comprising the first content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site.
8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:
retrieving the first edited source content items from the data repository;
storing the first edited source content items on the data storage of the second remote site; and
retrieving the first edited content item from the data storage of the second remote site and displaying the first edited content item via the display of the second remote site when any user interface of the software application comprising the first content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
editing a second of the source content items at the second remote site resulting in a second edited content item, wherein the second source content item corresponds to a second content item;
storing the second edited content item on the data storage of the second remote site; and
displaying the second edited content item on the display of the second remote site when any user interface comprising the second content item is requested by the software application at the second remote site.
10. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of authorizing the first edited content item to be incorporated into the source content items.
11. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of allowing an authority to accept or reject the first edited content item.
12. The method of claim 4 further comprising:
editing a second of the source content items at the first remote site resulting in a second edited content item, wherein the second source content item corresponds to a second content item;
storing the second edited content item on the data storage of the first remote site; and
displaying the second edited content item on the display of the first remote site when any user interface comprising the second content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site.
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
retrieving the first edited source content items from the data repository;
storing the first edited source content items on the data storage of the first remote site;
incorporating the second edited content item into the first edited source content items stored on the data storage of the first remote site;
retrieving the first edited content item from the data storage of the first remote site and displaying the first edited content item via the display of the first remote site when any user interface comprising the first content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site; and
retrieving the second edited content item from the data storage of the first remote site and displaying the second edited content item via the display of the first remote site when any user interface comprising the second content item is requested by the software application executed at the first remote site.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the data repository is a wiki.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the content items may be edited directly via the wiki.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the software application is an integrated development environment.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first content item is associated with an identifier.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein the identifier is a universal resource locator (URL).
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the URL is a permalink.
20. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving the software application at the first remote site from the data repository.