Serverless–edge computing with mobile document agents

Abstract

Exchange of documents as email attachments in collaborative work lacks support for keeping track of
threads of performed activities, what often leads to email overload and strain. Proactive document email
attachments linking the passive content and active services could build reproducibility in collaborative
processes, even if workers may tend to exchange emails indiscriminately. The key role in achieving that
play workflow patterns identified in the real-world organizations. A small and well defined set of doc-
ument coordination patterns based on them is proposed in the paper. It provides building blocks for the
migration path embedded in the document code, which interpreted by the specially designed smart email
client (SEC) can support document steering. Owing to that an email system can provide a platform for
document centric processing and can introduce self-organization in the dynamically set virtual organiza-
tion using it. Proactive documents exchanged as standard MIME attachments enable any type of working
content with reduced workload and improved work performance, without any substantial investment in
the job resources already available in the workplace. Moreover, they enable smooth incorporation of the
email based collaboration in solutions that push further the boundaries of building overall intelligence and
enhanced cognition across the cloud-edge continuum.