Network traffic reduction mechanism for collaborative Web activities

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to reduce internet traffic when performing collaborative Web search. Mobile terminals are now in widespread use and people are increasingly using them for collaborative Web search to achieve a common goal. When performing such searches, the authors want to reduce internet traffic as much as possible, for example, to avoid bandwidth throttling that occurs when data usage exceeds a certain quota.Design/methodology/approachTo reduce internet traffic, the authors use a proxy system based on the peer cache mechanism. The proxy shares Web content stored on mobile terminals participating in an ad hoc Bluetooth network, focusing on content that is accessed multiple times from different terminals. Evaluation of the proxy’s effectiveness was measured using experiments designed to replicate realistic usage scenarios.FindingsExperimental results show that the proxy reduces internet traffic by approximately 20 per cent when four people collaboratively search the Web to find good restaurants for a social event.Originality/valueUnlike previous work on co-operative Web proxies, the authors study a form of collaborative Web caching between mobile devices within an ad hoc Bluetooth network created specifically for the purpose of sharing cached content, acting orthogonally to (and independently of) traditional hierarchical Web caching.