Manipulation of objects in a multi-dimensional representation of an on-line connectivity universe

A computer-readable memory medium containing instructions that, when executed, control a computer processor to model a connectivity universe of a plurality of devices and a plurality of data collections associated with a user, by:

• automatically determining a plurality of objects and an assessment of access proximity relative to the user for each such object;
• automatically determining a plurality of groupings of the determined objects, each grouping associated with a different class of access proximity and with at least one of a device or a data collection;
• and
• displaying a multi-dimensional representation of the determined objects arranged according to the classes of access proximity associated with the groupings.

A computer system for managing a connectivity universe of a plurality of devices and a plurality of data collections associated with a user, comprising:

• a display manager that is structured to automatically determine a plurality of objects and an assessment of access proximity for each such object relative to the user;
• automatically determine a plurality of groups of the determined objects, each group associated with a different class of access proximity;
• and
• displaying a multi-dimensional representation of the determined objects arranged according to the classes of access proximity associated with the groups.

A method for interacting with a device from within a representation of a connectivity universe comprising a plurality of devices displayed on a host computer system, comprising:

• receiving an indication of a designated device from among the plurality of devices displayed within the representation of the connectivity universe;
• initiating execution of an application on the host system to communicate with the designated device from the host system;
• causing corresponding code to be executed on the designated device;
• and
• receiving output from the corresponding code executing on designated device through the application executing on the host system;
• and
• causing the received output to be displayed on a display device of the host system.