Method and system for real-time blocking of content from an organization activity timeline

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for real-time blocking of content from an organization activity timeline of an organization. The content blocked can be, for example, activities, or contributions to those activities. The organization activity timeline is displayed within a user interface to show activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization. The disclosed methods and systems can be used to control which activities or contributions to activities are displayed in the organization activity timeline. One or more identifiers can be added to one or more blacklists. New activities are evaluated for inclusion in the organization activity timeline. Any new activity that includes an identifier (or contributions to that new activity) can be blocked so that it does not appear in the organization activity timeline.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for controlling which contributions are displayed in an organization activity timeline of an organization, wherein the organization activity timeline is a visual component displayed within a user interface that shows activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization, the method comprising:
 adding an identifier to a blacklist; and   blocking, based on the identifier, at least one contribution to a new activity that includes the identifier so that the contribution does not appear in the organization activity timeline.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the blacklist is a user-level blacklist and the identifier is associated with the particular external contact and is specified by a user of the organization, and further comprising:
 removing the identifier from the user-level blacklist; and   allowing, after removing, any new activities that include new contributions by the user to appear in the organization activity timeline.   
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the blacklist is an organization-level blacklist, and wherein the identifier is associated with the particular external contact and is specified by an administrator of the organization, and wherein blocking comprises:
 blocking any new activity that includes a contribution associated with the particular external contact associated with the identifier included in the organization-level blacklist from appearing in the organization activity timeline, and   further comprising:   permanently deleting the any new activity that includes a contribution associated with the particular external contact associated with the identifier in the organization-level blacklist.   
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the blacklist is an organization-level external domain blacklist, and wherein the identifier is an external domain specified by an administrator of the organization, and wherein blocking comprises:
 blocking any new activity including any contribution having an external domain included in the organization-level external domain blacklist from appearing in the organization activity timeline; and   further comprising:   permanently deleting any new activity that includes the external domain included in the organization-level external domain blacklist.   
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the blacklist is an organization-level internal domain blacklist, and wherein the identifier is an internal domain specified by an administrator of the organization, and wherein blocking comprises:
 blocking any new activity where all contributors belong to an internal domain included in the organization-level internal domain blacklist so that the new activity does not appear in the organization activity timeline; and   further comprising:   permanently deleting any new activity where all contributors belong to an internal domain included in the organization-level internal domain blacklist.   
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the organization activity timeline comprises a chronological record of activities each having at least one contributor that is a user from the organization. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein each activity within the organization activity timeline comprises: a recording of a communication between one or more users of the organization and a particular external contact, and wherein the communication comprises:
 an email;   a calendar meeting;   a phone call;   a task;   a note;   a change to an internal representation of an external person; or   an internal representation of a need or change of that need to follow-up with an external person.   
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the identifier comprises:
 any identifier associated with the particular external contact that can be used to identify that particular external contact.   
     
     
         9 . A computing system for controlling which contributions are displayed in an organization activity timeline of an organization, the computing system comprising:
 a distributed database management system (DDMS) configured to store one or more blacklists each including at least one identifier;   an organization activity timeline generator configured to generate the organization activity timeline for the organization, wherein the organization activity timeline is a visual component displayed within a user interface that shows activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization, wherein the organization activity timeline generator comprises:   a real-time activity evaluator configured to ingest new activities received from data sources of the user, determine which new activities include an identifier specified by the one or more blacklists, and block at least one contribution to any new activity that is determined to include an identifier specified by the one or more blacklists so that the contribution does not appear in the organization activity timeline.   
     
     
         10 . A computing system according to  claim 9 , wherein one of the blacklists is a user-level blacklist that includes an identifier that is associated with the particular external contact and that is specified by a user of the organization, and wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:
 allow, after removing the identifier from the user-level blacklist, any new activities that include new contributions by the user to appear in the organization activity timeline.   
     
     
         11 . A computing system according to  claim 9 , wherein one of the blacklists is an organization-level blacklist that includes an identifier that is associated with the particular external contact and that is specified by an administrator of the organization, and
 wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:   block any new activity, that includes a contribution associated with the particular external contact, from appearing in the organization activity timeline, and   permanently delete any new activity that is blocked.   
     
     
         12 . A computing system according to  claim 9 , wherein one of the blacklists is an organization-level external domain blacklist that includes an identifier for an external domain that is specified by an administrator of the organization, and
 wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:   block any new activity, that includes any contribution associated with the external domain included in the organization-level external domain blacklist, from appearing in the organization activity timeline; and   permanently delete any new activity that is blocked.   
     
     
         13 . A computing system according to  claim 9 , wherein one of the blacklists is an organization-level internal domain blacklist that includes an identifier for an internal domain that is specified by an administrator of the organization, and
 wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:   block any new activity where all contributors belong to the internal domain included in the organization-level internal domain blacklist so that those new activities do not appear in the organization activity timeline; and   permanently deleting any new activity that is blocked.   
     
     
         14 . A computing system according to  claim 9 , wherein the organization activity timeline comprises a chronological record of activities each having at least one contributor that is a user from the organization. 
     
     
         15 . A computing system according to  claim 9 , wherein each activity within organization activity timeline comprises: a recording of a communication between one or more users of the organization and a particular external contact, and wherein the communication comprises:
 an email;   a calendar meeting;   a phone call;   a task;   a note;   a change to an internal representation of an external person; or   an internal representation of a need or change of that need to follow-up with an external person.   
     
     
         16 . A computing system comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory comprises computer-executable instructions that are capable of execution by the processor, and that when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to:
 process new activities to determine whether each new activity includes an identifier from a blacklist; and   block at least one contribution to each new activity that includes the identifier so that the contribution does not appear in an organization activity timeline of an organization, wherein the organization activity timeline is displayed within a user interface to show activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization.   
     
     
         17 . A computing system according to  claim 16 , wherein the blacklist is a user-level blacklist that includes an identifier that is associated with the particular external contact and that is specified by a user of the organization, and wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:
 allow, after removing the identifier from the user-level blacklist, any new activities that include new contributions by the user to appear in the organization activity timeline.   
     
     
         18 . A computing system according to  claim 16 , wherein the blacklist is an organization-level blacklist that includes an identifier that is associated with the particular external contact and that is specified by an administrator of the organization, and
 wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:   block any new activity, that includes a contribution associated with the particular external contact, from appearing in the organization activity timeline, and   permanently delete any new activity that is blocked.   
     
     
         19 . A computing system according to  claim 16 , wherein the blacklist is an organization-level external domain blacklist that includes an identifier for an external domain that is specified by an administrator of the organization, and
 wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:   block any new activity, that includes any contribution associated with the external domain included in the organization-level external domain blacklist, from appearing in the organization activity timeline; and   permanently delete any new activity that is blocked.   
     
     
         20 . A computing system according to  claim 16 , wherein the blacklist is an organization-level internal domain blacklist that includes an identifier for an internal domain that is specified by an administrator of the organization, and
 wherein the real-time activity evaluator is further configured to:   block any new activity where all contributors belong to the internal domain included in the organization-level internal domain blacklist so that those new activities do not appear in the organization activity timeline; and   permanently deleting any new activity that is blocked.