Tabulator Redux: writing Into the Semantic Web

A first category of Semantic Web browsers were designed to present a given dataset (an RDF graph) for perusal, in various forms. These include mSpace, Exhibit, and to a certain extent Haystack. A second category tackled mechanisms and display issues around linked data gathered on the fly. These include Tabulator, Oink, Disco, Open Link Software's Data Browser, and Object Browser. The challenge of once that data is gathered, how might it be edited, extended and annotated has so far been left largely unaddressed. This is not surprising: there are a number of steep challenges for determining how to support editing information in the open web of linked data. These include the representation of both the web of documents and the web of things, and the relationships between them; ensuring the user is aware of and has control over the social context such as licensing and privacy of data being entered, and, on a web in which anyone can say anything about anything, helping the user intuitively select the things which they actually wish to see in a given situation. There is also the view update problem: the difficulty of reflecting user edits back through functions used to map web data to a screen presentation. In the latest version of the Tabulator project, described in this paper we have focused on providing the write side of the readable/writable web. Our approach has been to allow modification and addition of information naturally within the browsing interface, and to relay changes to the server triple by triple for least possible brittleness (there is no explicit 'save' operation). Challenges which remain include the propagation of changes by collaborators back to the interface to create a shared editing system. To support writing across (semantic) Web resources, our work has contributed several technologies, including a HTTP/SPARQL/Update-based protocol between an editor (or other system) and incrementally editable resources stored in an open source, world-writable 'data wiki'. This begins enabling the writable Semantic Web

Paper Augmented Digital Documents

Paper Augmented Digital Documents (PADD), are digital documents that can be manipulated either on a computer screen or on paper. PADD, and the infrastructure supporting them, can be seen as a bridge between the digital and the paper worlds. As digital documents, PADD are easy to edit, distribute and archive; as paper documents, PADD are easy to navigate, annotate and well accepted in social settings. The chimeric nature of PADD makes them well suited for many tasks such as proofreading, editing, and annotation of large format document like blueprints. We are presenting an architecture which supports the seamless manipulation of PADs using today's technologies and reports on the lessons we learned while implementing the first PADD system. Keywords: Paper Augmented Digital Document, Paper based user interface, digital pen UMIACS-TR-2003-4

Semantic web-based document: editing and browsing in AktiveDoc

This paper presents a tool for supporting sharing and reuse of knowledge in document creation (writing) and use (reading). Semantic Web technologies are used to support the production of ontology based annotations while the document is written. Free text annotations (comments) can be added to integrate the knowledge in the document. In addition the tool uses external services (e.g. a Semantic Web harvester) to propose relevant content to writing user, enabling easy knowledge reuse. Similar facilities are provided for readers when their task does not coincide with the author’s one. The tool is specifically designed for Knowledge Management in organisations. In this paper we present and discuss how Semantic Web technologies are designed and integrated in the system

A Web-Based Tool for Analysing Normative Documents in English

Our goal is to use formal methods to analyse normative documents written in English, such as privacy policies and service-level agreements. This requires the combination of a number of different elements, including information extraction from natural language, formal languages for model representation, and an interface for property specification and verification. We have worked on a collection of components for this task: a natural language extraction tool, a suitable formalism for representing such documents, an interface for building models in this formalism, and methods for answering queries asked of a given model. In this work, each of these concerns is brought together in a web-based tool, providing a single interface for analysing normative texts in English. Through the use of a running example, we describe each component and demonstrate the workflow established by our tool

Assembling and enriching digital library collections

People who create digital libraries need to gather together the raw material, add metadata as necessary, and design and build new collections. This paper sets out the requirements for these tasks and describes a new tool that supports them interactively, making it easy for users to create their own collections from electronic files of all types. The process involves selecting documents for inclusion, coming up with a suitable metadata set, assigning metadata to each document or group of documents, designing the form of the collection in terms of document formats, searchable indexes, and browsing facilities, building the necessary indexes and data structures, and putting the collection in place for others to use. Moreover, different situations require different workflows, and the system must be flexible enough to cope with these demands. Although the tool is specific to the Greenstone digital library software, the underlying ideas should prove useful in more general contexts

Issues in multi-media information networks

In an integrated service environment, where users exchange various types of aural and visual information, networks should appear friendly to its users providing tools for management of multi-media information. Networks should also efficiently satisfy diverse performance requirements of different information being exchanged.In this paper we present new architecture for integrated service networks being investigated and developed by the Distributed Computation and Communication Group at the Department of Computer Science in the Columbia University. Research efforts are devoted to developing both (1) document management software to allow users to manipulate and relate text/graphics/voice information in a dynamic way, and (2) a tree network architecture for reliable and efficient exchange of multi-media information

Systematic evaluation of design choices for software development tools

[Abstract]: Most design and evaluation of software tools is based on the intuition and experience of the designers. Software tool designers consider themselves typical users of the tools that they build and tend to subjectively evaluate their products rather than objectively evaluate them using established usability methods. This subjective approach is inadequate if the quality of software tools is to improve and the use of more systematic methods is advocated. This paper summarises a sequence of studies that show how user interface design choices for software development tools can be evaluated using established usability engineering techniques. The techniques used included guideline review, predictive modelling and experimental studies with users