Representation and Encoding of Heterogeneous Data in a Web Based Research Environment for Manuscript and Textual Studies

This paper describes the general architecture of a digital research environment for manuscript and textual studies (particularly those pertaining to ancient Greek and Byzantine texts), and it discusses some questions of data representation and encoding in the framework of such an online research platform. The platform is being developed by the project Teuchos. Zentrum für Handschriften- und Textforschung, established in 2007 by the Institut für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie (Universität Hamburg) in cooperation with the Aristoteles-Archiv (Freie Universität Berlin). Teuchos is a long-term infrastructural project of the Universität Hamburg. It is currently in its three-year initial phase which is being co-funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the "Thematic Information Networks" scheme within the "Scientific Library Services and Information Systems" programme. We introduce the main object types to be handled by our system and describe the overall functionality of the online platform. The paper focuses on the representations of two main object types: manuscripts as textual witnesses and watermarks, with an emphasis on the former. Since the adequate encoding of different layers of structure of a transmitted text is particularly relevant to optimising users' choices of navigating both digital images of the containing manuscripts and trancriptions of the text contained, this topic is discussed in some detail. We introduce the formal data model and the corresponding encoding for the object types discussed. The project encodes textual data in XML, aiming for TEI conformance where possible. Since no accepted XML model exists for the encoding of metadata within a watermark collection, we briefly explain how we chose to model the objects to accomodate the collections the project is making accessible

Modeling dialogue with mixed initiative in design space exploration

Exploration with a generative formalism must necessarily account for the nature of interaction between humans and the design space explorer. Established accounts of design interaction are made complicated by two propositions in Woodbury and Burrow\u27s Keynote on design space exploration. First, the emphasis on the primacy of the design space as an ordered collection of partial designs (version, alternatives, extensions). Few studies exist in the design interaction literature on working with multiple threads simultaneously. Second, the need to situate, aid, and amplify human design intentions using computational tools. Although specific research and practice tools on amplification (sketching, generation, variation) have had success, there is a lack of generic, flexible, interoperable, and extensible representation to support amplification. This paper addresses the above, working with design threads and computer-assisted design amplification through a theoretical model of dialogue based on Grice\u27s model of rational conversation. Using the concept of mixed initiative, the paper presents a visual notation for representing dialogue between designer and design space formalism through abstract examples of exploration tasks and dialogue integration.<br /

Formal Concept Analysis Methods for Description Logics

This work presents mainly two contributions to Description Logics (DLs) research by means of Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) methods: supporting bottom-up construction of DL knowledge bases, and completing DL knowledge bases. Its contribution to FCA research is on the computational complexity of computing generators of closed sets