BlogForever D2.6: Data Extraction Methodology

This report outlines an inquiry into the area of web data extraction, conducted within the context of blog preservation. The report reviews theoretical advances and practical developments for implementing data extraction. The inquiry is extended through an experiment that demonstrates the effectiveness and feasibility of implementing some of the suggested approaches. More specifically, the report discusses an approach based on unsupervised machine learning that employs the RSS feeds and HTML representations of blogs. It outlines the possibilities of extracting semantics available in blogs and demonstrates the benefits of exploiting available standards such as microformats and microdata. The report proceeds to propose a methodology for extracting and processing blog data to further inform the design and development of the BlogForever platform

Role of mashups, social networking platforms and semantic in revolutionizing web integration: Key insights and enterprise implications

The article examines the emergence and role of mashups in integrating data across the web, how social networking platforms penetrated the web by adding social experiences and how they helped in web integration, while solving some of the issues of mashups. We also discuss how semantic markups evolved in parallel, trying to bring in structured data and why social networking platforms need semantics for building the social graph of users. We take the case of Facebook‟s Open Graph protocol and discuss how semantic markups enhanced web integration by simplifying the process of creating mashups, giving more personalized experiences to the users. Finally, we present an integrated view of the role of mashups, social networking platforms and semantics from the angle of web integration and the insights that enterprises can learn from them

Supporting users tasks with personal information management and web forms augmentation

Currently, many tasks performed on the Web prompt users to provide personal information through forms. Despite the fact that most users are familiarized with this kind of interaction technique, the use of Web forms is not always straightforward. Indeed, some users might need assistance to understand labels and complex data format required to fill in form fields that, quite often, vary from a Web site to another even when requesting similar data. Filling in forms can be tedious and repetitive as many Web sites request similar information. In this work we analyze user's interactions with Web forms and propose an approach for enhancing Web forms using client-side adaptation techniques in order to assist users to fill in Web forms. As the use of Web forms is closely related to the management of personal information our approach includes the support for data exchange between user's personal information management systems (PIMs) and third-party Web forms. The approach is illustrated by a set of client-side adaptation tools and a pervasive Personal Information Management Systems called PIMI.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (vol. 7387).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Supporting users tasks with personal information management and web forms augmentation

Currently, many tasks performed on the Web prompt users to provide personal information through forms. Despite the fact that most users are familiarized with this kind of interaction technique, the use of Web forms is not always straightforward. Indeed, some users might need assistance to understand labels and complex data format required to fill in form fields that, quite often, vary from a Web site to another even when requesting similar data. Filling in forms can be tedious and repetitive as many Web sites request similar information. In this work we analyze user's interactions with Web forms and propose an approach for enhancing Web forms using client-side adaptation techniques in order to assist users to fill in Web forms. As the use of Web forms is closely related to the management of personal information our approach includes the support for data exchange between user's personal information management systems (PIMs) and third-party Web forms. The approach is illustrated by a set of client-side adaptation tools and a pervasive Personal Information Management Systems called PIMI.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (vol. 7387).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments

Wild, F., Kalz, M., & Palmér, M. (Eds.) (2008). Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments (MUPPLE08). September, 17, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands: CEUR Workshop Proceedings, ISSN 1613-0073. Available at http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-388.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project (funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org]) and partly sponsored by the LTfLL project (funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme, priority ISCT. Contract 212578 [http://www.ltfll-project.org

Supporting users tasks with personal information management and web forms augmentation

Currently, many tasks performed on the Web prompt users to provide personal information through forms. Despite the fact that most users are familiarized with this kind of interaction technique, the use of Web forms is not always straightforward. Indeed, some users might need assistance to understand labels and complex data format required to fill in form fields that, quite often, vary from a Web site to another even when requesting similar data. Filling in forms can be tedious and repetitive as many Web sites request similar information. In this work we analyze user's interactions with Web forms and propose an approach for enhancing Web forms using client-side adaptation techniques in order to assist users to fill in Web forms. As the use of Web forms is closely related to the management of personal information our approach includes the support for data exchange between user's personal information management systems (PIMs) and third-party Web forms. The approach is illustrated by a set of client-side adaptation tools and a pervasive Personal Information Management Systems called PIMI.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (vol. 7387).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Social Media Roadmaps. Exploring the futures triggered by social media.

Social media refers to a combination of three elements: content, user communities and Web 2.0 technologies. This foresight report presents six roadmaps of the anticipated developments of social media in three themes: society, companies, and local environment. One of the roadmaps, the meta-roadmap, is the synthesis of them all. The society sub-roadmap explores societal participation through communities. There are three sub-roadmaps relating to companies: interacting with companies through communities, social media in work environment, and social media enhanced shopping. The local environment sub-roadmap looks at social media in local environment. The roadmapping process was carried out through two workshops at VTT. The results of the report are crystallized into five main development lines triggered by social media. First development line is transparency referring to its increasing role in society, both with positive and negative consequences. The second development line is the rise of ubiquitous participatory communication model. This refers to an increase of two-directional and community-based interactivity in every field, where it has some added value. The third development is reflexive empowerment. This refers to the role of social media as an enabler of grass-root community collaboration. The fourth development line is the duality personalization/fragmentation vs. mass effects/integration. Personalization /fragmentation emphasises the tailoring of the web services and content. This development is counterweighted by mass effects/integration, like the formation of super-nodes in the web. The fifth development line is the new relations of physical and virtual worlds. This development line highlights the idea that practices induced by social media, e.g. communication, participation, co-creation, feedback and rating, will get more common in daily environment, and that virtual and physical worlds will be more and more interlinked.</p

From Keyword Search to Exploration: How Result Visualization Aids Discovery on the Web

A key to the Web's success is the power of search. The elegant way in which search results are returned is usually remarkably effective. However, for exploratory search in which users need to learn, discover, and understand novel or complex topics, there is substantial room for improvement. Human computer interaction researchers and web browser designers have developed novel strategies to improve Web search by enabling users to conveniently visualize, manipulate, and organize their Web search results. This monograph offers fresh ways to think about search-related cognitive processes and describes innovative design approaches to browsers and related tools. For instance, while key word search presents users with results for specific information (e.g., what is the capitol of Peru), other methods may let users see and explore the contexts of their requests for information (related or previous work, conflicting information), or the properties that associate groups of information assets (group legal decisions by lead attorney). We also consider the both traditional and novel ways in which these strategies have been evaluated. From our review of cognitive processes, browser design, and evaluations, we reflect on the future opportunities and new paradigms for exploring and interacting with Web search results