Evaluating Wiki Collaborative Features in Ontology Authoring (Extended abstract)

Abstract: This extended abstract summarizes a rigorous investigation about the effectiveness of the impact of wiki collaborative functionalities on the collaborative ontology authoring. The work summarized in this extended abstract has been published in Context. This extended abstract summarizes a rigorous investigation about the impact of wiki collaborative functionalities on ontology modelling, presented in: Good quality ontology modelling often demands for multiple competencies and skills, which are difficult to find in a single person. This results in the need of involving more actors, possibly with different roles and expertise, collaborating towards the ontology construction. Collaborative ontology authoring has been recently widely investigated in the literature A first requirement deals with the collaboration between who knows the domain that is going to be modelled, i.e., the Domain Expert (DE) and who has the technical skills to formalize the domain modelling. i.e., the Knowledge Engineer (KE). Traditional methodologies and tools were mainly based on the idea that knowledge engineers should drive the modelling process (producing ontologies in a formalism which is usually not understandable for domain experts) and domain experts should only report to KEs their knowledge of the domain. However, these methodologies often create an unnecessary extra layer of indirectness, an imbalance between the two roles and the impossibility for the domain experts to understand the modelled ontology. DEs should be actively involved in the ontology modelling process rather than only provide domain knowledge to KEs. A second important requirement deals with the support of distributed teams of actors. Independently of their geographical position or their role, team members should be made aware about the collaborative development of the modelled artefacts, should be supported in the communication of modeling choices, as well as in the work coordination. Wiki tools for the ontology authoring offer an appealing option for tackling these collaborative aspects. Indeed wikis usually provide collaborative features (wiki collaborative 1 Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive, 18, 38123 Trento, dfmchiara|ghidini|rospocher@fbk,e

Awareness support for learning designers in collaborative authoring for adaptive learning

Adaptive learning systems offer students a range of appropriate learning options based on the learners’ characteristics. It is, therefore, necessary for such systems to maintain a hyperspace and knowledge space that consists of a large volume of domain and pedagogical knowledge, learner information, and adaptation rules. As a consequence, for a solitary teacher, developing learning resources would be time consuming and requires the teacher to be an expert of many topics. In this research, the problems of authoring adaptive learning resources are classified into issues concerning interoperability, efficiency, and collaboration.This research particularly addresses the question of how teachers can collaborate in authoring adaptive learning resources and be aware of what has happened in the authoring process. In order to experiment with collaboration, it was necessary to design a collaborative authoring environment for adaptive learning. This was achieved by extending an open sourced authoring tool of IMS Learning Design (IMS LD), ReCourse, to be a prototype of Collaborative ReCourse that includes the workspace awareness information features: Notes and History. It is designed as a tool for asynchronous collaboration for small groups of learning designers. IMS LD supports interoperability and adaptation. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment was a workspace awareness study in which participants took part in an artificial collaborative scenario. They were divided into 2 groups; one group worked with ReCourse, the other with Collaborative ReCourse. The results provide evidence regarding the advantages of Notes and History for enhancing workspace awareness in collaborative authoring of learning designs.The second study tested the system more thoroughly as the participants had to work toward real goals over a much longer time frame. They were divided into four groups; two groups worked with ReCourse, while the others worked with Collaborative ReCourse. The experiment result showed that authoring of learning designs can be approached with a Process Structure method with implicit coordination and without role assignment. It also provides evidence that collaboration is possible for authoring IMS LD Level A for non-adapting and Level B for adapting materials. Notes and History assist in producing good quality output.This research has several contributions. From the literature study, it presents a comparison analysis of existing authoring tools, as well as learning standards. Furthermore, it presents a collaborative authoring approach for creating learning designs and describes the granularity level on which collaborative authoring for learning designs can be carried out. Finally, experiments using this approach show the advantages of having Notes and History for enhancing workspace awareness that and how they benefit the quality of learning designs

A Contribution-based Framework for the Creation of Semantically-enabled Web Applications

We present Fortunata, a wiki-based framework designed to simplify the creation of semantically-enabled web applications. This framework facilitates the management and publicationof semantic data in web-based applications, to the extent that application developers do not need to be skilled in client-side technologies, and promotes application reuse by fostering collaboration among developers by means of wiki plugins.Weillustrate the use of this framework with two Fortunata-based applications named OMEMO and VPOET, and we evaluate it with two experiments performed with usability evaluators and application developers respectively. These experiments show a good balance between the usability of the applications created with this framework and the effort and skills required by developers

Combining knowledge discovery, ontologies, annotations, and semantic wikis

Semantic Wikis provide an original and operational infrastructure for efficiently com- bining semantic technologies and collaborative design activities. This text presents: a running example and its context (organization of the collections in a museum); concepts of wikis as a tool to allow computer supported cooperative work (cscw); concepts of se- mantic technologies and knowledge representation; concepts and examples of semantic wikis; anatomy of a semantic wiki (reasoning tools, storage, querying); and research directions.Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

SmatBook – a vision for the future e-book

This paper presents a vision for the future of the e-books as part of the growing collective intelligence. The vision entails further development of technologies that will facilitate the creation and use of a new generation of ‘smart’ books: e-books that are evolving, highly interactive, customisable, adaptable, intelligent, and furnished with a rich set of collaborative authoring and reading support services. The proposed set of tools will be integrated into an intelligent framework for collaborative book authoring and experiencing called SmartBook. The paper also discusses the opportunities to use SmartBook as a vehicle for building professional virtual communities of practice in the framework of a University 2.0 organization dedicated to industry-university cooperation

SmartBook – the future E-book and educatonal hypermedia

Доклад по покана, поместен в сборника на Националната конференция "Образованието в информационното общество", Пловдив, май, 2009This paper presents a vision for the future of the e-books as part of the growing collective intelligence. The vision entails further development of technologies that will facilitate the creation and use of a new generation of ‘smart’ books: e-books that are evolving, highly interactive, customisable, adaptable, intelligent, and furnished with a rich set of collaborative authoring and reading support services. The proposed set of tools will be integrated into an intelligent framework for collaborative book authoring and experiencing called SmartBook. The paper also discusses the opportunities to use SmartBook as a educational hypermedia.Асоциация "Развитие на информационното общество", Институт по математика и информатика при БАН, Пловдивски университе

A Collaborative Computational Infrastructure for Supporting Technical Debt Knowledge Sharing and Evolution

Keeping information systems useful during their evolution is a complex task. This complexity usually comes from the lack of concern with their maintainability. The monitoring of technical debt (TD) is one way to minimize the effects of low maintainability. But even before developers can monitor the debt, they need to understand what TD types can be incurred, how they can be identified, and which causes can lead developers to incur them into the project. Nevertheless, despite the importance of to know what TD is, this knowledge is still spread out hindering a common understanding of the area. In this context, this paper presents TD Wiki, a collaborative computational infrastructure for supporting TD knowledge sharing and evolution through the using of knowledge visualization techniques. TD Wiki is already available for use and provides useful information that can be used when developing strategies for TD monitoring during the development of information systems

A novel and validated agile Ontology Engineering methodology for the development of ontology-based applications

The goal of this Thesis is to investigate the status of Ontology Engineering, underlining the main key issues still characterizing this discipline. Among these issues, the problem of reconciling macro-level methodologies with authoring techniques is pivotal in supporting novel ontology engineers. The latest approach characterizing ontology engineering methodologies leverages the agile paradigm to support collaborative ontology development and deliver efficient ontologies. However, so far, the investigations in the current support provided by these methodologies and the delivery of efficient ontologies have not been investigated. Thus, this work proposes a novel framework for the investigation of agile methodologies, with the objective of identifying the strong point of each agile methodology and their limitations. Leveraging on the findings of this analysis, the Thesis introduces a novel agile methodology – AgiSCOnt – aimed at tackling some of the key issues characterizing Ontology Engineering and weaknesses identified in existing agile approaches. The novel methodology is then put to the test as it is adopted for the development of two new domain ontologies in the field of health: the first is dedicated to patients struggling with dysphagia, while the second addresses patients affected by Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.The goal of this Thesis is to investigate the status of Ontology Engineering, underlining the main key issues still characterizing this discipline. Among these issues, the problem of reconciling macro-level methodologies with authoring techniques is pivotal in supporting novel ontology engineers. The latest approach characterizing ontology engineering methodologies leverages the agile paradigm to support collaborative ontology development and deliver efficient ontologies. However, so far, the investigations in the current support provided by these methodologies and the delivery of efficient ontologies have not been investigated. Thus, this work proposes a novel framework for the investigation of agile methodologies, with the objective of identifying the strong point of each agile methodology and their limitations. Leveraging on the findings of this analysis, the Thesis introduces a novel agile methodology – AgiSCOnt – aimed at tackling some of the key issues characterizing Ontology Engineering and weaknesses identified in existing agile approaches. The novel methodology is then put to the test as it is adopted for the development of two new domain ontologies in the field of health: the first is dedicated to patients struggling with dysphagia, while the second addresses patients affected by Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

An investigation into the role of a wiki in supporting collaborative learning activities

Providing students with learning opportunities based on real-life situations has beenfound to enhance student learning. With this aim, two Open University post-graduatecourses introduced collaborative activities modelled on workplace situations. Theactivities employed wikis: a lightweight, web-based collaborative authoringenvironment. The purpose of this research has been to investigate the role of a wiki insupporting the collaborative learning activities, and to assess how the wiki influencedstudent engagement with the activities.The dissertation draws data from the three presentations of Open University courses’56 wikis produced by almost 240 students. The base data includes wiki content andstudent discussions. Issues identified in the base data were further explored throughpost-course questionnaires and interviews. An iterative inductive qualitative analysiswas applied to analyse students' perceptions and experiences with the wikis. Activitytheory was used to place these within the context of the activities.The wikis enabled all student groups to author collaboratively the documents requiredby their courses. Writing the documents benefited the students because it prompteddiscussion and personal reflection; both of which many students reported as enhancingtheir learning. The students particularly valued the wiki’s role as a central repositorythat helped them achieve these two benefits. The research shows that wikis cansupport collaborative activities among students and lead to enhanced learningopportunities. The key findings suggest that a wiki’s simplicity enabled students toengage easily with the collaborative learning activities. However, a wiki’s lack ofinherent structure hindered their progress until they had worked out how to organisetheir use of the wiki. The insights from the research are presented as guidelines for educators intending toincorporate wiki supported collaborative learning activities into their courses. Theguidelines have two aims: first, to help educators facilitate speedy induction andparticipation of the students in the collaborative activities; second, to ensure the wiki isused effectively by students to increase their collaborative learning opportunities