Maintaining computer-based information systems using text-based intelligent systems techniques

In order to incorporate up-to-date quantitative and qualitative information, Computer- Based Information Systems (CBIS) must be able to extract data from unstructured, textual formats such as newspapers and magazines. The process of updating information in a CBIS currently requires large amounts of human effort analyzing and converting data from such sources into formats which information systems can work with. This paper suggests some methods by which the data needs of a CBIS can be handled semi-automatically (Employing both computers and humans) using text-based intelligent systems (TBIS) techniques

An XML transfer schema for exchange of genomic and genetic mapping data: implementation as a web service in a Taverna workflow

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genomic analysis, particularly for less well-characterized organisms, is greatly assisted by performing comparative analyses between different types of genome maps and across species boundaries. Various providers publish a plethora of on-line resources collating genome mapping data from a multitude of species. Datasources range in scale and scope from small bespoke resources for particular organisms, through larger web-resources containing data from multiple species, to large-scale bioinformatics resources providing access to data derived from genome projects for model and non-model organisms. The heterogeneity of information held in these resources reflects both the technologies used to generate the data and the target users of each resource. Currently there is no common information exchange standard or protocol to enable access and integration of these disparate resources. Consequently data integration and comparison must be performed in an <it>ad hoc </it>manner.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed a simple generic XML schema (GenomicMappingData.xsd – GMD) to allow export and exchange of mapping data in a common lightweight XML document format. This schema represents the various types of data objects commonly described across mapping datasources and provides a mechanism for recording relationships between data objects. The schema is sufficiently generic to allow representation of any map type (for example genetic linkage maps, radiation hybrid maps, sequence maps and physical maps). It also provides mechanisms for recording data provenance and for cross referencing external datasources (including for example ENSEMBL, PubMed and Genbank.). The schema is extensible via the inclusion of additional datatypes, which can be achieved by importing further schemas, e.g. a schema defining relationship types. We have built demonstration web services that export data from our ArkDB database according to the GMD schema, facilitating the integration of data retrieval into Taverna workflows.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data exchange standard we present here provides a useful generic format for transfer and integration of genomic and genetic mapping data. The extensibility of our schema allows for inclusion of additional data and provides a mechanism for typing mapping objects via third party standards. Web services retrieving GMD-compliant mapping data demonstrate that use of this exchange standard provides a practical mechanism for achieving data integration, by facilitating syntactically and semantically-controlled access to the data.</p

Teaching with style: computer aided instruction, personality and design education

The investigation reported in this thesis concerns the possibility of automatically matching the learning styles of design students with appropriate styles of computer aided instruction (CAl). Individual adult learners exhibit preferences for the way information is presented and for the ways in which they are taught. These preferences arise from characteristics known as cognitive styles which are associated with personality. Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a mismatch between styles of teaching and styles of learning. Under these conditions some students will be discouraged. A survey of students on typical design courses showed them to have particular learning preferences. In this respect they are differentiated from tutors who may prefer to teach in a different style. CAl systems also exhibit styles. These are manifest in features such as the computer's control of learning interactions and the form of information which the system delivers. Computer-based training has often been of a sequential, drill-andpractice kind which encourages rote learning. This style has met with limited success, and it is shown to be unsuitable for most design students. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is used to classify the psychological types of design students. Evidence of learning preferences from the MBTI and from related sources is given. From a theoretical description of learning episodes, a computer-based model is developed that provides CAl treatments matched to sixteen learning styles. It is concluded that CAl-based teaching of technological information to design students can be more optimally matched. The principles established have wider implications for communications between designers and others

The Memory Store: A collaborative online fiction, which explores the opportunities for participatory narrative experiences afforded by the shared space of the Internet

This practice-led thesis explores the opportunities digital technologies afford for writers to create online fictional spaces to share with readers. The research asks how might authors utilise the shared space of the Internet to offer collaborative narrative experiences? Part One of the thesis is a creative project, The Memory Store, http://thememorystore.org a hypertext, detective fiction, set in Liverpool in 2115, written with contributions from a hundred people. The work experiments with authorship as a collective experience in an online environment, considering ways in which we might collaboratively construct stories. This experimental project differs in its ambition from other collaborative online writing projects, such as MacGuffin (Comma Press and Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015) and Rainy City Stories (Openstories, 2008) by exploring methods to structure writing contributed by participants so that reading can flow from one writer to another with a narrative connection established by the site’s interface. Part Two of the thesis is a critical reflection that explores theories that have informed my creative practice. The research examines what Manovich described as ‘spatial wandering,’ (2001, p49) Nelson’s term ‘intertwingularity’ (1974, p29) and ‘the bricolage’ that Turkle (1995, p51) referred to in respect of the Internet, to approach conceptualisations of digital technology as spatial, creating environments through which readers navigate to interconnected experiences, facilitating exploration, encouraging participation, communication and sharing. The thesis also considers narrative space, detective fiction and the archiving of collective memory in online environments to support the development of the creative project

Devise: a framework for the evaluation of internet search engines

This project investigates the feasibility of the use of user-satisfaction as a multidimensional evaluative construct of search engines. Search engine developments are reviewed to reveal a range of indexing and retrieval techniques that may assist casual users in the information retrieval task. Yet few evaluation studies have considered the impact of system features, in particular those with which the user interacts for search assistance. A broad review of retrieval system evaluation highlights the complex environment in which measures of both the utility of the search results and the usability of the system are sought from a user-perspective. Our proposed approach for a user-centered evaluation is based on a conceptual framework in which user-satisfaction is characterised as a variable dependent on system features and functions and expressed in a moderating context of user-task requirement. Towards this end, the research reported here focuses on the definition of the construct of user satisfaction on the multi dimensions of the retrieval process, an expression of what a typical user is trying to do. Empirical work was then undertaken to test the feasibility and potential value of the implementation of the framework for the evaluation of three search engines. Initial results are presented which provide a degree of understanding of how users are satisfied and on what criteria. This provides the basis on which we make recommendations for the refinement of the multidimensional framework and its use as a methodology for the evaluation of search engines from a user perspective

Designing navigable information spaces

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-164).by Mark A. Foltz.M.S

The Future of Media

How do we combat post-truth in the news? Are social media influencers the journalists of today? What is it like to live in a smart city? Does AI really change "everything"? The Future of Media investigates the future of media industries and technologies (journalism, TV, film, photography, radio, publishing, social media), while exploring how media shape our future—on a political, economic, cultural and individual level. Issues of diversity, media reform, labour, activism and art take the discussion into a wider social context. Through this, the book celebrates the importance and vitality of media in the modern world. The Future of Media is also an experiment in collaborative modes of thinking and working. Co-authored by theorists and practitioners from one of the world's most established media departments, it offers a radical, creative and critical take on media industries—and on world affairs

The development of a reference database of health information resources to facilitate informed lifestyle choice

This study investigates, within the current health care situation, the interrelationship of the user, resources and tool in the design of a prototype WELLNESS database-driven web site. A shift has taken place in health care, in which the base of conventional medicine has broadened to integrate other systems, practices and worldviews. These include complementary and alternative medicine, health promotion, disease prevention and wellness. Emphasis is placed on the need to take personal responsibility for one's own health and wellness. The global burden of chronic disease, reaching epidemic proportions, is increasingly linked to risk factors resulting from personal lifestyle choices. The growing evidence of the user's need to make personal, informed, lifestyle choices and their reliance on the Web for health information, required investigation. WELLNESS, a specific orientation to health and wellness, formed the framework within which the user and resources were defined and the tool designed. The user was profiled as the WELLNESS health information seeker, hereby contributing significantly to an understanding of the user in this new context. The user profile informed the establishment of resource selection criteria and tool design. The identification of WELLNESS content selection criteria, within a five-dimensional model, was required to ensure quality, relevant and credible resources. The tool is comprised of the WELLNESS thesaurus and WELLNESS database-driven web site. The WELLNESS thesaurus was constructed based on a combination of relevant thesauri. It will be used as an indexing tool. An investigation of existing health information web sites highlighted the importance of designing a specific WELLNESS database-driven web site. A database host was identified against which the original study's conceptual schema was assessed. A low-fidelity prototype web site was designed as the interface between the WELLNESS health information seeker and the database of WELLNESS health information resources. This study has epidemiological, philosophical, epistemological, sociological and psychological relevance. The provision of access to WELLNESS health information resources, made available in the WELLNESS database-driven web site, for personal, informed lifestyle choice by the WELLNESS health information seeker could potentially contribute to the reduction of the global burden of chronic disease.Information ScienceD.Litt. et Phil. (Information Science

Selecting and tailoring of images for online news content: a mixed-methods investigation of the needs and behaviour of image users in online journalism

This mixed-methods investigation explores how image professionals in online journalism search for, select and use images from large online collections. Further, findings from this exploration are used to devise and evaluate a needs-based practical solution for improvement to image retrieval. The exploratory stage included semi-structured interviews and observations in situ and provided several important contributions to the current understanding of the needs and behaviour of image users in fully disintermediated environment of the online newsroom. This study found that these image users are creative professionals and self-taught, yet, confident image searchers. When illustrating news content, they apply a shared knowledge of how a specific image function (e.g., dominant image) must be presented visually to reach its full communication potential. This common understanding of image communicative functions has two implications on how these professionals search for and select images. Firstly, they begin searches with clear image needs pre-defined on multiple levels of image description, including visual image features, and their behaviour is consistent with targeted searching. This contradicts previously reported preference for browsing as the typical mode of searching in online image collections. Secondly, they do not easily compromise on image needs related to visual features. When searches prove ineffective, they resort to editing skills and tailor the available images to match their original needs. Further, it was found that the choice of images for headline content can in fact be predicted by a set of 11 visual image features. The features were extracted from a collection of artefacts created in the observation sessions and described by means of the Visual Social Semiotics (VSS) framework. The feature set was implemented as a filtering mechanism in a prototype and evaluated in a within-subjects experimental design study with image professionals. This experiment showed a significant positive change in the behaviour of users when interacting with images pre-filtered strictly to their visual needs, not observed in the baseline system. This was demonstrated through users’ ability to immediately engage in the inspection of images on a level of detail, and to make straightforward selections. Images from the experimental sets required no or only minimal tailoring as confirmed in the final VSS-based survey with independent image experts. Other important contributions of this investigation include the updated models. Firstly, the illustration task process framework, originally proposed in Markkula and Sormunen (2000), has been refined to include the image tailoring phase where creative professionals apply editorial treatment before publication. Further, the observations revealed that verifying of images, consistent with the feature in Ellis et al.’s model (Ellis et al., 1993), was an activity critical to making selection decision in online journalism. Therefore, Conniss et al.’s model of the image searching process (Conniss et al., 2000) has been updated to include the verifying phase. The investigation concludes that in order to meet the needs of creative image professionals in online journalism, image retrieval systems must support targeted searching, and facilitate direct access to required images that can be easily verified for authenticity. The proposed multi-feature filtering system firmly rooted in the image users’ needs, appears to be a step towards automating image retrieval