Sensemaking on the Pragmatic Web: A Hypermedia Discourse Perspective

The complexity of the dilemmas we face on an organizational, societal and global scale forces us into sensemaking activity. We need tools for expressing and contesting perspectives flexible enough for real time use in meetings, structured enough to help manage longer term memory, and powerful enough to filter the complexity of extended deliberation and debate on an organizational or global scale. This has been the motivation for a programme of basic and applied action research into Hypermedia Discourse, which draws on research in hypertext, information visualization, argumentation, modelling, and meeting facilitation. This paper proposes that this strand of work shares a key principle behind the Pragmatic Web concept, namely, the need to take seriously diverse perspectives and the processes of meaning negotiation. Moreover, it is argued that the hypermedia discourse tools described instantiate this principle in practical tools which permit end-user control over modelling approaches in the absence of consensus

Recommender Systems

The ongoing rapid expansion of the Internet greatly increases the necessity of effective recommender systems for filtering the abundant information. Extensive research for recommender systems is conducted by a broad range of communities including social and computer scientists, physicists, and interdisciplinary researchers. Despite substantial theoretical and practical achievements, unification and comparison of different approaches are lacking, which impedes further advances. In this article, we review recent developments in recommender systems and discuss the major challenges. We compare and evaluate available algorithms and examine their roles in the future developments. In addition to algorithms, physical aspects are described to illustrate macroscopic behavior of recommender systems. Potential impacts and future directions are discussed. We emphasize that recommendation has a great scientific depth and combines diverse research fields which makes it of interests for physicists as well as interdisciplinary researchers.Comment: 97 pages, 20 figures (To appear in Physics Reports

Semantic and pragmatic characterization of learning objects

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Informática. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201

The value of ontology, The BPM ontology

It is generally accepted that the creation of added value requires collaboration inside and between organizations. Collaboration requires sharing knowledge (e.g., a shared understanding of business processes) between trading partners and between colleagues. It is on the (unique) knowledge that is shared between and created by colleagues that organizations build their competitive advantage. To take full advantage of this knowledge, it should be disseminated as widely as possible within an organization. Nonaka distinguished tacit knowledge, which is personal, context specific, and not so easy to communicate (e.g., intuitions, unarticulated mental models, embodied technological skills), from explicit knowledge, which is meaningful information articulated in clear language, including numbers and diagrams. Tacit knowledge can be disseminated through socialization (e.g., face-to-face communication, sharing experiences), which implies a reduced dissemination speed, or can be externalized , which is the conversion of tacit into explicit knowledge. Although explicit knowledge can take many forms (e.g., business (process) models, manuals), this chapter focuses on ontologies, which are versatile knowledge artifacts created through externalization, with the power to fuel Nonaka’s knowledge spiral. Nonaka’s knowledge spiral visualizes how a body of unique corporate knowledge, and hence a competitive advantage, is developed through a collaborative and iterative knowledge creation process that involves iterative cycles of externalization, combination, and internalization. When corporate knowledge is documented with ontology, a knowledge spiral leads to ontology evolution

User modeling for exploratory search on the Social Web. Exploiting social bookmarking systems for user model extraction, evaluation and integration

Exploratory search is an information seeking strategy that extends be- yond the query-and-response paradigm of traditional Information Retrieval models. Users browse through information to discover novel content and to learn more about the newly discovered things. Social bookmarking systems integrate well with exploratory search, because they allow one to search, browse, and filter social bookmarks. Our contribution is an exploratory tag search engine that merges social bookmarking with exploratory search. For this purpose, we have applied collaborative filtering to recommend tags to users. User models are an im- portant prerequisite for recommender systems. We have produced a method to algorithmically extract user models from folksonomies, and an evaluation method to measure the viability of these user models for exploratory search. According to our evaluation web-scale user modeling, which integrates user models from various services across the Social Web, can improve exploratory search. Within this thesis we also provide a method for user model integra- tion. Our exploratory tag search engine implements the findings of our user model extraction, evaluation, and integration methods. It facilitates ex- ploratory search on social bookmarks from Delicious and Connotea and pub- lishes extracted user models as Linked Data

The interplay between global standards and local practice in nursing

Submitted manuscript version. Published version available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2013.02.005.Purpose: The paper assesses the extent, form, and transformation of global nursing classifications (NANDA) in a nursing practice during a period of 5 years. Method: A longitudinal case study was used to trace implementation, adoption and use of nursing classifications as an integral part of an electronic nursing module. A mixed method of data collection was used, including semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. Results: A surprisingly high proportion of nursing diagnoses was consistent with the global standard, in spite of a gradual increase of user-generated concepts. This is elaborated more thoroughly through a co-constructing perspective, emphasizing how the global standard and the practice mutually shaped each other over several years. Conclusion: Standardization is an iterative process that is performed in close relationship with practice. The mutual interrelation between formal classifications (NANDA) and local practices are co-constructed in a dynamic interplay that evolves over time. In such a process, the use of local classifications and local strategies can be a means to bridge the gap between these two extreme points. Highlights: ► Extensive use of standardized classification after implementation of electronic care plan. ► Local classifications evolved during long-term use. ► Co-construction of classifications was used to bridge the gap between global classifications and local needs

Web 2.0 in the Business Environment: The New Intranet or a Passing Hype?

There is much talk about the Web 2.0 in the trade press but it is still very difficult to precisely define what it is. Is it yet another technology buzz word or does the concept capture something genuinely new? In this paper we review the literature and examine the main arguments for and against Web 2.0 as a useful concept. From a supportive/obstructive and active/passive management perspective we devise four possible scenarios for Web 2.0 and the enterprise. Based on traditional intranet management principles we discuss whether or not these ideas can successfully be applied to intranets.We argue that although the Web 2.0 concept does contain a core of attitudes, ideas, and services that mark a shift in the way we interact over the Web, the edges are too difficult to define. Hence, Web 2.0 may be an empirical phenomenon that people talk about but as an analytical concept it has little to offer. Still, the technologies associated with Web 2.0 have made their entrance in the corporate world, and commentators already speak of intranet 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0. We conclude that more research on intranet 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 is needed in order to guide tomorrow’s managers