1st INCF Workshop on Global Portal Services for Neuroscience

The goal of this meeting was to map out existing portal services for neuroscience, identify their features and future plans, and outline opportunities for synergistic developments. The workshop discussed alternative formats of future global and integrated portal services

Visualisation of Linked Data – Reprise

Linked Data promises to serve as a disruptor of traditional approaches to data management and use, promoting the push from the traditional Web of documents to a Web of data. The ability for data consumers to adopt a follow your nose approach, traversing links defined within a dataset or across independently-curated datasets, is an essential feature of this new Web of Data, enabling richer knowledge retrieval thanks to synthesis across multiple sources of, and views on, inter-related datasets. But for the Web of Data to be successful, we must design novel ways of interacting with the corresponding very large amounts of complex, interlinked, multi-dimensional data throughout its management cycle. The design of user interfaces for Linked Data, and more specifically interfaces that represent the data visually, play a central role in this respect. Contributions to this special issue on Linked Data visualisation investigate different approaches to harnessing visualisation as a tool for exploratory discovery and basic-to-advanced analysis. The papers in this volume illustrate the design and construction of intuitive means for end-users to obtain new insight and gather more knowledge, as they follow links defined across datasets over the Web of Data

Web-Based Visualization of Very Large Scientific Astronomy Imagery

Visualizing and navigating through large astronomy images from a remote location with current astronomy display tools can be a frustrating experience in terms of speed and ergonomics, especially on mobile devices. In this paper, we present a high performance, versatile and robust client-server system for remote visualization and analysis of extremely large scientific images. Applications of this work include survey image quality control, interactive data query and exploration, citizen science, as well as public outreach. The proposed software is entirely open source and is designed to be generic and applicable to a variety of datasets. It provides access to floating point data at terabyte scales, with the ability to precisely adjust image settings in real-time. The proposed clients are light-weight, platform-independent web applications built on standard HTML5 web technologies and compatible with both touch and mouse-based devices. We put the system to the test and assess the performance of the system and show that a single server can comfortably handle more than a hundred simultaneous users accessing full precision 32 bit astronomy data.Comment: Published in Astronomy & Computing. IIPImage server available from http://iipimage.sourceforge.net . Visiomatic code and demos available from http://www.visiomatic.org

Alternatives to Author-Centric Knowledge Organization

This article explores the differences between collaborative and collective authorship, focusing on the most obvious example of the latter, the Internet, and the challenges it poses for knowledge organization. An alternative to current author-centric knowledge systems is presented in the experimental Quanta system

Making Sense of Document Collections with Map-Based Visualizations

As map-based visualizations of documents become more ubiquitous, there is a greater need for them to support intellectual and creative high-level cognitive activities with collections of non-cartographic materials -- documents. This dissertation concerns the conceptualization of map-based visualizations as tools for sensemaking and collection understanding. As such, map-based visualizations would help people use georeferenced documents to develop understanding, gain insight, discover knowledge, and construct meaning. This dissertation explores the role of graphical representations (such as maps, Kohonen maps, pie charts, and other) and interactions with them for developing map-based visualizations capable of facilitating sensemaking activities such as collection understanding. While graphical representations make document collections more perceptually and cognitively accessible, interactions allow users to adapt representations to users’ contextual needs. By interacting with representations of documents or collections and being able to construct representations of their own, people are better able to make sense of information, comprehend complex structures, and integrate new information into their existing mental models. In sum, representations and interactions may reduce cognitive load and consequently expedite the overall time necessary for completion of sensemaking activities, which typically take much time to accomplish. The dissertation proceeds in three phases. The first phase develops a conceptual framework for translating ontological properties of collections to representations and for supporting visual tasks by means of graphical representations. The second phase concerns the cognitive benefits of interaction. It conceptualizes how interactions can help people during complex sensemaking activities. Although the interactions are explained on the example of a prototype built with Google Maps, they are independent iv of Google Maps and can be applicable to various other technologies. The third phase evaluates the utility, analytical capabilities and usability of the additional representations when users interact with a visualization prototype – VIsual COLlection EXplorer. The findings suggest that additional representations can enhance understanding of map-based visualizations of library collections: specifically, they can allow users to see trends, gaps, and patterns in ontological properties of collections

Linking Roman Coins: Current Work at the American Numismatic Society

This paper details a current project at the American Numismatic Society: Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE), an open-access catalogue of Roman Imperial coin types. The paper discusses linked data approaches applied to numismatic collections, the application architecture of the project, and the practical functionality of the project’s web interface, illustrating its value to researchers

Into the future: FRBR, the Semantic Web, and possible applications for music cataloging

This paper presents a detailed literature review and an exploratory study of practical models examining the application of FRBR and Semantic Web technologies on traditional music cataloging. Four research questions determined the positive and negative ramifications of changing traditional music records to FRBRized records. Results indicate that FRBR's ability to collocate items makes it an attractive option for music-oriented displays. Three additional research questions explored how music catalogers might prepare for Semantic Web technologies, investigated how FRBR and Semantic Web technologies could align in the future, and assessed how Semantic Web technologies might positively and negatively affect music records. Results further indicate that migrating to XML-based authority records, applying controlled-vocabulary tools such as Simple Knowledge Organizations Systems (SKOS) to LCSHs and LCCNs, and merging FRBR records with Semantic Web technology might allow music catalogers to begin harnessing the many potential benefits of the Semantic Web

Mirabile Dictu: the Bryn Mawr College Library Newsletter 20 (2017)

https://repository.brynmawr.edu/mirabile/1021/thumbnail.jp