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

Computational fact checking from knowledge networks

Traditional fact checking by expert journalists cannot keep up with the enormous volume of information that is now generated online. Computational fact checking may significantly enhance our ability to evaluate the veracity of dubious information. Here we show that the complexities of human fact checking can be approximated quite well by finding the shortest path between concept nodes under properly defined semantic proximity metrics on knowledge graphs. Framed as a network problem this approach is feasible with efficient computational techniques. We evaluate this approach by examining tens of thousands of claims related to history, entertainment, geography, and biographical information using a public knowledge graph extracted from Wikipedia. Statements independently known to be true consistently receive higher support via our method than do false ones. These findings represent a significant step toward scalable computational fact-checking methods that may one day mitigate the spread of harmful misinformation

BlogForever: D3.1 Preservation Strategy Report

This report describes preservation planning approaches and strategies recommended by the BlogForever project as a core component of a weblog repository design. More specifically, we start by discussing why we would want to preserve weblogs in the first place and what it is exactly that we are trying to preserve. We further present a review of past and present work and highlight why current practices in web archiving do not address the needs of weblog preservation adequately. We make three distinctive contributions in this volume: a) we propose transferable practical workflows for applying a combination of established metadata and repository standards in developing a weblog repository, b) we provide an automated approach to identifying significant properties of weblog content that uses the notion of communities and how this affects previous strategies, c) we propose a sustainability plan that draws upon community knowledge through innovative repository design

The Roles of Bloggers in Web 2.0

This study examine the roles of bloggers in Web 2.0. Blogging is considered to be a fairly new phenomenon and blog authors are increasingly seen as producers of user-­generated content wielding influence on both their readers and respective industries. Thus, it is argued that recognizing the different roles assumed by bloggers will shed light on the importance of bloggers and how this may affect marketingpractices

Social Media Tools on the Eve of E-Learning 3.0

In the present paper, we2019;ll explore how social media tools provide an opportunity for new developments of the e-Learning in the context of managing personal knowledge. There will be a discussion how social media tools provide a possibility for helping knowledge workers and students to gather, organize and manage their personal information as a part of the e-learning process. At the centre of this social software driven approach to e-learning environments are the challenges of personalization and collaboration. We2019;ll share concepts of how organizations are using social media for e-Learning and believe that integration of these tools into traditional e-Learning is probably not a choice, but inevitability. Students2019; Survey of use of web technologies and social networking tools is presented. Newly developed framework for semantic blogging capable of organizing results relevant to user requirements is implemented at Varna Free University (VFU) to provide more effective navigation and search

Open research for diffusion of open digital memories at Web 2.0/3.0

This paper suggests an experimental perspective of Open Research, understood as a process of deconstruction of knowledge about society that leads to its reconstruction, archiving and dissemination in the form of Open Digital Memories. This posture was developed within the Project Public Communication of Art: the Case of Global / Local Art Museums, at the University of Lisbon. The project was funded by Foundation for Science and Technology, and produced 6 books and 8 sites, among other final results. Researching and memorizing may be pursuited through an open style that includes the production and reception of investigation by both the researcher and the common citizen. This may involve multiple shared tasks: questioning the social, organization and critique of sources and data, co-participation in the use of methods, public discussions on work in progress and on research results. For this aim, Open Research must articulate Social Sciences and Humanities to New Media, specially across digital social networks, both at Web 2.0 (the Reading/Writing Internet) and at Web 3.0 (the so-called Semantic Web). Two strategies contributing to this posture will be exemplified, within the optics of Semantic-Logic Sociology: Experimental Books and Social Semantic-Logic Sites. They use the following instruments for producing/writing and receiving/reading social and semantic knowledge, some of these shown in the present paper: Visual Ontologies built from Social Hybridologies, GeoNeoLogic Methods (Multitouch Questionnaire, Trichotomies Game, etc..), Conceptual Abstracts, Present Books, Author-Actor Maps, GeoNeoLogic Novels, Visual Social Ontologies, Knowledge Interactive Windows, Visual Socio-Semantic Indexes, Visual Meta-Semantic Indexes. In short, Open Research and Open Digital Memories may constitute some of the fundamental pillars of emergent Research Society. This means a social paradigm where common citizens may become a sort of ‘lay researchers’ and, in the process, reformulate contemporary expert’s knowledge and power.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

The State of the Art in Tag Ontologies: A Semantic Model for Tagging and Folksonomies

There is a growing interest on how we represent and share tagging data for the purpose of collaborative tagging systems. Conventional tags, however, are not naturally suited for collaborative processes. Being free-text keywords, they are exposed to linguistic variations like case (upper vs lower), grammatical number (singular vs. plural) as well as human typing errors. Additionally, tags depend on the personal views of the world by individual users, and are not normalized for synonymy, morphology or any other mapping. The bottom line of the problem is that tags have no semantics whatsoever. Moreover, even if a user gives some semantics to a tag while using or viewing it, this meaning is not automatically shared with computers since it’s not defined in a machine-readable way. With tagging systems increasing in popularity each day, the evolution of this technology is hindered by this problem. In this paper we discuss approaches to represent tagging activities at a semantic level. We present criteria for the comparison of existing tag ontologies and discuss their strengths and weaknesses in relation to these criteria

Speculations

From the Editorial Introduction: "Since I am convinced that nobody reads editorials I will keep my remarks brief. Putting together the inaugural issue of Speculations has been an unusual experience. It has depended on the collusion of fellow speculative types, the help of many anonymous reviewers, the endless patience of designer Thomas Gokey, and more hours than someone in the final year of their PhD should ever spend on a project. Looking over the final product I think it has all been worth it. This is the first journal dedicated to speculative realism and despite the obscurity of that term I think we all understand it as a handy label under which weird realists, continental metaphysicians, object oriented ontologists, transcendental realists, vitalists, and Lovecraftians can unite. This is also, perhaps, the first time a journal can boast that each contributor is also a blogger. This is the reason why Speculations could only ever be an online, open-access journal. …

Master of Science

thesisThis essay will elaborate on the South Caucasian conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which happened from 1988-1994, and those between Georgia and its breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from 1991-1993. The goal is to show how Cultural Affirmative Philosophy may transform no-war-norpeace situations into new possibilities for gradual conflict resolution. The thesis argues that the roots of the current ethnic and territorial antagonisms in the Caucasus are not in ancient hatreds, but are the results of war machines that were put into motion during the 90s and continue to keep communities and decision-makers enslaved by transcendental dynamics. Despite all the existing obstacles, it is still possible to deactivate the war machines through the lines of flight between similarly nomadic actors online. New media activism, which is accurately described by the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of the rhizome, can challenge barriers that divide postwar communities and create platforms for understanding of the grievances, hopes, and fears of each side