Defining human-machine micro-task workflows for constitution making

This paper presents a novel task-oriented approach to crowdsource the drafting of a constitution. By considering micro-tasking as a particular form of crowdsourcing, it defines a workflow-based approach based on Onto2Flow, an ontology that models the basic concepts and roles to represent workflow-definitions. The approach is then applied to a prototype platform for constitution-making where human workers are requested to contribute to a set of tasks. The paper concludes by discussing previous approaches to participatory constitution-making and identifying areas for future work.This work is part-funded by FEDER Funds, by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the COMPETE Programme (Operational Programme for Competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012). The work of Nuno Luz is supported by the doctoral grant SFRH/BD/70302/2010. The work of Marta Poblet draws from previous research within the framework of the project “Crowdsourcing: instrumentos semánticos para el desarrollo de la participación y la mediación online” (DER 2012-39492-C02-01) by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Semantics-based User Interface Model for Content Annotation, Authoring and Exploration

The Semantic Web and Linked Data movements with the aim of creating, publishing and interconnecting machine readable information have gained traction in the last years. However, the majority of information still is contained in and exchanged using unstructured documents, such as Web pages, text documents, images and videos. This can also not be expected to change, since text, images and videos are the natural way in which humans interact with information. Semantic structuring of content on the other hand provides a wide range of advantages compared to unstructured information. Semantically-enriched documents facilitate information search and retrieval, presentation, integration, reusability, interoperability and personalization. Looking at the life-cycle of semantic content on the Web of Data, we see quite some progress on the backend side in storing structured content or for linking data and schemata. Nevertheless, the currently least developed aspect of the semantic content life-cycle is from our point of view the user-friendly manual and semi-automatic creation of rich semantic content. In this thesis, we propose a semantics-based user interface model, which aims to reduce the complexity of underlying technologies for semantic enrichment of content by Web users. By surveying existing tools and approaches for semantic content authoring, we extracted a set of guidelines for designing efficient and effective semantic authoring user interfaces. We applied these guidelines to devise a semantics-based user interface model called WYSIWYM (What You See Is What You Mean) which enables integrated authoring, visualization and exploration of unstructured and (semi-)structured content. To assess the applicability of our proposed WYSIWYM model, we incorporated the model into four real-world use cases comprising two general and two domain-specific applications. These use cases address four aspects of the WYSIWYM implementation: 1) Its integration into existing user interfaces, 2) Utilizing it for lightweight text analytics to incentivize users, 3) Dealing with crowdsourcing of semi-structured e-learning content, 4) Incorporating it for authoring of semantic medical prescriptions

DIGITAL INVASIONS: FROM POINT CLOUDS TO HISTORICAL BUILDING OBJECT MODELING (H-BOM) OF A UNESCO WHL SITE

The paper here presented shows the outcomes of a research/didactic activity carried out within a workshop titled “Digital Invasions. From point cloud to Heritage Building Information Modeling” held at Politecnico di Torino (29th September – 5th October 2016). The term digital invasions refers to an Italian bottom up project born in the 2013 with the aim of promoting innovative digital ways for the enhancement of Cultural Heritage by the co-creation of cultural contents and its sharing through social media platforms. At this regard, we have worked with students of Architectural Master of Science degree, training them with a multidisciplinary teaching team (Architectural Representation, History of Architecture, Restoration, Digital Communication and Geomatics). The aim was also to test if our students could be involved in a sort of niche crowdsourcing for the creation of a library of H-BOMS (Historical-Building Object Modeling) of architectural elements

Ontology-based representation and generation of workflows for micro-task human-machine computation

Doctoral Program in Computer ScienceA crescente popularidade das plataformas de crowdsourcing de micro-tarefas levou ao aparecimento de novas abordagens baseadas em fluxos e workflows de micro-tarefas. Juntamente com estas novas abordagens, surgem novos desafios. A falta de estruturação dos dados das micro-tarefas torna difícil, por parte de quem solicita as tarefas, a inclusão de participantes máquina no processo de execução dos workflows. Outro desafio deve-se á falta de componentes que permitam o controlo do fluxo em workflows de micro-tarefas, embora estes componentes sejam comuns em abordagens de workflow tradicionais e em processos de negócio. Nesta tese, é proposto um método para a representação, construção, instanciação e execução de workflows de tarefas em ambientes de computação pessoa-máquina, baseado em ontologias. A representação é capaz de capturar a estrutura e a semântica das operações e dos seus dados, ao mesmo tempo que se mantém próxima do nível conceptual humano. Os workflows são construidos em duas dimensões: a dimensão de domínio estático e a dimensão (da tarefa) dinâmica. Isto permite que os dados de entrada e de saída dos workflows possam ser descritos exclusivamente de acordo com uma ontologia de domínio, de forma completamente independente da representação do workflow. Para que possa ser efetuada a instanciação e a execução da representação do workflow, foi implementado um motor de workflows baseado no método proposto. Para facilitar o papel do solicitador (ou requester) na criação de novas representações de workflows (ou workflow-definitions), um processo de construção semi-automático baseado em ontologias de domínio é também proposto. O processo foi implementado numa ferramenta de construção que permite a construção assistida, iterativa e visual de representações de workflows. O método de representação e o processo de construção propostos são avaliados através de múltiplos cenários de aplicação em diferentes domínios.The growing popularity of micro-task crowdsourcing platforms has led to new approaches based on workflows of micro-tasks. Along with these new approaches, new challenges have emerged. The unstructured nature of micro-tasks in terms of domain representation makes it difficult for task requesters to include machine workers in the workflow execution process. Also, the representation of these human-machine computation workflows lack the flow control components often found in traditional workflow and business process approaches. In this thesis, a method for the representation, construction, instantiation and execution of human-machine computation task workflows through ontologies is proposed. The representation captures the structure and semantics of the tasks and their domain, while remaining close to the human conceptual level. Workflows are built according to two dimensions: the static domain dimension and the dynamic (task) dimension. This allows the input and the output of workflows to be described according to a domain ontology, completely independent from the workflow representation. The instantiation and execution of the represented workflow can be performed through the implemented workflow engine. To aid the requester in the creation of new workflow representations (or workflowdefinitions), a semi-automatic construction process based on domain ontologies is also proposed. The process has been implemented into a construction framework that allows the aided, iterative and visual construction of workflow-definitions. The proposed method and construction process is evaluated through several application scenarios in different domains.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the doctoral grant SFRH/BD/ 70302/2010

Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) conducted at week-long workshop on the prospects for a large scale, multi-national, multi-institutional prototype of a Linked Data environment for discovery of and navigation among the rapidly, chaotically expanding array of academic information resources. As preparation for the workshop, CLIR sponsored a survey by Jerry Persons, Chief Information Architect emeritus of SULAIR that was published originally for workshop participants as background to the workshop and is now publicly available. The original intention of the workshop was to devise a plan for such a prototype. However, such was the diversity of knowledge, experience, and views of the potential of Linked Data approaches that the workshop participants turned to two more fundamental goals: building common understanding and enthusiasm on the one hand and identifying opportunities and challenges to be confronted in the preparation of the intended prototype and its operation on the other. In pursuit of those objectives, the workshop participants produced:1. a value statement addressing the question of why a Linked Data approach is worth prototyping;2. a manifesto for Linked Libraries (and Museums and Archives and …);3. an outline of the phases in a life cycle of Linked Data approaches;4. a prioritized list of known issues in generating, harvesting & using Linked Data;5. a workflow with notes for converting library bibliographic records and other academic metadata to URIs;6. examples of potential “killer apps” using Linked Data: and7. a list of next steps and potential projects.This report includes a summary of the workshop agenda, a chart showing the use of Linked Data in cultural heritage venues, and short biographies and statements from each of the participants

Digitaalse teadmuse arhiveerimine – teoreetilis-praktiline uurimistöö Rahvusarhiivi näitel

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Digitaalse informatsiooni pidevalt kiirenev juurdekasv on aidanud rõhutada ka olulise informatsiooni säilitamise vajadust. Säilitamine ei tähenda siinkohal pelgalt füüsilist varundamist, vaid ka informatsiooni kasutatavuse ja mõistetavuse tagamist. See tähendab, et tegelikkuses on vaja hoolitseda ka selle eest, et meil oleks olemas vajalik riist- ja tarkvara arhiveeritud teabe kasutamiseks. Kui seda ei ole, siis saab mõningatel juhtudel kasutada emulaatoreid, mis matkivad konkreetset aegunud süsteemi ja võimaldavad niiviisi vanu faile avada. Samas, kui tehnoloogia iganemist on võimalik ette näha, siis oleks mõistlik failid juba varakult püsivamasse vormingusse ümber konverteerida või andmekandja kaasaegsema vastu vahetada. Nii emuleerimine, konverteerimine kui ka nende kombineerimine aitavad säilitada informatsiooni kasutatavust, kuid ei pruugi tagada autentset mõistetavust, kuna digitaalse teabe esitus sõltub alati säilitatud bittide tõlgendamisest. Näiteks, kui luua WordPad tarkvara abil üks dokument ja avada seesama dokument Hex Editor Neo abil, siis näeme seda faili kahendkujul, Notepad++ näitab RTFi kodeeringut, Microsoft Word 2010 ja LibreOffice Writeri esitustes võime märgata juba mitmeid erinevusi. Kõik eelloetletud esitused on tehnoloogilises mõttes õiged. Faili avamisel veateateid ei teki, sest tarkvara seisukohast lähtudes peavadki esitused sellised olema. Siinjuures oluline rõhutada, et ka korrektne esitus võib jääda kasutajale mõistetamatuks – see, et andmed on säilinud, et neid on võimalik lugeda ja esitada, ei garanteeri paraku, et neid õigesti mõistetakse. Mõistetavuse tagamiseks tuleb alati arvestada ka lõppkasutajaskonnaga. Seetõttu uuribki antud töö võimalusi, kuidas toetada teadmuse (mõistetava informatsiooni) digitaalset arhiveerimist tuginedes eelkõige parimale praktikale, praktilistele eksperimentidele Rahvusarhiivis ja interdistsiplinaarsetele (nt infotehnoloogia kombineerimine arhiivindusega) võtetele.Digital preservation of knowledge is a very broad and complex research area. Many aspects are still open for research. According to the literature, the accessibility and usability of digital information have been more investigated than the comprehensibility of important digital information over time. Although there are remedies (e.g. emulation and migration) for mitigating the risks related to the accessibility and usability, the question how to guarantee understandability/comprehensibility of archived information is still ongoing research. Understanding digital information first requires a representation of the archived information, so that a user could then interpret and understand it. However, it is a not-so-well-known fact that the digital information does not have any fixed representation before involving some software. For example, if we create a document in WordPad and open the same file in Hex Editor Neo software, then we will see the binary representation which is also correct but not suitable for human users, as humans are not used to interpreting binary codes. When we open that file in Notepad++, then we can see the structure of the RTF coding. Again, this is the correct interpretation of this file, but not understandable for the ordinary user, as it shows the technical view of the file format structure. When we open that file in Microsoft Word 2010 or LibreOffice Writer, then we will notice some changes, although the original bits are the same and no errors are displayed by the software. Thus, all representations are technologically correct and no errors will be displayed to the user when they are opening this file. It is important to emphasise that in some cases even the original representation may be not understandable to the users. Therefore, it is important to know who the main users of the archives are and to ensure that the archived objects are independently understandable to that community over the long term. This dissertation will therefore research meaningful use of digital objects by taking into account the designated users’ knowledge and Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model. The research also includes several practical experimental projects at the National Archives of Estonia which will test some important parts of the theoretical work