Ubiquitous Access to Cultural Tourism Portals

Web-based tourism information systems are more and more required to provide besides traditional tourism information about hotel facilities and infrastructure also cultural content comprising material heritage, performing art, folk tradition, handicraft or simply habits of everyday life. These cultural Web applications are required not to offer on-line brochures only, but rather to provide both, value and service. This paper focuses on two crucial aspects of cultural Web applications comprising quality of content and quality of access. As an example for achieving quality of content in terms of comprehensiveness and cross-national nature, the MEDINA portal is presented, allowing one-stop access to cultural information of fourteen Mediterranean countries. In order to provide quality of access, the notion of ubiquity is introduced, allowing to customize Web applications towards different kinds of contexts, thus supporting the cultural tourist with device-independent, time-aware, location-aware, and personalized services. 1

PDA – Portal DiGIR Ampliado : Consultas distribuidas sobre bases de datos heterogéneas a través de Internet

La interacción entre biodiversidad y la informática (bioinformática) ha sido de vital importancia en el ámbito de la biología, tanto para la clasificación de especimenes como para las tareas de protección del medioambiente. Un ejemplo es el proyecto DiGIR, el cual a través de su portal permite consultas distribuidas sobre bases de datos heterogéneas almacenadas en diferentes centros de investigación para obtener información sobre colecciones. El Portal DiGIR Ampliado (PDA) resultante de este trabajo colabora con el proyecto DiGIR, ampliando las potencialidades de su portal con el objetivo de ser utilizado para la Red de Colecciones Biológicas Argentinas y con el objetivo de contribuir con la comunidad internacional de desarrolladores del proyecto, aportando una nueva versión para su CVS.The interaction between biodiversity and computer science (bioinformatic) has been of vital importance within the scope of Biology, as much for the specimen classification as for the tasks of protection of the environment. An example is the DiGIR project, which through its portal allows queries on heterogeneous data bases stored in different research centers to obtain data about collections. The Enhanced DiGIR Portal (EDP) resulting of this work contributes with the DiGIR project, extending the limits of the DiGIR portal with the goal of being used by the Network of Argentine Biological Collections. It contributes also with the international developers community of the project, adding a new version for its CVS.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Base de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

PDA – Portal DiGIR Ampliado : Consultas distribuidas sobre bases de datos heterogéneas a través de Internet

La interacción entre biodiversidad y la informática (bioinformática) ha sido de vital importancia en el ámbito de la biología, tanto para la clasificación de especimenes como para las tareas de protección del medioambiente. Un ejemplo es el proyecto DiGIR, el cual a través de su portal permite consultas distribuidas sobre bases de datos heterogéneas almacenadas en diferentes centros de investigación para obtener información sobre colecciones. El Portal DiGIR Ampliado (PDA) resultante de este trabajo colabora con el proyecto DiGIR, ampliando las potencialidades de su portal con el objetivo de ser utilizado para la Red de Colecciones Biológicas Argentinas y con el objetivo de contribuir con la comunidad internacional de desarrolladores del proyecto, aportando una nueva versión para su CVS.The interaction between biodiversity and computer science (bioinformatic) has been of vital importance within the scope of Biology, as much for the specimen classification as for the tasks of protection of the environment. An example is the DiGIR project, which through its portal allows queries on heterogeneous data bases stored in different research centers to obtain data about collections. The Enhanced DiGIR Portal (EDP) resulting of this work contributes with the DiGIR project, extending the limits of the DiGIR portal with the goal of being used by the Network of Argentine Biological Collections. It contributes also with the international developers community of the project, adding a new version for its CVS.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Base de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Avaliação externa de ambientes de e-commerce

Na vasta literatura existente sobre avaliação de websites e/ou portais, qualidade, web-design e usabilidade são as dimensões mais utilizadas na criação de modelos de avaliação, no entanto, encontramos evidencias para a importância da estratégia como dimensão condicionadora de todas as outras. Não encontrando registo da união das quatro dimensões num único modelo, apresentamos uma proposta de visão integrada, para uma avaliação externa de ambientes de e-commerce, uma vez que a probabilidade de sucesso de um website depende da integração das dimensões referidas e fatores externos capazes de acrescentar valor ao consumidor. In the vast literature on Web site evaluation and / or portals, quality, usability and web design are the most used dimensions in the creation of evaluation models, however, we found evidence of the importance of strategy as a dimension that all the others depend on. As we haven’t found any record of the union of the four dimensions in a single model, we present a proposal for an integrated vision, for an external evaluation of e-commerce environments, since the probability of success of a website depends on the integration of these dimensions and external factors that can add value to the consumer.In the vast literature on Web site evaluation and / or portals, quality, usability and web design are the most used dimensions in the creation of evaluation models, however, we found evidence of the importance of strategy as a dimension that all the others depend on. As we haven’t found any record of the union of the four dimensions in a single model, we present a proposal for an integrated vision, for an external evaluation of e-commerce environments, since the probability of success of a website depends on the integration of these dimensions and external factors that can add value to the consumer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Model driven design and data integration in semantic web information systems

The Web is quickly evolving in many ways. It has evolved from a Web of documents into a Web of applications in which a growing number of designers offer new and interactive Web applications with people all over the world. However, application design and implementation remain complex, error-prone and laborious. In parallel there is also an evolution from a Web of documents into a Web of `knowledge' as a growing number of data owners are sharing their data sources with a growing audience. This brings the potential new applications for these data sources, including scenarios in which these datasets are reused and integrated with other existing and new data sources. However, the heterogeneity of these data sources in syntax, semantics and structure represents a great challenge for application designers. The Semantic Web is a collection of standards and technologies that offer solutions for at least the syntactic and some structural issues. If offers semantic freedom and flexibility, but this leaves the issue of semantic interoperability. In this thesis we present Hera-S, an evolution of the Model Driven Web Engineering (MDWE) method Hera. MDWEs allow designers to create data centric applications using models instead of programming. Hera-S especially targets Semantic Web sources and provides a flexible method for designing personalized adaptive Web applications. Hera-S defines several models that together define the target Web application. Moreover we implemented a framework called Hydragen, which is able to execute the Hera-S models to run the desired Web application. Hera-S' core is the Application Model (AM) in which the main logic of the application is defined, i.e. defining the groups of data elements that form logical units or subunits, the personalization conditions, and the relationships between the units. Hera-S also uses a so-called Domain Model (DM) that describes the content and its structure. However, this DM is not Hera-S specific, but instead allows any Semantic Web source representation as its DM, as long as its content can be queried by the standardized Semantic Web query language SPARQL. The same holds for the User Model (UM). The UM can be used for personalization conditions, but also as a source of user-related content if necessary. In fact, the difference between DM and UM is conceptual as their implementation within Hydragen is the same. Hera-S also defines a presentation model (PM) which defines presentation details of elements like order and style. In order to help designers with building their Web applications we have introduced a toolset, Hera Studio, which allows to build the different models graphically. Hera Studio also provides some additional functionality like model checking and deployment of the models in Hydragen. Both Hera-S and its implementation Hydragen are designed to be flexible regarding the user of models. In order to achieve this Hydragen is a stateless engine that queries for relevant information from the models at every page request. This allows the models and data to be changed in the datastore during runtime. We show that one way to exploit this flexibility is by applying aspect-orientation to the AM. Aspect-orientation allows us to dynamically inject functionality that pervades the entire application. Another way to exploit Hera-S' flexibility is in reusing specialized components, e.g. for presentation generation. We present a configuration of Hydragen in which we replace our native presentation generation functionality by the AMACONT engine. AMACONT provides more extensive multi-level presentation generation and adaptation capabilities as well aspect-orientation and a form of semantic based adaptation. Hera-S was designed to allow the (re-)use of any (Semantic) Web datasource. It even opens up the possibility for data integration at the back end, by using an extendible storage layer in our database of choice Sesame. However, even though theoretically possible it still leaves much of the actual data integration issue. As this is a recurring issue in many domains, a broader challenge than for Hera-S design only, we decided to look at this issue in isolation. We present a framework called Relco which provides a language to express data transformation operations as well as a collection of techniques that can be used to (semi-)automatically find relationships between concepts in different ontologies. This is done with a combination of syntactic, semantic and collaboration techniques, which together provide strong clues for which concepts are most likely related. In order to prove the applicability of Relco we explore five application scenarios in different domains for which data integration is a central aspect. This includes a cultural heritage portal, Explorer, for which data from several datasources was integrated and was made available by a mapview, a timeline and a graph view. Explorer also allows users to provide metadata for objects via a tagging mechanism. Another application is SenSee: an electronic TV-guide and recommender. TV-guide data was integrated and enriched with semantically structured data from several sources. Recommendations are computed by exploiting the underlying semantic structure. ViTa was a project in which several techniques for tagging and searching educational videos were evaluated. This includes scenarios in which user tags are related with an ontology, or other tags, using the Relco framework. The MobiLife project targeted the facilitation of a new generation of mobile applications that would use context-based personalization. This can be done using a context-based user profiling platform that can also be used for user model data exchange between mobile applications using technologies like Relco. The final application scenario that is shown is from the GRAPPLE project which targeted the integration of adaptive technology into current learning management systems. A large part of this integration is achieved by using a user modeling component framework in which any application can store user model information, but which can also be used for the exchange of user model data

Modelbased accounting and charging systems for digital products in the e-learning

In der Arbeit wurde ein Konzept entwickelt, das eine modellbasierte Betrachtung des Pricings digitaler Produkte ermöglicht

Infra-estrutura para portal internet integrador de serviços

Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaEsta tese surge no contexto de sistemas e serviços web. O objectivo é propor uma solução para o problema da integração de informação de diversas fontes, numa plataforma web única, personalizável e adaptável ao utilizador. Nos casos de empresas ou organizações que tenham para diferentes tarefas, diferentes sistemas de informação independentes, o problema da integração de informação surge com a necessidade de integração destes numa única interface disponibilizada aos seus utilizadores. A integração de serviços numa mesma interface pressupõe que haja comunicação entre um sistema central (que fornece a interface) e os diversos sistemas existentes (que detêm a totalidade – ou parte – da informação a apresentar). Assim, será necessário garantir a identidade do utilizador a cada um dos serviços apresentados, bem como assegurar que cada utilizador tem à sua disposição de forma centralizada, apenas e só a informação e operações a que realmente tem acesso em cada um dos sistemas. Trata-se de uma plataforma que pretende por um lado, fornecer a informação correcta e orientada ao utilizador e, por outro lado, garantir que a organização que suporta o sistema consegue informar e interagir com os seus utilizadores de forma mais eficaz. O cenário adoptado é a Universidade de Aveiro. Esta pretende disponibilizar uma plataforma electrónica, onde os diferentes interlocutores (alunos, docentes, funcionários, ex-alunos, etc.) possam ter acesso a informação dirigida e orientada aos seus interesses e funções na Universidade. De modo a que cada utilizador seja realmente visto como um utilizador único, serão estudados e comparados serviços de modelação de utilizador e perfis de utilizador. Será proposto um serviço de modelação de utilizador e uma lógica de criação de perfis de utilizador, distintos do existente no estado de arte. Esta lógica conjuga a personalização da interface por parte do utilizador, com a gestão de operações e definição de políticas de segurança por parte da organização, de forma independente relativamente ao sistema de informação subjacente.This thesis’ focus is on web systems and services. Its goal is propose a solution for the multiple information sources integration on a single web platform, customizable and adaptable by the user. In cases where companies and organizations have for different tasks, different information systems, the information integration problem comes with the need of assembly of this disperse information in a single interface for their users. Single interface service integration requires the communication between a central platform system (that supplies the interface) and the spread systems that hold the hole (or part of the) information to present to the users. Therefore, it will be necessary to guarantee the user’s identity to each of the presented services, as well as to ensure that each user will only access the information and functionalities to which he has clearance in those systems. This platform aims at providing on one hand, the proper information for the user, and on the other, guarantee that the organization that supports the system can inform and interact with its users in a more effective manner. The adopted scenario for testing is the Universidade de Aveiro. The university plans on making available an electronic platform where the different users (students, teachers, non-teaching staff, alumnae, etc.) may have access to information directly guided towards their interests and roles at the University. In order to have each user seen as a unique user, user modeling servers and user profiles will be studied and compared. It will be proposed a user modeling server and a user profile approach, both different from the state of the art approaches. This approach encompasses the interface customization by the user with operation management and security policy definition by the organization, in an independent logic from the overall information system

Actas del Taller de Trabajo Zoco’08 / JISBD Integración de Aplicaciones Web : XIII Jornadas de Ingeniería del Software y Bases de Datos Gijón, 7 al 10 de Octubre de 2008

Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2007-64119Junta de Andalucía P07-TIC-0260

Benutzerinteraktion in dienstorientierten Architekturen

Ziel der Arbeit ist es, im Rahmen bestehender Entwicklungsvorgehen zur dienstorientierten Unterstützung von Geschäftsprozessen die Anforderungen des Menschen als Benutzer der IT von der Analyse bis zur Implementierung integriert berücksichtigen zu können. Hierbei kommen die Prinzipien der modellgetriebenen Softwareentwicklung zum Einsatz, um (1) eine plattformunabhängige Spezifikation dieser Anforderungen und (2) eine automatisierte Erzeugung der entsprechenden Softwareartefakte zu ermöglichen