Harvesting Entities from the Web Using Unique Identifiers -- IBEX

In this paper we study the prevalence of unique entity identifiers on the Web. These are, e.g., ISBNs (for books), GTINs (for commercial products), DOIs (for documents), email addresses, and others. We show how these identifiers can be harvested systematically from Web pages, and how they can be associated with human-readable names for the entities at large scale. Starting with a simple extraction of identifiers and names from Web pages, we show how we can use the properties of unique identifiers to filter out noise and clean up the extraction result on the entire corpus. The end result is a database of millions of uniquely identified entities of different types, with an accuracy of 73--96% and a very high coverage compared to existing knowledge bases. We use this database to compute novel statistics on the presence of products, people, and other entities on the Web.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, 9 tables. Complete technical report for A. Talaika, J. A. Biega, A. Amarilli, and F. M. Suchanek. IBEX: Harvesting Entities from the Web Using Unique Identifiers. WebDB workshop, 201

Contextual variety, Internet-of-things and the choice of tailoring over platform : mass customisation strategy in supply chain management

This paper considers the implications for Supply Chain Management from the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet Connected Objects (ICO). We focus on the opportunities and challenges arising from consumption data as a result of ICO and how this can be translated into a provider’s strategy of offering different varieties of products. In our model, we consider two possible strategies: tailoring strategy and platform strategy. Tailoring strategy implies that a provider produces multiple varieties of a product that meet consumers’ needs. Platform strategy depicts the provider’s actions in offering a flexible and standardised platform which enables consumers’ needs to be met by incorporating personal ICO data onto various customisable applications independently produced by other providers that could be called on in context and on demand. We derive conditions under which each of the strategies may be profitable for the provider through maximising consumers’ value. We conclude by considering the implications for SCM research and practice including an extension of postponement taxonomies to include the customer as the completer of the product

Early aspects: aspect-oriented requirements engineering and architecture design

This paper reports on the third Early Aspects: Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design Workshop, which has been held in Lancaster, UK, on March 21, 2004. The workshop included a presentation session and working sessions in which the particular topics on early aspects were discussed. The primary goal of the workshop was to focus on challenges to defining methodical software development processes for aspects from early on in the software life cycle and explore the potential of proposed methods and techniques to scale up to industrial applications

Contextual variety, Internet-of-Things and the choice of tailoring over platform: Mass customisation strategy in supply chain management

AbstractThis paper considers the implications for Supply Chain Management (SCM) from the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet Connected Objects (ICO). We focus on opportunities and challenges stemming from consumption data that comes from ICO, and on how this data can be mapped onto strategic choices of product variety. We develop a simple analytical framework that illustrates the underlying mechanisms of a product supplier/producer׳s choice between (i) producing multiple product varieties as a way of meeting consumer demand (a “tailoring strategy”), and (ii) offering a flexible and standardised platform which enables consumers׳ needs to be met by incorporating personal ICO data into various customisable applications (a “platform strategy”). Under a platform strategy, the ICO data is independently produced by other providers and can be called on in both use and context of use. We derive conditions under which each of the strategies may be profitable for the provider through maximising consumers’ value. Our findings are that the higher the demand for contextual variety, the more profitable the platform strategy becomes, relative to the tailoring strategy. Our study concludes by considering the implications for SCM research and practice with an extension to postponement taxonomies, including those where the customer, and not the supplier, is the completer of the product, and we show that this yields higher profits than the tailoring strategy

Information technology for intellectual analysis of item descriptions in e-commerce

E-commerce is experiencing a robust surge, propelled by the worldwide digital transformation and the mutual advantages accrued by both consumers and merchants. The integration of information technologies has markedly augmented the efficacy of digital enterprise, ushering in novel prospects and shaping innovative business paradigms. Nonetheless, adopting information technology is concomitant with risks, notably concerning safeguarding personal data. This substantiates the significance of research within the domain of artificial intelligence for e-commerce, with particular emphasis on the realm of recommender systems. This paper is dedicated to the discourse surrounding the construction of information technology tailored for processing textual descriptions pertaining to commodities within the e-commerce landscape. Through a qualitative analysis, we elucidate factors that mitigate the risks inherent in unauthorized data access. The cardinal insight discerned is that the apt utilization of product matching technologies empowers the formulation of recommendations devoid of entailing customers' personal data or vendors' proprietary information. A meticulously devised structural model of this information technology is proffered, delineating the principal functional components essential for processing textual data found within electronic trading platforms. Central to our exposition is the exploration of the product comparison predicated on textual depictions. The resolution of this challenge stands to enhance the efficiency of product searches and facilitate product juxtaposition and categorization. The prospective implementation of the propounded information technology, either in its entirety or through its constituent elements, augurs well for sellers, enabling them to improve a pricing strategy and heightened responsiveness to market sales trends. Concurrently, it streamlines the procurement journey for buyers by expediting the identification of requisite goods within the intricate milieu of e-commerce platforms

Contextual variety, Internet-of-Things and the choice of tailoring over platform: Mass customisation strategy in supply chain management

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThis paper considers the implications for Supply Chain Management (SCM) from the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet Connected Objects (ICO). We focus on opportunities and challenges stemming from consumption data that comes from ICO, and on how this data can be mapped onto strategic choices of product variety. We develop a simple analytical framework that illustrates the underlying mechanisms of a product supplier/producer׳s choice between (i) producing multiple product varieties as a way of meeting consumer demand (a “tailoring strategy”), and (ii) offering a flexible and standardised platform which enables consumers׳ needs to be met by incorporating personal ICO data into various customisable applications (a “platform strategy”). Under a platform strategy, the ICO data is independently produced by other providers and can be called on in both use and context of use. We derive conditions under which each of the strategies may be profitable for the provider through maximising consumers’ value. Our findings are that the higher the demand for contextual variety, the more profitable the platform strategy becomes, relative to the tailoring strategy. Our study concludes by considering the implications for SCM research and practice with an extension to postponement taxonomies, including those where the customer, and not the supplier, is the completer of the product, and we show that this yields higher profits than the tailoring strategy.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Information Escrows

A variety of information escrows - including allegation escrows, suspicion escrows, and shared-interest escrows - hold the promise of reducing the first-mover disadvantage that can deter people with socially valuable private information from disclosing that information to others. Information escrows allow people to transmit sensitive information to a trusted intermediary, an escrow agent, who only forwards the information under prespecified conditions. For example, an allegation escrow for sexual harassment might allow a victim to place a private complaint into escrow with instructions that the complaint be lodged with the proper authorities only if the escrow agent receives at least one additional allegation against the same individual. We assess the benefits and costs of allegation escrows and discuss how they might be applied to a variety of claims, including sexual harassment, date rape, adultery, and corporate and public whistleblowing. We also show how analogous shared-interest escrows might be used in workplace dating and adoption contexts to facilitate the discovery of parties\u27 mutual interest when unintermediated expressions of interest might themselves be harassing