Research interests: their dynamics, structures and applications in unifying search and reasoning

Most scientific publication information, which may reflects scientists' research interests, is publicly available on the Web. Understanding the characteristics of research interests from previous publications may help to provide better services for scientists in the Web age. In this paper, we introduce some parameters to track the evolution process of research interests, we analyze their structural and dynamic characteristics. According to the observed characteristics of research interests, under the framework of unifying search and reasoning (ReaSearch), we propose interests-based unification of search and reasoning (I-ReaSearch). Under the proposed I-ReaSearch method, we illustrate how research interests can be used to improve literature search on the Web. According to the relationship between an author's own interests and his/her co-authors interests, social group interests are also used to refine the literature search process. Evaluation from both the user satisfaction and the scalability point of view show that the proposed I-ReaSearch method provides a user centered and practical way to problem solving on the Web. The efforts provide some hints and various methods to support personalized search, and can be considered as a step forward user centric knowledge retrieval on the Web. From the standpoint of the Active Media Technology (AMT) on the Wisdom Web, in this paper, the study on the characteristics of research interests is based on complex networks and human dynamics, which can be considered as an effort towards utilizing information physics to discover and explain the phenomena related to research interests of scientists. The application of research interests aims at providing scientific researchers best means and best ends in an active way for literature search on the Web. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Games and Rules

Why do we play games and why do we play them on computers? The contributors of »Games and Rules« take a closer look at the core of each game and the motivational system that is the game mechanics. Games are control circuits that organize the game world with their (joint) players and establish motivations in a dedicated space, a »Magic Circle«, whereas game mechanics are constructs of rules designed for interactions that provide gameplay. Those rules form the base for all the excitement and frustration we experience in games. This anthology contains individual essays by authors with backgrounds in Game Design and Game Studies, who lead the discourse to get to the bottom of game mechanics in video games and the real world

Games and rules: game mechanics for the "Magic Circle"

Why do we play games and why do we play them on computers? The contributors of "Games and Rules" take a closer look at the core of each game and the motivational system that is the game mechanics. Games are control circuits that organize the game world with their (joint) players and establish motivations in a dedicated space, a "Magic Circle", whereas game mechanics are constructs of rules designed for interactions that provide gameplay. Those rules form the base for all the excitement and frustration we experience in games. This anthology contains individual essays by experts and authors with backgrounds in Game Design and Game Studies, who lead the discourse to get to the bottom of game mechanics in video games and the real world - among them Miguel Sicart and Carlo Fabricatore

Games and Rules

Why do we play games and why do we play them on computers? The contributors of »Games and Rules« take a closer look at the core of each game and the motivational system that is the game mechanics. Games are control circuits that organize the game world with their (joint) players and establish motivations in a dedicated space, a »Magic Circle«, whereas game mechanics are constructs of rules designed for interactions that provide gameplay. Those rules form the base for all the excitement and frustration we experience in games. This anthology contains individual essays by authors with backgrounds in Game Design and Game Studies, who lead the discourse to get to the bottom of game mechanics in video games and the real world