Addressing the tacit knowledge of a digital library system

Recent surveys, about the Linked Data initiatives in library organizations, report the experimental nature of related projects and the difficulty in re-using data to provide improvements of library services. This paper presents an approach for managing data and its "tacit" organizational knowledge, as the originating data context, improving the interpretation of data meaning. By analyzing a Digital Libray system, we prototyped a method for turning data management into a "semantic data management", where local system knowledge is managed as a data, and natively foreseen as a Linked Data. Semantic data management aims to curates the correct consumers' understanding of Linked Datasets, driving to a proper re-use

Z39.50 broadcast searching and Z-server response times: perspectives from CC-interop

This paper begins by briefly outlining the evolution of Z39.50 and the current trends, including the work of the JISC CC-interop project. The research crux of the paper focuses on an investigation conducted with respect to testing Z39.50 server (Z-server) response times in a broadcast (parallel) searching environment. Customised software was configured to broadcast a search to all test Z-servers once an hour, for eleven weeks. The results were logged for analysis. Most Z-servers responded rapidly. 'Network congestion' and local OPAC usage were not found to significantly influence Z-server performance. Response time issues encountered by implementers may be the result of non-response by the Z-server and how Z-client software deals with this. The influence of 'quick and dirty' Z39.50 implementations is also identified as a potential cause of slow broadcast searching. The paper indicates various areas for further research, including setting shorter time-outs and greater end-user behavioural research to ascertain user requirements in this area. The influence more complex searches, such as Boolean, have on response times and suboptimal Z39.50 implementations are also emphasised for further study. This paper informs the LIS research community and has practical implications for those establishing Z39.50 based distributed systems, as well as those in the Web Services community. The paper challenges popular LIS opinion that Z39.50 is inherently sluggish and thus unsuitable for the demands of the modern user

Proposal for an IMLS Collection Registry and Metadata Repository

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposes to design, implement, and research a collection-level registry and item-level metadata repository service that will aggregate information about digital collections and items of digital content created using funds from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants. This work will be a collaboration by the University Library and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. All extant digital collections initiated or augmented under IMLS aegis from 1998 through September 30, 2005 will be included in the proposed collection registry. Item-level metadata will be harvested from collections making such content available using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI PMH). As part of this work, project personnel, in cooperation with IMLS staff and grantees, will define and document appropriate metadata schemas, help create and maintain collection-level metadata records, assist in implementing OAI compliant metadata provider services for dissemination of item-level metadata records, and research potential benefits and issues associated with these activities. The immediate outcomes of this work will be the practical demonstration of technologies that have the potential to enhance the visibility of IMLS funded online exhibits and digital library collections and improve discoverability of items contained in these resources. Experience gained and research conducted during this project will make clearer both the costs and the potential benefits associated with such services. Metadata provider and harvesting service implementations will be appropriately instrumented (e.g., customized anonymous transaction logs, online questionnaires for targeted user groups, performance monitors). At the conclusion of this project we will submit a final report that discusses tasks performed and lessons learned, presents business plans for sustaining registry and repository services, enumerates and summarizes potential benefits of these services, and makes recommendations regarding future implementations of these and related intermediary and end user interoperability services by IMLS projects.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Thick 2D Relations for Document Understanding

We use a propositional language of qualitative rectangle relations to detect the reading order from document images. To this end, we define the notion of a document encoding rule and we analyze possible formalisms to express document encoding rules such as LATEX and SGML. Document encoding rules expressed in the propositional language of rectangles are used to build a reading order detector for document images. In order to achieve robustness and avoid brittleness when applying the system to real life document images, the notion of a thick boundary interpretation for a qualitative relation is introduced. The framework is tested on a collection of heterogeneous document images showing recall rates up to 89%

Metadata enrichment for digital heritage: users as co-creators

This paper espouses the concept of metadata enrichment through an expert and user-focused approach to metadata creation and management. To this end, it is argued the Web 2.0 paradigm enables users to be proactive metadata creators. As Shirky (2008, p.47) argues Web 2.0’s social tools enable “action by loosely structured groups, operating without managerial direction and outside the profit motive”. Lagoze (2010, p. 37) advises, “the participatory nature of Web 2.0 should not be dismissed as just a popular phenomenon [or fad]”. Carletti (2016) proposes a participatory digital cultural heritage approach where Web 2.0 approaches such as crowdsourcing can be sued to enrich digital cultural objects. It is argued that “heritage crowdsourcing, community-centred projects or other forms of public participation”. On the other hand, the new collaborative approaches of Web 2.0 neither negate nor replace contemporary standards-based metadata approaches. Hence, this paper proposes a mixed metadata approach where user created metadata augments expert-created metadata and vice versa. The metadata creation process no longer remains to be the sole prerogative of the metadata expert. The Web 2.0 collaborative environment would now allow users to participate in both adding and re-using metadata. The case of expert-created (standards-based, top-down) and user-generated metadata (socially-constructed, bottom-up) approach to metadata are complementary rather than mutually-exclusive. The two approaches are often mistakenly considered as dichotomies, albeit incorrectly (Gruber, 2007; Wright, 2007) . This paper espouses the importance of enriching digital information objects with descriptions pertaining the about-ness of information objects. Such richness and diversity of description, it is argued, could chiefly be achieved by involving users in the metadata creation process. This paper presents the importance of the paradigm of metadata enriching and metadata filtering for the cultural heritage domain. Metadata enriching states that a priori metadata that is instantiated and granularly structured by metadata experts is continually enriched through socially-constructed (post-hoc) metadata, whereby users are pro-actively engaged in co-creating metadata. The principle also states that metadata that is enriched is also contextually and semantically linked and openly accessible. In addition, metadata filtering states that metadata resulting from implementing the principle of enriching should be displayed for users in line with their needs and convenience. In both enriching and filtering, users should be considered as prosumers, resulting in what is called collective metadata intelligence

Automated OpenAjax Hub Widget Generation for Deep Web Surfacing

Antud magistritöö uurib, kuidas lihtsustada esitluskihil SOAP protokolli kasutavate veebiteenuste, mis on osa süvaveebist, kasutamist. Sellise teema valimist motiveerib asjaolu, et rakenduste kompositsiooniline raskuskese liigub üha enam esitluskihi suunas, kuid hetkel ei ole veebilehitsejale omaste tehnoloogiatega võimalik väliste domeenide teenuseid kasutada, nende väljundit kuvada ja teenuseid omavahel siduda. Et välja selgitada, kuidas antud probleemi lahendada, uuriti, mis on hetkel sellise lähenemise kasutusse võtmisel peamised pidurdavad tegurid. Selgus, et põhilisi raskusi tekitavad asjaolud, et veebilehitsejad ei võimalda teha päringuid rakenduse suhtes välistesse domeenidesse ja et JavaScriptis on SOAP päringute koostamise tugi võrdlemisi limiteeritud. Lisaks tõdeti, et teenustest saadava info visualiseerimine nõuab teenuse väljundi ja kuvamisloogika manuaalset kokku-traageldamist (hard-wiring ing k). Probleemi lahendamiseks otsustati kasutada nö veebividinapõhist lähenemist, kus iga teenuse operatsiooni jaoks genereeritakse nähtamatu JavaScripti vidin, millelt saadav info muudetakse nähtavaks mõne teise vidina poolt. Sellise lähenemise rakendamiseks loodi kaheosaline raamistik, mis koosneb kliendikihist ja serverikihist. Vidinate suhtlemise võimaldamiseks võeti kasutusele OpenAjax Hub raamistik, mis toimib vidinatevaheliste sõnumite vahendajana. Selleks, et vidinad ei oleks tihedalt kokku traageldatud, võeti appi Transformer Widget. Transformer Widget lisab OpenAjax Hub vidinatele võimaluse omavahel suhelda, kasutades semantilist integreerimist. Nähtamatute vidinate genereerimiseks loodi eraldi OpenAjax Hub vidin - Proxy Widget. See toimib teenuseid tarbivate vidinate ja tegeliku teenuse vahelise puhvrina ning lisaks hoolitseb selle eest, et vidin oleks korrektselt Transformer Widgetis registreeritud. Transformer Widgetis registreerimiseks pakub tuge ka serveripool. Serveris genereeritakse selle jaoks dokument, mis kirjeldab vidinate struktuuri ja semantikat ning lisaks ka skeem JSON vormingus andmete kirjeldamiseks. Serveripool kasutab selle jaoks teenuse semantiliselt annoteeritud WSDL keeles kirjeldust, kust saadakse kõik vajalik informatsioon. Proxy Widgeti puhverdamisloogika toimib nii, et esitluskihis võetakse sisendisse JSON vormingus andmed, mille abil luuakse JSON-RPC päring. See saadetakse edasi serveripoolele, mis omakorda transformeerib päringu SOAP päringuks ning saadab lõppteenusele. Lõppteenuselt saadud vastus teisendatakse tagasi JSON-RPC päringuks ning edastatakse Proxy Widgetile. Välja pakutud lahenduse toimimist testiti näidisrakendusega, kus esitluskihi tasemel võimaldati tarbida kolme Äriregistri teenust - firmade leidmine nime järgi, firma aastaaruannete leidmine ning aastaaruannete andmete leidmine. Näidisrakendus tõestas, et teenuste tarbimine ning andmete kuvamine osutus antud lahendusega oluliselt lihtsamaks. Lisaks oli see tõestuseks, et teenuste tarbimine oli võimalik vaid veebilehitsejale omaste tehnoloogiate kasutamisega.The Deep Web, as the name implies, is typically hidden from a common web user, because the information it contains, is not findable through standard search engines. However, this hidden information is often useful to the web user. The question is, what are the possibilities to surface those resources? An example of Deep Web resource would be a SOAP web service of Estonian Business Registry. If a developer wants to use this service in a web application, to query data about annual reports, he should create a service client on the server-side and then manually wire together the user interface and the web service. This requires quite a lot of work and knowledge of server-side programming. Following a current trend where Web application development is geared towards the browser-side implementations, what should a developer do in order to create a client-side mashup using Deep Web resources and web widgets to visualize the annual report data? Unfortunately, his possibilities narrow down quite heavily. The creation of SOAP requests on the client-side is not well supported and he should still put up a server-side proxy to request data outside his own domain. And of course, the wiring with visual widgets still requires much work. This thesis aims to provide a solution that helps a developer to create such client-side mashups. It will provide an infrastructure, that takes care of the cross-domain request problems by creating a common server-side proxy, that anyone could use. It will allow a developer to initiate SOAP requests from within a web browser, by using just JSON request data. Additionally, the solution allows a developer to integrate SOAP web services with visual widgets, by using semantic integration instead of hard-wiring

Between Two Worlds:Virtuality in Arts and Teaching

Virtual worlds provide a platform in which to construct compelling experiences not possible within the material and temporal constraints of the physical world. The virtual realm has the potential to be united and engaged by physicality--informing and transforming the audience\u27s experience of exhibition in a profoundly transformative nature. The Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State University has been incorporating mixed-reality approaches into museum exhibitions, musical performances, installation art, and interface over the last several years. This paper documents specific explorations of the opportunities of the Second Life environment for mixed-reality experiences--analyzing approaches to bridging the worlds such as media streaming, client-side interaction, an external web server communication hub, as well as opportunities for human/computer interaction