Using Named Entities as a basis to share associative trails between Semantic Desktops

In this paper we illustrate the use of Named Entities as a basis to share associative trails [1] between Semantic Desktops using a Firefox [6] extension called Trailblazer. Trailblazer can automatically detect the context of a Web page. It identifies the most relevant category for the Web page based on its context along with relevant links to additional information and notes. Named Entities belonging to that category are highlighted. Trailblazer facilitates the building and augmentation of categories with links from Named Entities to Web pages, documents, mail messages, personal notes, etc. It enables the import/export of categories and their related associative trails between users. It facilitates the distribution of discovered information through the sharing of associative trails in order to support community based knowledge. This allows faster initiation of new members to a group and information noted by one member as important can be highlighted to the rest of the group