Research on collaborative information sharing systems Davide Eynard [email_address] Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione Politecnico di Milano

Davide Eynard

[email_address]

Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione

Politecnico di Milano

Intro What I'm doing Collaborative systems Semantic Web Semantic Wikis Folksonomies

What I'm doing

Collaborative systems

Semantic Web

Semantic Wikis

Folksonomies

What I'm doing “Research on collaborative information sharing systems” They are designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals Actually, they do not only allow for information sharing, but also for collaborative work There are plenty of them: we are focusing on some we call participative

“Research on collaborative information sharing systems”

They are designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals

Actually, they do not only allow for information sharing, but also for collaborative work

There are plenty of them: we are focusing on some we call participative

Collaborative encyclopedias

Collaborative playlists

Collaborative music

Collaborative docs

Collaborative maps

Collaborative slide collections

Collaborative word processing

Collaborative bookmarking

Collaborative news

Why? Why are collaborative systems having so much success lately? Give a look at “ What is Web2.0 ” design patterns: The long tail Data is the next Intel Inside Users add value Network effects by default Some rights reserved The perpetual beta Cooperate, don't control Software above the level of the single device

Why are collaborative systems having so much success lately?

Give a look at “ What is Web2.0 ” design patterns:

The long tail

Data is the next Intel Inside

Users add value

Network effects by default

Some rights reserved

The perpetual beta

Cooperate, don't control

Software above the level of the single device

How? How can you make your users actively contribute to a project? Instant gratification i.e. Napster, CDDB (now FreeDB, MusicBrainz) Communities of practice ( Etienne Wenger ) User interface So, systems should be very easy to use provide an immediate reward do most of the hard work automatically

How can you make your users actively contribute to a project?

Instant gratification

i.e. Napster, CDDB (now FreeDB, MusicBrainz)

Communities of practice ( Etienne Wenger )

User interface

So, systems should

be very easy to use

provide an immediate reward

do most of the hard work automatically

What? What do participative systems and Semantic Web have in common?

What do participative systems and Semantic Web have in common?

What? What do participative systems and Semantic Web have in common? “ The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation” Tim Berners-Lee, 2001

What do participative systems and Semantic Web have in common?

What is Semantic Web? HAH! 10^9$ Question! Semantic Web is not “making machines understand stuff” Semantic Web is about standards reasoning interoperability metadata (client-server-server model) ie. annotations, classifications, ratings, etc.

HAH! 10^9$ Question!

Semantic Web is not “making machines understand stuff”

Semantic Web is about

standards

reasoning

interoperability

metadata (client-server-server model)

ie. annotations, classifications, ratings, etc.

Glasses

PowerGlasses

And now... A little presentation by this (great) man: Michael Wesch Assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology Kansas State University

A little presentation by this (great) man:

Michael Wesch

Assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology

Kansas State University

So again... what? What do participative systems and Semantic Web have in common? Participative systems work thanks to contributions by people unstructured information, by humans for humans hard to find and organize Semantic Web works thanks to structured information not easy to publish, need more participation So, why don't we use semantics to help people organize and find stuff people to help Semantic Web bootstrap

What do participative systems and Semantic Web have in common?

Participative systems work thanks to contributions by people

unstructured information, by humans for humans

hard to find and organize

Semantic Web works thanks to structured information

not easy to publish, need more participation

So, why don't we use

semantics to help people organize and find stuff

people to help Semantic Web bootstrap

Our work Our work is focused on two main fields: Semantic Wikis Wiki as in “Wikipedia”... ... but also (well, mostly) in enterprises Folksonomies expanding them with ontologies relations between users, resources, tags description of different families of tags applications

Our work is focused on two main fields:

Semantic Wikis

Wiki as in “Wikipedia”...

... but also (well, mostly) in enterprises

Folksonomies

expanding them with ontologies

relations between users, resources, tags

description of different families of tags

applications

Semantic Wikis Wikis are one of the best examples of “read/write” Web they allow any user to easily create, modify, delete any page but the information is just plain, unstructured text: no interoperability, no way to organize them

Wikis are one of the best examples of “read/write” Web

they allow any user to easily create, modify, delete any page

but the information is just plain, unstructured text: no interoperability, no way to organize them

Current approaches on SWikis semantics added inside pages pages as concepts and relations within them semantics added as metadata tags which describe the pages our approach: semantics on different levels wiki system context contents upper ontology

semantics added inside pages

pages as concepts and relations within them

semantics added as metadata

tags which describe the pages

our approach: semantics on different levels

wiki system

context

contents

upper ontology

Folksonomies Term by Thomas Vander Wal (2004) “folks” + “taxonomy” First (and most cited) websites: flickr del.icio.us Growing interest users increase exponentially (1.5M in deli)

Term by Thomas Vander Wal (2004)

“folks” + “taxonomy”

First (and most cited) websites:

flickr

del.icio.us

Growing interest

users increase exponentially (1.5M in deli)

Advantages of folksonomies Folksonomies: are inclusive are current offer discovery are non-binary are democratic and self-moderating follow “desire lines” offer insight into user behavior are usable with a low cost

Folksonomies:

are inclusive

are current

offer discovery

are non-binary

are democratic and self-moderating

follow “desire lines”

offer insight into user behavior

are usable with a low cost

Limits of folksonomies Limits of folksonomies: no synonym control “basic level” variations lack of precision lack of recall (!) lack of hierarchy gaming no real standard

Limits of folksonomies:

no synonym control

“basic level” variations

lack of precision

lack of recall (!)

lack of hierarchy

gaming

no real standard

Limits of folksonomies

Limits of folksonomies

Limits of folksonomies

Studying folksonomies Tag usage and tag families Expanding folksonomies with ontologies Fuzzy queries inside folksonomies

Tag usage and tag families

Expanding folksonomies with ontologies

Fuzzy queries inside folksonomies

Tag usage Power law distribution

Power law distribution

Tag usage “Words with meaning” - 114 recognized words out of the 140 most used tags (81.43%) - follow power law distribution

“Words with meaning”

Tag families Identifying what (or who) it is about Identifying what it is Identifying who owns it Refining categories Identifying qualities or characteristics Self reference Task organizing

Identifying what (or who) it is about

Identifying what it is

Identifying who owns it

Refining categories

Identifying qualities or characteristics

Self reference

Task organizing

Fuzzy queries

Fuzzy queries

Fuzzy queries The basic idea is that we could model resources belonging to one or more categories through fuzzy sets instead of crisp ones To assign the membership value of a particular resource r with respect to a particular tag t , we calculate the ratio #users who tagged r as “ t” #users who saved r using any tag

The basic idea is that we could model resources belonging to one or more categories through fuzzy sets instead of crisp ones

To assign the membership value of a particular resource r with respect to a particular tag t , we calculate the ratio

Fuzzy queries Then we describe our fuzzy set with five fuzzy labels

Then we describe our fuzzy set with five fuzzy labels

Fuzzy queries: results A way to describe resources through tags

A way to describe resources through tags

Fuzzy queries: results A way to describe resources through tags A way to query folksonomies with a more intuitive interface to filter information ie. search for “very programming and not much java”

A way to describe resources through tags

A way to query folksonomies with a more intuitive interface to filter information

ie. search for “very programming and not much java”

Fuzzy queries: results A way to describe resources through tags A way to query folksonomies with a more intuitive interface to filter information ie. search for “very programming and not much java” A way to learn something more about tag families ie. tag “toread”

A way to describe resources through tags

A way to query folksonomies with a more intuitive interface to filter information

ie. search for “very programming and not much java”

A way to learn something more about tag families

ie. tag “toread”

Fuzzy queries: results A way to describe resources through tags A way to query folksonomies with a more intuitive interface to filter information ie. search for “very programming and not much java” A way to learn something more about tag families ie. tag “toread” A major drawback: the system is quite slow

A way to describe resources through tags

A way to query folksonomies with a more intuitive interface to filter information

ie. search for “very programming and not much java”

A way to learn something more about tag families

ie. tag “toread”

A major drawback:

the system is quite slow

That's All, Folks Thank you! Questions are welcome