bieber, catanio & zhang, njit ©2003 1 ubiquitous metainformation and the w y w w y w i...

1Bieber, Catanio & Zhang, NJIT ©2003

Ubiquitous Metainformation and the W Y W W Y W I Principle

Michael Bieber*, Joe Catanio*, Li Zhang***Information Systems Department

**Computer Science Department

College of Computing Sciences

New Jersey Institute of Technologyhttp://web.njit.edu/~bieber

November 2003This talk ties together much of our current research..It also gives a vision of where the WWW is heading.


Thinking Exercise

• Close your eyes. Think about your favorite Web site, or one that you rely on for information...

• Focus on an element you’re interested in – a text string, icon, element within a table or an

animation...


The W Y W W Y W I PrincipleWhat you want, when you want it

Wanting to point to something and say:– Tell me more about this!– What is this?– How can I use this? What do I need to know to use it?– Can I modify this?– How does this differ from similar ones?– What is the next step?

This is all metainformation & people should get it!


Ubiquitous Metainformation

Goal: Metainformation widespread in everyday systems

How: provide tools for developers

• Relationship Analysis– systematically determining metainformation

• Metainformation Engine– automatically generating metainformation

• WYWWYWI– widespread accepted design philosophy


Outline

• Examples• Metainformation (what to provide)

• Relationship Analysis (how to find metainformation)

• Metainformation Engine (how to automate it)

• Virtual Documents (many real world documents)

• Related Work • WYWWYWI (what it will take)


Two Examples

• Purchasing System

• Digital Library

• screen shot of our prototype later...


Shipping I nformation

http : / /www.nj i t .edu/purchasing /shipping-info rmat ion.htm

251 Requisition Header - Shipping and Text STRATEGIC SUPPLIES INTERN'L 71 UNION AVE Screen: Vend: V0000304390 PR: R010294 Inv: Line:

Deliver-to Address FOB: Name: MICHAEL BIEBER Rte: Org: NJIT, CIS DEPARTMENT Delivery Service: UPS Addr: 323 ML KING BLVD Delivery Date: 03-12-2000

City: NEWARK St: NJ Zip: 07102 Country: USA Phone: 973 596 2681 Ext: Requisition Codes: 58 128 PUX ZY2 Requisition Text:

Document Notes: NSample Screen from Purchasing System:All text with no links...







Document Notes: NBut we could want metainformationabout almost any element...







Document Notes: N

V0000304390 {vendor}Vendor Details{Vendor IS}Vendor Reliability{Vendor IS}Vendor Agreements{Vendor IS}Other Possible Vendors{Purchasing Data Warehouse}Your Purchasing History{Purchasing IS}All Screens with this Vendor{CASE Workbench}


Here are some examples. The agricultural system is verycomplex. It consists of farmers in interaction with the envi-ronment (weather, soil, pests), the economy and society.One problem currently receiving a lot of attention isIntegrated Pest Management.

The problem unfortunately is being addressed separatelyby experts in Plant Pathology, Entomology, Agronomy, Bot-any, and Soil Science, with no real common ground (and lit-tle common understanding) to base our decisions on.Meetings and workshops tasked with integration have takenplace, but these various subdisciplines could not seem toform an integrated viewpoint. No real methodology existsto discuss and analyze the systems, which eachsubdiscipline has developed. In the end, all IPM decisionsend up unintegrated and therefore only partially effective. Asystematic approach that would enable the different partici-pants to discuss, and determine all the interrelationships,which would help researchers link their practices and derivetheir effects on each others area and the environment,would greatly help the IPM research and lead to better deci-sion for the environment and society as a whole.

Thus, developing a systems methodology for understandingthe relationships, cause and effects, and repercussions inthe agricultural field would be very helpful. The research inthis incubation proposal would make an important contribu-tion towards this goal.

i

Deeply Understanding Complexity{document}

View Peer Review Comments{JESSE Peer Review service}

Enter your own Peer Review Comment{JESSE Peer Review service}

Search for similar/related documents{Core Search service}

Other collections with this document{DLSI Collection Registry}

Create a new comment on document{Core Annotation service}

Add document to current Guided Tour{DLSI Guided Tour service}

Start your own link from this document{DLSI Link service}

Plant Pathology {concept}

Ask an expert about this concept{in the Virtual Reference Desk}

Relevant NASA Experiments in Space{ National Space Science Data Center}

Search for this concept{Core Search service}

View Comments on this concept{Core Annotation service}

Create a new comment on this concept{Core Annotation service}

Guided Tours concerning this concept{DLSI Guided Tour service}

Start your own link from this concept{DLSI Link service}

Start a discussion on this concept{DLSI discussion environment}

Related journal articles{in JESSE}

Author and Document Owner{Metadata Repository}

Define this concept{Agricultural Thesaurus}


Metainformation

• The full context about and around an element

• Provides a fuller understanding

metadata

element

relationships


Metainformation

• metadata (about selected element)

• content relationships (based on display content)

• structural relationships (based on element type or “class”)

• annotation relationships (user-declared, knowledge-sharing)

• metainformation-based navigation (user-directed)

Roberto Galnares’dissertation





i




















Define this concept{Agricultural Thesaurus}





i




















metadata

content relationship

annotation

structural relationships

Define this concept{Agricultural Thesaurus} content relationship







Document Notes: N


all are structural relationships


Outline







Relationship Analysis (RA)

• What metainformation could we provide?• RA: a systematic methodology to determine

relationships (& metadata and new destination elements)

– New systems analysis technique– Fills a major hole in software engineering– Analysts gain deeper understanding of a system– Yields richer analyses and designs– Relationships become links

Joe Catanio’sdissertation


Relationship Analysis (RA), cont.

• approach: brainstorming with domain experts

• for existing systems:– pick elements from screen shots

• for new systems:– pick entities from use cases

• Ask questions from RA taxonomy


RA Taxonomy

• based on Guilford’s Structure of Intellect theory [1950] – describing intellect and creativity

• refined by Rao & Turoff’s Hypertext Morphology [1991]– for systems analysis


RA Taxonomy

Item of Interest

Definition

Collection

Proposition

Generalization

Issue

Observation

SpecificationElaboration

MembershipAggregation

AssociationCharacteristic

PathBranch

AlternativeDeviation

InferenceExtrapolation


RA: Brainstorming QuestionsItem of Interest Description

Node Type Definition Convergent Relationship Type

Specification

Generic Question(s) (Optional)

Does the item of interest have a description? Does the item of interest have a definition? Does the item of interest have an explanation? Does the item of interest have a set of instructions? Does the item of interest have an illustration?

Specific Question(s) Results Divergent Relationship Type

Elaboration

Generic Question(s) (Optional)

Does the description fully describe the item of interest? Does the definition fully encompass the item of interest? Does the explanation make assumptions? Are the set of instructions complete?

Specific Question(s) Results

RA Template


Outline







Metainformation Engine

• “Just in time” metainformation– required for virtual documents (e.g., query results)

• Automatically:– generates link anchors– generates links to services providing

metainformation:• metadata, content, structural, annotation relationships

– incorporates metainformation-based navigation

• Provides lightweight systems integration through linking to everyday systems

Roberto Galnares’dissertation







Document Notes: N



To Integrate:(1) wrapper: parses screens to identify elements(2) provide metadata/structural rel’ship rules (3) identify glossaries for content relationships

User’s Web Browser

Vendor IS Wrapper

Purchasing D.W.

Wrapper

Purchasing IS Wrapper

CASE Workbench

Wrapper

Service Wrapper (i)

Vendor Information

System

Purchasing Data

Warehouse

Purchasing Information

System

CASE Workbench

Service (i)

ME Relationship Engine

ME Broker

ME DesktopMetainformation Engine

ME Lexical Analysis

existing system or Web service

usesJava,XML,Xpath,etc.


User’s Web Browser

Vendor IS Wrapper

Purchasing D.W.

Wrapper

Purchasing IS Wrapper

CASE Workbench

Wrapper

Service Wrapper (i)

Vendor Information

System

Purchasing Data

Warehouse

Purchasing Information

System

CASE Workbench

Service (i)

ME Relationship Engine

ME Broker

ME DesktopMetainformation Engine

ME Lexical Analysis

To Integrate:(1) wrapper: parses screens to identify elements(2) provide metadata/structural rel’ship rules (3) identify glossaries for content relationships

existing system or Web service

usesJava,XML,Xpath,etc.



Relationship Rules

• element type (“vendor”)

• link display label (“Vendor Details”)

• relationship metadata for filtering links– semantic relationship type (“elaboration”)

– relationship keywords

• destination system (“Vendor Info System”)

• exact command(s) for destination system(“retrieve_full(ID, details)”)

• conditions– user types and tasks, expertise required, access restrictions


Relationship Rules

• Mechanism for implementing access to:– Metadata– Structural relationships– Content relationships– Annotation relationships– Metainformation navigation


Metadatum Rule

• element type ( “vendor”)

• metadatum link display label (“Vendor Name”)

• metadatum’s metadata for filtering links– semantic relationship type (“name”)– metadatum keywords

• destination system (“Vendor Info System”)

• exact command(s) for destination system(“select(vendor_table, vendor_ID, vendor_name)”)

• conditions– user types and tasks, expertise required, access restrictions


Annotation Rule(display comments)

• element type ( “generic_element”)

• link display label (“view comments on this”, element_type)”)

• relationship metadata for filtering links– semantic relationship type (“annotation”)

• destination system (“Annotation System”)

• exact command(s) for destination system(“display_annotations(element_ID)”)

• conditionscheck_condition(“Core Annotation Service”, existence_check(“annotations”, element_ID)) = true)


Prototype:Digital Library Integration


Interesting Issues

• Information overload!– Must filter and rank order list of links– Too many anchors– Requires good user interface design

• Semantics– Systems/services should use same element types

• Unique persistent identifiers– For every screen, document, element of interest


Outline







Virtual Documents

• from user interaction, queries, customizations

• Metainformation must be added “just in time”

• Example– do a decision support analysis (“# vehicles needed”)

– add comments to calculation results– bookmark screen (“make it a favorite”)

– close screen– follow bookmark later (“system regenerates screen”)

– system must re-locate comment anchors “just in time”


Virtual Documents

• Re-generate virtual documents– without re-entering parameters– then wrapper parses to add metainfo anchors

• Re-identify elements

– Location can shift

– content can change (e.g., stock price)

• Re-locate anchors Li Zhang’sdissertation


Outline







Related Work

• Web Services

• Semantic Web

• Microsoft SmartTags/NBC-Interactive’s QuickClick, etc.

• Link Services and Hypermedia Engines


Web Services

• The Metainformation Engine (ME) is a kind of Web service– a metainformation/linking service

• ME can integrate with existing Web services– include Web services in set of links– supplement Web services with links


Semantic Web

• Advocates the use of ontologies (groups of related terms) to define concepts and their relationships

• Goal: machine-readable semantic description / processing• Recognizes the need to accommodate diverse knowledge

representations and conflicting definitions.

• The ME could use ontologies to:– standardize element types– Find related elements and provide links to their metainformation


Microsoft SmartTags / NBC-Interactive’s QuickClick, etc.

• Set of links generated automatically– Based on known keywords– Can add additional links manually

• No structural linking


Microsoft Smart Tag critiques

• Users find too many links annoying• Content providers do not want their

documents altered• Manipulation: Companies can pay to have

competitors name recognized and linked to their sites

• Provides content based links (word recognition) not structural linkages (element recognition)


Link Servicesand Hypermedia Engines

• SFX (links to referenced articles)• Link Services

– Chimera, Microcosm Distributed Link Service, DHM: manual linking or automated through keyword search requiring modifications for integration

• Hypermedia Engines with minimal modifications– Microcosm Universal Viewer, Freckles: manual linking

– OO-Navigator: SmallTalk only

• Web Database Applications, e.g., e-shopping– database queries only, normally single links


Outline







What you want, when you want itWhat will it take?

• WYWWYWI mindset for developers & public– Allow metainformation (user-directed) navigation– a design philosophy for developers– demanded by the general public– this requires exposure!

• Developer Tools

• Ubiquitous Access


What you want, when you want itWhat will it take?

• WYWWYWI mindset for developers & public• Developer Tools

– Relationship Analysis – Metainformation Engine– Wrappers for everyday systems– Annotation/knowledge-sharing services (linking,

comments, guided tours, etc.)

• Ubiquitous Access


What you want, when you want it:

What will it take?

• WYWWYWI mindset for developers & public

• Developer Tools

• Ubiquitous Access– Repositories of relationship rules– Thesauri and glossaries


Interesting Issues

• Access privileges to others’ metainformation

• Right to third party authoring/linking

• Quality of metainformation– Rating metainformation– Bogus metainformation (such as advertisements)


• Metainformation – broader conceptualization



– Lightweight systems integration through linking

• Virtual Documents– Re-generation, re-identification, re-location

• WYWWYWI: a design philosophy – What you want, when you want it

Research Contributions

Thank you! Questions, please?

bieber, catanio & zhang, njit ©2003 1 ubiquitous metainformation and the w y w w y w i...

Documents

catanio zhang

metainformation metadata

metainformation widespread

joe catanio

li zhang

metainformation people

w y w w y w

principle michael bieber