Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg1 Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative – Computer Applications in Archaeology Joint Conference, Williamsburg, “Making History Interactive,” March 22-27, ECAI Session: Inventing Paths in Digital Data. Empowering Readers to Find Explanations: A What – Where – When – Who Approach Michael Buckland ECAI & School of Information, University of California, Berkeley

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg2 Text with a interesting details. Who was she? Where is that? What is this? What else was happening? Reader (or Writer) Resources Encyclopedias Atlases, place name Biographical dictionaries Dictionaries Library catalog Statistical series etc., etc..... In a paper environment, a library is a good place to read and to write because explanations are available. How do we move this situation into an internet environment?

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg3 Emanuel Goldberg, b. Moscow, 1881; son of Grigorii Goldberg; Univ. of Moscow, ; Ph.D w. Robert Luther, Leipzig Univ., 1906; Assistant, Adolf Miethe, TU Charlottenburg, ; Prof, Akad. f. graphische Künste, Leipzig, ; ICA, Zeiss Ikon, Dresden, ; Kinamo cine camera, 1921; microdots, 1925; search engine, 1927; Contax 35 mm camera 1932; kidnapped by Nazi SA; refugee in Paris, ; Laboratory, Palestine, Israel, 1937; d WHO? Click a name to search for an internet resource.

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg4 Emanuel Goldberg, b. Moscow, 1881; son of Grigorii Goldberg; Univ. of Moscow, ; Ph.D w. Robert Luther, Leipzig Univ., 1906; Assistant, Adolf Miethe, TU Charlottenburg, ; Prof, Akad. f. graphische Künste, Leipzig, ; ICA, Zeiss Ikon, Dresden, ; Kinamo cine camera, 1921; microdots, 1925; search engine, 1927; Contax 35 mm camera 1932; kidnapped by Nazi SA; refugee in Paris, ; Laboratory, Palestine, Israel, 1937; d WHERE?

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg5 Emanuel Goldberg, b. Moscow, 1881; son of Grigorii Goldberg; Univ. of Moscow, ; Ph.D w. Robert Luther, Leipzig Univ., 1906; Assistant, Adolf Miethe, TU Charlottenburg, ; Prof, Akad. f. graphische Künste, Leipzig, ; ICA, Zeiss Ikon, Dresden, ; Kinamo cine camera, 1921; microdots, 1925; search engine, 1927; Contax 35 mm camera 1932; kidnapped by Nazi SA; refugee in Paris, ; Laboratory, Palestine, Israel, 1937; d WHAT?

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg6 Building the functionality of a reference collection. 1. Context finder: Search support from text to reference works. 2. Context builder: Make, retain notes and links to reference works. 3. Context provider: Make reference works better by adding two-way links, e.g. text has links to place name list AND place name list has links to texts. Demos at

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg7 Initial sketch for “Context Finding / Building” interface. Save search path Save link & notes as “stand-off” markup. Save link & notes as embedded mark-up. Insert / block text Define facet Ranked lists of suggested resources for each facet chosen Display of search result

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg8 Reference Genre VocabularyDisplays Facet Encyclopedia TopicsCross-references WHAT Atlas, place list PlacesMaps WHERE Chronology Time Timelines WHEN Biogr. Dictionary Persons Relationships WHO Different genres for different facets require different vocabularies, different display requirements Differentiation by What, Where, When and Who aids disambiguation. Work in progress of feasibility and desirability of decomposing “Who’s Who” style biographical texts into life events encoded as 4W-tuple: Actions and activities encoded by What kind of action/activity; Where; When; and involving Who [else] Search interest Reasons for using WHERE, WHEN, WHO, and WHAT

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg9 Comment: Facet genres include other facets Encyclopedia or library catalog Topic – Geographic aspects – Chronological aspects Place name gazetteer Place name – Type – Spatial markers (Lat & long) – When Time Period Directory Period name – Type – Time markers (Calendar) – Where Biographical Dictionary Person – Activity type – Time – Where – Who else

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg10 Facet genres with facets realigned: Associations. What Where When Who WHAT (Library catalog) X XXX WHERE (Place name list)XXXX WHEN (Time period dir.)XXX X WHO (Biographical dict.) XXXX From LCSH “Lighthouses” to NGA Place name list Geographic Description Code “Lthse” (Lighthouse). Place name list give locations of examples. Catalog gives literature about light houses. Vertical: Semantic mappings to same facet resources. Horizontal: Association with other facets provides context.

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg11 CORPUS FRAGMENT CONTEXT Context Finder: Ad hoc searches. Looking outwards, not inwards! Reference works

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg12 Reading online, The Irish Review, 1911, with place names already identified. Click on Westport, then on links to more info.

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg13 Building the functionality of a reference collection. 1. Context finder: Search support from text to reference works. 2. Context builder: Make, retain notes and links to reference works. 3. Context provider: Make reference works better by adding two-way links, e.g. text has links to place name list AND place name list has links to texts.

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg14 CORPUS FRAGMENT CONTEXT Context Builder: Query, source, result saved as markup in text; and in notes. Reference work

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg15 The case of editing of historical papers Slow publication -- Very limited footnotes, most editorial research not revealed -- Duplicative, overlapping editorial research The constraints of the printed codex! Web-published editors notes, as low-cost byproduct.

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg16

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg17

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg18 Building the functionality of a reference collection. 1. Context finder: Search support from text to reference works. 2. Context builder: Making, retaining notes / links to reference works. 3. Context provider: Enriching reference works by adding reverse links, e.g. place name gazetteer mentions where a place is mentioned in texts.

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg19 CORPUS FRAGMENT CONTEXT Context Provider: Also reverse links from resource back to text. Now two-way! Reference work

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg20 Facet Vocabulary Displays Reference Genre WHAT Topics Cross-references Encyclopedia WHERE PlacesMaps Atlas, place list WHEN PeriodsTimeline Chronology WHO PersonsRelationships Biogr.dictionary Reference Genre VocabularyDisplays Facet Encyclopedia TopicsCross-references WHAT Atlas, place list PlacesMaps WHERE Chronology Time Timelines WHEN Biogr. Dictionary Persons Relationships WHO Paper-based reference collection: Codex determines structure and use. Reversed in a digital environment: Metadata forms infrastructure. Build a union index, so you know where too look! Little green lights! Search interest

Mar 24, 2009ECAI/CAA Williamsburg21 Three projects on search support: Supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. - Support for the learner: What, Where, When and Who (IMLS, ) ecai.org/imls Bringing Lives to Light: Biography in Context (IMLS, ) ecai.org/imls Context and Relationships: Ireland and Irish Studies (IMLS & NEH, ) ecai.org/neh2007 Part of a long-term “metadata” program. Teamwork by several people: Aitao Chen, Fredric Gey, Ray Larson, Dan Melia, Barry Pateman, Vivien Petras, Ryan Shaw, and others. Demos at