Internet 2 and DoDHE: Research Issues From The iSchool Perspective Mike Eisenberg Dean and Professor The Information School University of Washington, Oct 2001

Guiding Our Research The user perspective Interoperability Scalability Metadata as the primary tool for integration Multi-cultural and multi-lingual issues M. Eisenberg 2001

Information Research Interests 1.Authority Control 2.Taxonomies and Ontologies Multicultural Multilingual 3.Privacy 4.User Issues M. Eisenberg 2001

1. Authority Control The foundation of authentication Without authority control there can’t be true identification Authority control systematizes authentication M. Eisenberg 2001

1. Authority Control Problem of polysemy Many names (even in different languages) for the same person. E.g., Mark Twain has over 1,000 different names in Library of Congress Authority file. Problem of synonymy Many people have the same names. Problem of cultural assumptions Not everybody has a first, middle and last name. M. Eisenberg 2001

1. Authority Control Question of authority control “agent.” Who establishes that a person is who he/she claims to be? Degrees of authority control? One central authority? Multiple? Distributed? Question of how can we leverage authority control Can we leverage authority control (legacy and emergent) with other files and initiatives (e.g. Library of Congress authority name file, INDECS of the EU? Can we leverage the information (the record) as well as knowledge about building authority files? Can this be migrated to other systems and situations? M. Eisenberg 2001

1. Authority Control Approach to interoperability The single universal record is a myth! No single user community has the wisdom to build it. Disparate communities can build suitable records for their community. Can we build a logical universal record by aggregating the records from disparate communities? M. Eisenberg 2001

2. Taxonomies and Ontologies Issues of: Multiculturalism, multilingualism, universality and localization. M. Eisenberg 2001

Metadata architectures must: Support the expression of linguistic diversity Support semantic interoperability Enable local or regional representation of information and metadata to help disclose the availability of such information Accommodate metadata descriptions and resources in different languages Deal with character set issues Support flexible standards of practice (name order, collation standards, leading article standards) 2. Taxonomies and Ontologies M. Eisenberg 2001

Privacy Contextual disclosure of an individual’s attributes Disclosure of different sets of attributes in different contexts (DoDHE, e-commerce, etc.) Differing international requirements for data flows and personal information International law differs regarding what information can be disclosed and what can and can’t be done with personal information. The DoDHE infrastructure must provide for that. M. Eisenberg 2001

Privacy One solution: add a layer W3C’s P3P, an emerging standard for users to gain more control over personal information. P3P: through browser users can define how they want their personal information to be used in the web. Machine mechanism for matching personal and system requirements. Allows a site to describe intended use of personal information. If matches, okay, if not, raises the question for resolution. Also multidimensional – across contexts, uses, users, situations. M. Eisenberg 2001

Privacy Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) This may not be an immediate problem for DoDHE but if solutions scale up to the Web it will be an issue. M. Eisenberg 2001

User Issues What do users really want from DoDHE? What do users value? rule – What are the most common uses (by 80% of users)? What are the more unique uses (by 20% users)? Usability and user interface. M. Eisenberg 2001

Reminder: Guiding Our Research The user perspective Interoperability Scalability Metadata as the primary tool for integration Multi-cultural and multi-lingual issues M. Eisenberg 2001

Conclusion: First Steps The iSchool’s Knowledge Application Lab (KAL): Frame the research and questions noted above. Involve faculty and students. Initiate user studies. Prototype directory of directories. M. Eisenberg 2001

Thanks for listening! M. Eisenberg 2001