University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Digital Libraries Initiative
Comments to: External Relations Coordinator, Tom Habing
2/12/96
The Social Science Team played a key role in organizing and conducting the NSF-sponsored Allerton Institute, held on Oct. 27-29, 1996. The Institute, called "Libraries, People, and Change: A Research Forum on Digital Libraries," was attended by over 50 researchers and practitioners. The Institute included workshops on sense-making theory, studying the use of digital documents, and designing DL evaluations. Sessions were held on classifying digital materials, supporting DL users, and management issues.
A second round of usability testing on the DLI custom client was undertaken by the Social Science Team. A small number of subjects performed typical document search, retrieval, and use tasks, during which their problems, comments, and suggestions were recorded.
The Social Science Team, in cooperation with the Testbed Team and Grainger librarians, implemented the registration / transaction logging systems in August. The Social Science Team began providing monthly Testbed usage reports in September. Minor enhancements to these systems were made throughout the quarter.
A joint DLI supplement project between Illinois and UCSB has been funded by NSF. Hsinchun Chen, Bruce Schatz, and Terry Smith are experimenting concept space and self-organizing map (SOM) techniques for GIS visual thesaurus generation. A testbed of several hundred aerial photos has been created and will grow to a few thousand in the next three months. The collection has been analyzed using the NCSA SGI Power Challenge and Convex Exemplar supercomputers. A Java based interface for viewing visual thesaurus is also under development at Chen's lab.
A DLI supplement to the Illinois DLI project to used for the coordination across all six DLI projects in order to assist NSF in demonstrating the progress of these projects.
TESTBED
SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES
Robert McGrath and other members of the Testbed Team conducted a study of Scaling Issues in the next two years of the DLI Testbed. The investigation was completed during the month of October, and a preliminary report is available. The full report is undergoing final review, and will be published as a white paper in early December.
The Testbed team made significant progress with the processing of materials provided. As of today, there are approximately 13,000 articles from five publishing partners processed and indexed. See appendix A for a breakdown of the titles that are currently in the Testbed.
In addition to the customized PC client and eventually a stateful Web client (hopefully cross-platform), the testbed team is making functional stateless Web access to the production Testbed database. A preview of what this access will look like can be found at: http://freya.grainger.uiuc.edu/simple.html. Please continue to use the same password that you've been using to retrieve SGML documents. Note that we will not be providing this gateway to our users on campus until we have cleaned up the bugs.
The testbed team has recently put in place a second webserver to serve DLI SGML documents. This potentially will allow some limited experimentation with distributed repository architectures and the testbed team plans on setting up a true SGML distributed SGML repository with the American Institute of Physics by early 1997.
The UIUC DLI homepage and many relevant links were completely revamped and updated. A new Web page was constructed for the DLI coordination effort.
EVALUATION
OVERALL ACTIVITIES
During the past quarter, the Social Science Team worked on system instrumentation, registration, and usability testing of the custom client in order to provide user feedback to system designers. Naturalistic studies of work practices of UIUC faculty were planned and initiated; these will contribute to knowledge about how the digital information infrastructure is integrated with knowledge management activities in academia. Work on developing the Team's own digital infrastructure continued. Efforts to contribute to the emerging research community interested in social aspects of DLs also continued, with team members hosting and contributing to conferences and engaging in other professional activities in this area.
SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES
The Social Science Team organized usability testing for the three different interfaces currently under development; usability tests for the custom client were completed while the other two systems will be tested in the next quarter. Transaction logging was implemented in the custom client and monthly reports on usage activity were initiated. Team members met with NCSA to review the transaction logging system and suggest changes and extensions to the current system design for storing and manipulating these instrumentation data. Based upon feedback from users and project members, the user registration process was redesigned in October and procedures for statistical analysis of the registration data were designed and tested. Implementation of the redesigned registration system will occur during the next quarter. In addition, the Social Science Team began working with the developers of other Illinois DL components to consider the interoperability of the registration process with future Web-capable interfaces and the integration of transaction logs from the current and future interfaces.
Social Science Team members worked on two workplace studies. In the first, a plan to further develop concepts brought out in research done last spring was completed. This research involves interviewing and observing people about their work, information
finding habits, and use of on-line resources. Several initial interviews were carried out. In the second, an investigation of desktop and office classification work was initiated. Team members also conducted an introductory meeting with members of a campus microelectronics research group assumed to be especially important as potential users of the DLI testbed. Research group members were presented with background material about the DLI project, the custom client system which had been set up in their lab was demonstrated, their participation in evaluation studies was solicited, and their comments and questions about the system were relayed to the Testbed Team.
Activities related to developing and maintaining the Social Science Team's own digital infrastructure included revising the Team's homepage, testing procedures to collect instrumentation and registration data and port data to SPSS for analysis, and learning to use StorySpace software in preparation for its potential adoption as a tool to support the analysis of qualitative data.
Contributions to the emerging community of social science DL research took several paths. Team members took the lead in conducting the 1996 Allerton Institute, a research forum on social aspects of DLs. They also continued preparing and revising papers based on their work, made several presentations to national audiences, and participated in planning future activities centered on human-centered computing and DLs.
TECHNOLOGY
OVERALL ACTIVITIES
During the past quarter, the Interspace Team has continued with its development of the IU framework, and ConceptSpace engine. We are now investigating using computational linguistic techniques to extract Nps (noun phrases) to produce higher quality concept spaces. Finally, the early phase of the development of an aggressively paralleled version of the concept space generation system has been completed and has undergone partial performance characterization.
The artificial intelligence group, headed by Prof. Chen, continues to develop various clustering, neural networks, and advanced visualization techniques for multimedia digital library collections. Many of the new research outputs are available to their web site with a Java interface component: http://ai.bpa.arizona.edu
SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES
Interspace Team members have been evaluating many different computational linguistic techniques for enhancing concept space generation. Additionally, we are in the design phase for the integration of a Z39.50 gateway into the system architecture. One of us has been investigating concept space techniques for automatic texture extraction from images.
A trip was made by Chen and Schatz to NCI and NLM on Nov 5-6 for the two medical information analysis and retrieval projects. The responses from both organizations were very positive. We expect significant collaborative activities in the next several months.
The Compendex/Inspec computation done by Chen and Schatz have been featured in several other publications: ``NCSA and the Digital Library Initiative: Finding Critical Information Quickly and Easily,'' Featured in Hewlett Packard Technical Report (5965-3214E), September 1996. ``The Ultimate Indexing Job,'' Featured in Business Week, Developments to Watch Column, August 12, 1996.
ARTICLES ABOUT THE PROJECT
Computation Cracks & Semantic Barriers Between Databases, Science, vol. 272, June 7, 1996, p.1419.
PUBLICATIONS
G. Bowker and S. L. Star, "How Things (Actor-Net)work," Philosophia, in press for early 1997.
H. Chen, A. Houston, J. Yen, and J. F. Nunamaker, ``Intelligent Meeting Facilitation Agents: An Example on Group Systems,'' IEEE Computer, Volume 29, Number 8, August, 1996.
H. Chen, B. R. Schatz, T. D. Ng, J. P. Martinez, A. J. Kirchhoff, C. Lin, ``A Parallel Computing Approach to Creating Engineering Concept Spaces for Semantic Retrieval: The Illinois Digital Library Initiative Project,'' IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Special Section on Digital Libraries: Representation and Retrieval, Volume 18, Number 8, Pages 771-782, August, 1996.
H. Chen, D. Vogel, and J. F. Nunamaker, ``A Multi-Agent View of Strategic Planning Using Group Support Systems and Artificial Intelligence,'' Group Decision and Negotiation, Volume 6, Number 1, Pages 35-58, January, 1997.
R. E. McGrath, "UIUC DLI Project Scale-up: A Technical Evaluation (Preliminary Report)", November 6, 1996. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/People/mcgrath/DLI/Scaling/preliminary.html
L. Neumann and S. L. Star, "Making Infrastructure: The Dream of a Common Language," Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 1996 (PDC '96), Cambridge, MA: Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility/ACM. Expanded version also submitted to Journal of the American Society for Information Science.
S. L. Star, "Grounded Classifications: Grounded Theory and Faceted Classifications," submitted to IFIP WG 8.2 Conference on Information Systems and Qualitative Research, June, 1997.
GRANTS AWARDED:
H. Chen, Principal investigator (PI), NSF, CISE, ``Supplement to Alexandria DLI Project on Semantic Interoperability,'' $100,000, June 1996-May 1998.
H. Chen, Principal investigator (PI), Special Information Services, National Library of Medicine, ``Semantic Retrieval for Toxicology and Hazardous Substance Databases,'' $50,000, October 1996-July 1997.
S. L. Star, co-PI, Advanced Information Technologies Group, UIUC, ROffice and Desktop Classification,S $10,500, June 1996- May 1997.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
A. P. Bishop, Co-Chair, Allerton Institute on "Libraries, People and Change: A Research Forum on Digital Libraries," Oct. 27-29, 1996.
H. Chen, guest editor, Journal of the American Society for Information Science special issue on ``Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Emerging Information Systems Applications,'' 1997.
H. Chen, ACM SIGIR-97 Conference Organizing Committee, 1997.
H. Chen, ACM Digital Library Conference Program Committee, 1997.
H. Chen, partner, Data and Collaborative Computing Team, NCSA (National Computational Science Alliance), NSF 96-31 Program Solicitation for Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, 1996.
E. N. Ignacio, Conference Coordinator, Allerton Institute on "Libraries, People and Change: A Research Forum on Digital Libraries," Oct. 27-29, 1996.
S. L. Star, Steering Committee member, Allerton Institute on "Libraries, People and Change: A Research Forum on Digital Libraries," Oct. 27-29, 1996. Co-organizer, discussion on classification and cataloguing and large-scale digital resources.
S. L. Star, Participant in preparation of a report to the National Science Foundation, Mathematics Directorate, "Machinery for Predictability of Complex Systems," September, 1996.
S. L. Star, Completed year 2 of 3 year assignment to the Ethics and Values in Science Panel, NSF.
PRESENTATIONS
Bishop, Ann. "Human-Centered Research Issues in Digital Libraries," American Society for Information Science, Baltimore, MD, Oct. 21, 1996.
Bishop, Ann. "Social Informatics for Digital Libraries," American Society for Information Science, Baltimore, MD, Oct. 23, 1996.
H. Chen, ``Semantic Retrieval for CancerLit,'' National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, December 5, 1996.
H. Chen, ``The Interspace Knowledge Architecture,'' National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, December 6, 1996.
Folk, Mike and McGrath, Robert E., ``Project Horizon: Problems addressed
Lessons learned and accomplishments Future directions'', Presentation to
Federal Webmasters Workshop, August 7, 1996. http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/horizon/Webmaster.7.Aug.96/
Sandusky, Robert. "Digital Library Management Issues: Where Are We Headed?," Allerton 1996: Libraries, People, and Change: A Research Forum on Digital Libraries, the 38th Allerton Institute 1996, Monticello, Illinois, October 27-29, 1996. http://anshar.grainger.uiuc.edu/dlisoc/sandusky/allerton96_text.html
Sandusky, Robert. "Outcome Measures for the Emerging Virtual Library," LITA/LAMA National Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October 13-16, 1996. http://anshar.grainger.uiuc.edu/dlisoc/sandusky/litatext.html
Star, Susan Leigh. "Infrastructure and Materials," To conference on the Material Basis of Organizational Memory, Institute for Research on Learning, Menlo Park, CA, June, 1996.
Workshops Attended
Magliery, Tom. SGML Open Summer Workshop, August 14-17, Gray Rocks Resort, Mont Trenblant, Canada. See Appendix B for notes on the workshop.
Visitors
August 5
Margaret Emery, Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide, Australia
August 14
Felix Ubogu, University Librarian, Rhodes University, South Africa
August 20-21
Sunghyuk Kim, Professor, Department of Library and Information Science,
Sookmyung Women's University, Secretary General, Korean Library and Information
Society, Secretary General, Organizing Committee, 1996 Seminar on Digital
Library and Information Service for the 21st Century.
August 26
Ernest Wong, Head, Information Technology, Open Learning Institute of Hong
Kong
Wong Wai Man, Librarian, Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong
September 6
Abdulrahman A. Al-Hamidi, Library Director, King abdulaziz City for Science
and Technology
September 29
Christine Borgman, Christine L. Borgman, Professor & Chair, Department
of Library and Information Science, Graduate School of Education & Information
Studies, UCLA
October 9
Hiep Minh Hguyen, Ho Chi Minh City National Library, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Dmitry Issanov, Russian State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow, Russia
Oluremi Jegede, Nigerian Institute for Legal Studies, Lagos, Nigeria
Shireese Kissen, University of Western Cape, Capetown, South Africa
Marina Koptiaeva, V.G. Belinsky Regional Library, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Petr Lapo, Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
Galina Lescheva, State University Library, Voronezh, Russia
Gulchekhra Ochilova, Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Filemon Odongo, Maseno University College, Maseno, Kenya
Valentyna Paashkova, Kiev State Institute of Culture, Kiev, Ukraine
Marta R.S. Ribeiro do Val, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
Irina Sayenko, State Historical Library, Kiev, Ukraine
Natalia Shevchenko, American Information Resourse Center, Ekaterinburg,
Russia
Ludmila Skachkova, Russian State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow,
Russia
Artem Terekhov, Russian State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow, Russia
Harum and Johnson gave demonstrations and answered questions for a group from the Mortenson Center of International Librarianship.
October 22
Tim Ingoldsby, Director of Project Development, American Institute of Physics
Pete Bellacera, Supervisor of Publishing Systems Development, AIP
Schatz, Mischo, Cole, Harum and Wedgeworth met with representatives of AIP
to discuss what is required to move the plans of initiating the first distributed
repository forward.
October 25:
Star co-hosted a mini-workshop at Grainger Library (co-sponsored between
GSLIS and the Science, Technology, Information and Medicine Group) on Computer
Modeling. Paul Edwards of Stanford University and John King of UC Irvine
presented talks and answered questions; the workshop was attended by approximately
40 people.
Star hosted Dr. William Anderson and Dr. Susan Anderson, Xerox Rochester,
Oct. 25-27; discussed potential collaboration and partnership with Xerox's
emerging work on digital libraries and librarywork.
Bishop hosted Marcia Bates, Professor, Graduate School of Education and
Information Studies, UCLA. Professor Bates, an expert in online browsing
behavior, met with DLI system designers, gave a presentation on "Human,
Database, and Domain Factors in Content Indexing and Access to Digital Libraries
and the Internet" to the campus community, and met with the Social
Science Team.
October 29:
Neal K. Kaske, Manager, Engineering & Physical Sciences, University
of Maryland College Park Libraries
Gerard McKiernan, Coordinator, Science and Technology Section, Reference,
Iowa State University
Appendix A
Currently in the Testbed:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Journal of Applied Physics (1995 to present)
American Physical Society (APS)
Physical Review Letters (1995 to present)
IEE
(1993 to present)
Electronics Letters
IEE Proceedings on
-Science, Measurement and Technology
-Electrical Power Applications
-Generation, Transmission and Distribution
-Control Theory and Applications
-Computers and Digital Techniques
-Radar, Sonar and Navigation
-Circuits, Devices and Systems
-Microwaves, antennas and Propagation
-Communications
-Optoelectronics
-Vision, Image and Signal Processing
American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE)
(1995-present)
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Journal of Energy Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Journal of Management in Engineering
Journal of Structural Engineering
Journal of Surveying Engineering
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering
IEEE Computer Society
(1995)
IEEE Computer
IEEE Software
IEEE Design and Test
IEEE Computational Science and Engineering
IEEE Graphics
IEEE Expert: Intelligent Systems and their Applications
IEEE Micro: Chips, Systems, Software and Applications
IEEE Parallel and Distribute Technologies
Appendix B
Notes on the SGML Open Summer Workshop 1996 by Tom Magliery
Topics discussed included:
I did manage to talk to several different people about mathematics. The general impression I came back with is that although everyone seems interested in the problems of mathematics typesetting, no one really is doing anything about them. SGML Open as a body will be more than happy to give its sanction to any work that happens toward standardization, but nobody's quite doing it yet.
One "failure" of the math workshop this spring was that it degenerated into a debate of semantic vs. presentational math tagging. My take on the consensus is that it would be good to work both ways, in hopes of a more immediate solution for the DLI along the presentational route (by promoting consistency in tagging among publishers, and getting problems fixed (or even worked on) by the vendors). Perhaps we should try to get some of the publishers and vendors together to work on this approach.
The next big gathering of sgml types is at SGML'96, which is in Boston in December. The next meetings of SGML Open committees will happen then as well. I guess we should try to continue making noise with the contacts we have, in hopes that some more progress can be made then.
Go back to the DLI progress reports page