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Research interests in applied technologies and learning/teaching systems. Provides a rich collection of publications and conference presentations.

The paper describes some models for knowledge construction and analyzes them in terms of their suitability as instruments for the introduction of semantics on the web. The paper then provides evidence regarding some limits for the systematic use of semantic search engine and ontology domain systems in everyday teaching and knowledge construction.

At the ACM Hypertext Conference a panel discussed "The Next Big Thing Inc." in the area of hypertext and hypermedia. The Web has been the "Big Thing" during the past 10 years, but its success has also made it very difficult to find the appropriate information in an ocean of over 3 billion pages. Whereas search engines achieve incredible precision, they suffer from the same "one size fits all" approach that characterizes the Web sites they index. The paper defends the position that personalization, and in particular automatic personalization or adaptation, is the key to reach the goal of offering each individual user (or user group) the information they need. During the panel discussion there was debate about whether the user should always have access and control over the entire (hypertextual) information space. There were different views on whether the "right" to all the information is best guaranteed by offering tools that reduce the information space the user perceives so that the user can actually find and reach the information, or by offering unfiltered access to an ocean of information in which everything is available but in which perhaps nothing can be found. We argue in favor of adaptation but at the same time point out flaws in the way adaptive hypermedia has been used until now. The paper then proposes a new, modular adaptive hypermedia architecture that should lead to adaptive Web-based systems as the "Next Big Thing" indeed.

The application of "Semantic Web" technologies to learning processes is receiving an increasing attention from the perspective of facilitating the selection, delivery and tailoring of learning experiences. But most of the current approaches are centered on the final interaction of the learner with the "learning objects" provided for him/her, neglecting the organizational perspective. From the viewpoint of an organization, the application of Semantic Web technologies should be motivated by the improvement of learning-oriented mechanisms, including both cultural and structural aspects, and considering the ideal of achieving a state of continuous improvement in learning behavior. Such an approach to achieving a "semantic learning organization" gives a complementary perspective to existing "educational Semantic Web" propositions. In this paper, the potential role of the Semantic Web as a driver for enhanced learning organizations is analyzed, and a conceptual framework for the notion of a semantic learning organization is provided.

Tamara Munzner Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, June 2000. Abstract *Visualization/graphing strategy for large semantic networks is described. Very technical.* Many real-world domains can be represented as large node-link graphs: backbone Internet routers connect with 70,000 other hosts, mid-sized Web servers handle between 20,000 and 200,000 hyperlinked documents, and dictionaries contain millions of words defined in terms of each other. Computational manipulation of such large graphs is common, but previous tools for graph visualization have been limited to datasets of a few thousand nodes. Visual depictions of graphs and networks are external representations that exploit human visual processing to reduce the cognitive load of many tasks that require understanding of global or local structure. We assert that the two key advantages of computer-based systems for information visualization over traditional paper-based visual exposition are interactivity and scalability. We also argue that designing visualization software by taking the characteristics of a target user's task domain into account leads to systems that are more effective and scale to larger datasets than previous work.

"A naïve ontology for concepts of time and space for searching and learning" Introduction. In this paper, we propose a new approach for developing naïve ontology as the basis for optimal information access interfaces for multimedia digital documents intended for novice users. Method. We try to elicit the knowledge structure of domain novices and patterns of its modification in their searching and learning processes by eye-tracker and showing eye-movements in the post-search interviews. Analysis. Recorded interview data were fully transcribed and coded using Atlas.ti and analysed following a bottom-up strategy of the constant-comparative technique. Results. We developed a taxonomy of knowledge modification which includes (1) adding, (2) correcting, (3) limiting, (4) relating, (5) specifying and (6) transforming. Conclusion.The taxonomy may be expanded and elaborated as the project progress and findings are expected to be incorporated into the design of the naïve ontology. The study results provided theoretical implications on knowledge building, methodological implications on data collection using eye-tracker and showing eye-movements in the post-search interviews and useful information on the design of information access interface for novices users.

"Many languages are in serious danger of being lost and if nothing is done to prevent it, half of the world's approximately 6,500 languages will disappear in the next 100 years. Language data are central to the research of a large social science community, including linguists, anthropologists, archeologists, historians, sociologists, and political scientists interested in the culture of indigenous people. The death of a language entails the loss of a community's traditional culture, for the language is a unique vehicle for its traditions and culture. In this paper, we describe the effort undertaken at Wayne State University to preserve endangered languages using the state-of-the-art information technologies. We discuss the issues involved in such an effort, and present the architecture of a distributed digital library which will contain various data of endangered languages in the forms of text, image, video and audio files and include advanced tools for intelligent cataloguing, indexing, searching and browsing information on languages and language analysis. Various Semantic Web technologies such as XML, OLAC, and ontologies are used so that the digital library is developed as a useful linguistic resource on the Semantic Web."

"2009-09-01 [09:30 - 11:00] : Session 3A: Web, Semantics and Ontologies I" 2009-09-01 [14:00 - 15:30] : Session 4A: Web, Semantics and Ontologies II 2009-09-01 [16:00 - 17:30] : Session 5A: Web, Semantics and Ontologies III 2009-09-02 [09:30 - 11:00] : Session 6B: Semantic Web and Ontologies IV (short papers)

Recent developments in Web technologies and using AI techniques to support efforts in making the Web more intelligent and provide higher-level services to its users have opened the door to building the Semantic Web. That fact has a number of important implications for Web-based education, since Web-based education has become a very important branch of educational technology. Classroom independence and platform independence of Web-based education, availability of authoring tools for developing Web-based courseware, cheap and efficient storage and distribution of course materials, hyperlinks to suggested readings, digital libraries, and other sources of references relevant for the course are but a few of a number of clear advantages of Web-based education. However, there are several challenges in improving Web-based education, such as providing for more adaptivity and intelligence. Developments in the Semantic Web, while contributing to the solution to these problems, also raise new issues that must be considered if we are to progress. This paper surveys the basics of the Semantic Web and discusses its importance in future Web-based educational applications.

Semantic Web applications offer great potential to student modellers who have traditionally struggled with issues of re-use, portability and tight coupling with learning applications. In this paper, we describe our use of ontology languages and elearning standards to develop a loosely coupled and portable student modelling architecture used in a large-scale, distributed production learning environment.

ARIES is working on the application details alluded to in my semantic web paper.

This paper presents an ontology-based framework aimed at explicitly representing the context of the use of a learning object inside of a learning design. The core of the proposed framework is a learning object context ontology that leverages a range of other kinds of learning ontologies (e.g. domain, user modeling, learning design etc.) to capture the context-specific metadata. On top of that framework, we develop the architecture of an adaptive educational system, in order to illustrate the benefits of our proposal for personalization of learning design. Finally, we reflect on how two present educational tools (iHelp Courses and TANGRAM) correspond to the proposed architecture.

Topics of Interest - Be sure to click the link in "Proceedings of the workshop is available here..." Submissions are invited on work relating the Semantic Web with Social Network Analysis. Both theoretical as well as applciation papers are welcome. The topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following: * Social Network Analysis of the Semantic Web * Network Analysis Methods * Analysis of Large Online Communities (Wikipedia, DMOZ, EBay, ...) * Semantic Web Communities * Web Communities of Practice * Online Harvesting of Semantic Network Information * Network Analysis for Building the Semantic Web * Emergent Semantics in Communities * Change Detection * Self-organization and Management of Semantic Networks * Trust Issues in Semantic Networks * Semantic Network Metadata * Folksonomies * Communities in P2P systems * Online Social Networking (FOAF, Orkut, ...) * Applications of Online Semantic Networks * Knowledge Management with Semantic Networks

Traditionally, visitors to museums have been left having to choose between finding their way around exhibits on their own or taking a standardized group tour with a guide. In this paper, we describe a context-aware museum tour guide that adjusts its recommendations to the interests and contexts of individual visitors and enables them to selectively share their experience with others. The tour guide is built around an innovative semantic Web framework that minimizes the development and maintenance costs associated with the introduction of new exhibits, new visitor-oriented services and new sources of contextual information. In particular, it features a semantic Web rule reasoning engine that enables visitor-oriented services to identify relevant sources of contextual information and to enforce user-specified privacy preferences about what information they are willing to share with others (e.g. "only members of my group can see my current location", or "only my friends can see how I rate exhibits"). While still in prototype stage, the tour guide's target environment is the National Museum of Natural Science, one of Taiwan's largest museums with over 3 million visitors per year.

Topics in education are changing with an ever faster pace. ELearning resources tend to be more and more decentralized. Users increasingly need to be able to use the resources of the web. For this, they should have tools for finding and organizing information in a decentralized way. In this paper, we show how an ontologybased tool suite allows to make the most of the resources available on the web.

eLearning is fast, relevant and just-in-time learning grown from the learningrequirements of the new, dynamically changing, distributed business world. The term „Semantic Web" encompasses efforts to build a new WWW architecture that supports content with formal semantics, which enables better possibilities for searching and navigating through the cyberspace. As such, the Semantic Web represents a promising technology for realizing eLearning requirements. This paper presents an approach for implementing the eLearning scenario using Semantic Web technologies. It is primarily based on ontology-based descriptions of content, context and structure of the learning materials and benefits the providing of and accessing to the learning materials.

In this paper it is presented our contribution for carrying out adaptive and intelligent Web-based Education Systems (WBES) that take into account the individual student learning requirements, by means of a holistic architecture and Framework for developing WBES. In addition, three basic modules of the proposed WBES are outlined: an Authoring tool, a Semantic Web-based Evaluation, and a Cognitive Maps-based Student Model. As well, it is stated a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) oriented to deploy reusable, accessible, durable and interoperable services. The approach enhances the Learning Technology Standard Architecture, proposed by IEEE-LTSA (Learning Technology System Architecture) [IEEE 1484.1/D9 LTSA (2001). Draft standard for learning technology - learning technology systems architecture (LTSA). New York, USA. URL: http://ieee.ltsc.org/wg1], and the Sharable Content Object Reusable Model (SCORM), claimed by Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) [Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (2004). URL: http://www.adlnet.org].

(Developed in 2003) Papers and tutorials are worth looking at

References to papers on the topic of the semantic web and education (Brazil).