Naga Srinivas Vemuri

Exploring digital libraries: integrating browsing, searching, and visualization

Exploring services for digital libraries (DLs) include two major paradigms, browsing and searching, as well as other services such as clustering and visualization. In this paper, we formalize and generalize DL exploring services within a DL theory. We develop theorems to indicate that browsing and searching can be converted or mapped to each other under certain conditions. The theorems guide the design and implementation of exploring services for an integrated archaeological DL, ETANA-DL. Its integrated browsing and searching can support users in moving seamlessly between these operations, minimizing context switching, and keeping users focused. It also integrates browsing and searching into a single visual interface for DL exploration. A user study to evaluate ETANA-DLs exploring services helped validate our hypotheses

Integration of complex archeology digital libraries: An ETANA-DL experience

In this paper, we formalize the digital library (DL) integration problem and propose an overall approach based on the 5S (streams, structures, spaces, scenarios, and societies) framework. We then apply that framework to integrate domain-specific (archeological) DLs, illustrating our solutions for key problems in DL integration. An integrated Archeological DL, ETANA-DL, is used as a case study to justify and evaluate our DL integration approach. More specifically, we develop a minimal metamodel for archeological DLs within the 5S theory. We implement the 5SSuite tool set to cover the process of union DL generation, including requirements gathering, conceptual modeling, rapid prototyping, and code generation. 5SSuite consists of 5SGraph, 5SGen, and SchemaMapper, each of which plays an important role in DL integration. We also propose an approach to integrated DLs based on the 5S formalism, which provides a systematic method to design and implement DL exploring services.

Incremental, semi-automatic, mapping-based integration of heterogeneous collections into archaeological digital libraries: Megiddo case study

Automation is an important issue when integrating heterogeneous collections into archaeological digital libraries. We propose an incremental approach through intermediary- and mapping-based techniques. A visual schema mapping tool within the 5S [1] framework allows semi-automatic mapping and incremental global schema enrichment. 5S also helped speed up development of a new multi-dimension browsing service. Our approach helps integrate the Megiddo [2] excavation data into a growing union archaeological DL, ETANA-DL [3].

Schema mapper: a visualization tool for DL integration

Schema mapping is a challenging problem. It has come to the fore in recent years; there are important applications like database schema integration and, more recently, digital library merging of heterogeneous data. Previous studies have approached the schema mapping process either from algorithmic or visualization perspectives, with few integrating both. With Schema Mapper we demonstrate a semi-automatic tool for schema integration that combines a novel visual interface with an algorithm-based recommendation engine. Schemas are visualized as hyperbolic trees, thus allowing more schema nodes to be displayed at one time. Matches to selections are recommended to the user, which makes the mapping operation easier and faster

A content-based image retrieval service for archaeology collections

Archeological sites have heterogeneous information ranging from different artifacts, image data, geo-spatial information, chronological data, and other relevant metadata. ETANA-DL, an archaeology digital library, provides various services by integrating the heterogeneous data available in different collections. This demonstration presents an initial prototype for searching DL objects based on the image content, using the Content-Based Image Search Component (CBISC) from Virginia Tech/State University of Campinas.

What is a successful digital library

We synthesize diverse research in the area of digital library (DL) quality models, information systems (IS) success and adoption models, and information-seeking behavior models, to present a more integrated view of the concept of DL success. Such a multi-theoretical perspective, considering user community participation throughout the DL development cycle, supports understanding of the social aspects of DLs and the changing needs of users interacting with DLs. It also helps in determining when and how quality issues can be measured and how potential problems with quality can be prevented.

ETANA-ADD: an interactive tool for integrating archaeological DL collections

ETANA-DL is an archaeology digital library built based on the principles of open digital libraries. A key challenge addressed in ETANA-DL is integration of new archaeological sites. To enable archaeologists to build OAI data providers for easy integration, we developed an interactive software tool for database-to-XML generation, schema mapping, and global archive generation. This tool greatly enhances our ability to build new open archives. We tested the tool with data from the Umm el-Jimal site

EtanaCMV: a visual browsing interface for ETANA-DL based on coordinated multiple views

Visual interfaces for digital libraries (DLs) provide support for insightful browsing, presentation of search results in a browsing platform, and analysis of records in the DL. We propose the demonstration of a visual interface to ETANA–DL, a growing union archaeological DL. Our interface EtanaCMV is based on a uniform multiple view design and facilitates browsing of DL records that are multidimensional, hierarchical, and categorical in nature. We use distinct panels to allow flexible browsing across multiple dimensions. Bars in each panel denote the various categories in each dimension. EtanaCMV will give the users a quick overview of the collections in the DL during browsing in addition to showing relationships in the harvested collections. Coordination between multiple views is used to present more insights into the data.