Peter K. Malkin

Ariadne: an eclipse-based system for tracking the originality of source code

In this paper we introduce Ariadne, an Eclipse-based system for tracking the originality of source code in collaborative software development environments in which software reuse is a common practice. We describe its architecture within the Eclipse framework, the originality metadata of which it keeps track, and the history clue-the data structure used to implement the tracking mechanism. We also discuss the implementation of the Ariadne client, the main component of the system, and show how digital signatures are used to validate the integrity of the metadata-handling process. We demonstrate the functions of Ariadne in two typical scenarios: tracking of software bugs and generating originality claims for Certificate of Originality reports. Although our Eclipse-based prototype is designed to handle Java source code, our approach can be extended to other kinds of artifacts.

NetVista: growing an Internet solution for schools

NetVista is an integrated suite of clients and servers supporting Internet access for students and teachers in kindergarten through 12th-grade schools. Developed by a small team of IBM researchers, Net Vista is a prime example of using an object-oriented framework to support user-centered design and to accommodate Internet-paced changes in network infrastructure, functionality, and user expectations. In this paper, we describe salient aspects of NetVistas design and development and its evolution from research project to product. In particular, we discuss the factors supporting a sustained focus on end users over the life of the project, the object-oriented framework underlying Netvista, and the role of this framework in accommodating both evolutionary and radical changes to the design of the user interface and the underlying technical infrastructure.

Diagnostic visualization for non-expert machine learning practitioners: A design study

As machine learning (ML) becomes increasingly popular, developers without deep experience in ML - who we will refer to as ML practitioners - are facing the need to diagnose problems with ML models. Yet successful diagnosis requires high-level expertise that practitioners lack. As in many complex data-oriented domains, visualization could help. This two-phase study explored the design of visualizations to aid ML diagnosis. In phase 1, twelve ML practitioners were asked to diagnose a model using ten state-of-the-art visualizations; seven design themes were identified. In phase 2, several design themes were embodied in an interactive visualization. The visualization was used to engage practitioners in a participatory design exercise that explored how they would carry out multi-step diagnosis using the visualization. Our findings provide design implications for tools that better support ML diagnosis by non-expert practitioners.

Exploring an evolutionary medical analytic wallet

The practice of medicine and biomedical research has become information based, which enhances safety, efficiency, and the effectiveness of the health enterprise. Informational sources such as entire mapped genome systems, advance imaging techniques, health screening technologies and individualized medical plans require advanced analytical engines. Biomedical analytics provides a high throughput system for pattern and feature analysis that delivers personalized or information based medicine. Personal multimedia and medical data need to be shared and combined for proper patient diagnosis and prognosis. A multimodal analytic wallet provides a construct for the encapsulation of personalized information and computational algorithms. This exploratory paper discusses an idea of leveraging neuroplastic fidelity within a virtual and real world biomedical analytic wallet. The key components of the biomedical wallet include a pervasive repository, analytic interface and analytic environment that encompass a neuroplastic fidelity algorithm.

Human interface to large multimedia databases

The emergence of high-speed networking for multimedia will have the effect of turning the computer screen into a window on a very large information space. As this information space increases in size and complexity, providing users with easy and intuitive means of accessing information will become increasingly important. Providing access to large amounts of text has been the focus of work for hundreds of years and has resulted in the evolution of a set of standards, from the Dewey Decimal System for libraries to the recently proposed ANSI standards for representing information on-line: KIF, Knowledge Interchange Format, and CGs, Conceptual Graphs. Certain problems remain unsolved by these efforts, though: how to let users know the contents of the information space, so that they know whether or not they want to search it in the first place, how to facilitate browsing, and, more specifically, how to facilitate visual browsing. These issues are particularly important for users in educational contexts and have been the focus of much of our recent work. In this paper we discuss some of the solutions we have prototypes: specifically, visual means, visual browsers, and visual definitional sequences.