Supporting content discovery and organization in networks of contents and users

The design of approaches for supporting the user in the navigation of a variety of contents is an interesting area of research with many potential applications. In particular, interactive television (iTV) offers users the opportunity of accessing a huge amount of contents, ranging from general to specialized ones. As a consequence, the exploration of such contents must be supported in some way. In this paper, we present an innovative approach that integrates some recent methodologies and technologies developed in different areas of Artificial Intelligence and the Web: user-model-based adaptation, social networking, semantic annotation, and content sharing. We show how the integration of these technologies can provide interesting opportunities for a new approach to content navigation and discovery based on the possibility of exploring personalized networks of contents, users and concepts. Also, we focus on the specific goal of designing a platform for accessing iTV contents with the aim of providing the user with many alternative ways of exploring and discovering potentially interesting videos. After discussing the application, integrated in a project by Telecom Italia for a new paradigm of iTV, we preset the architecture we designed for integrating the methodologies discussed above.     

Supporting the design of data integration requirements during the development of data warehouses: a communication theory-based approach

Data warehouses (DW) form the backbone of data integration that is necessary for analytical applications, and play important roles in the information technology landscape of many industries. We introduce an approach for addressing the fundamental problem of semantic heterogeneity in the design of data integration requirements during DW development. In contrast to ontology-driven or schema-matching approaches, which propose the automatic resolution of differences ex-post, our approach addresses the core problem of data integration requirements: understanding and resolving different contextual meanings of data fields. We ground the approach firmly in communication theory and build on practices from agile software development. Besides providing relevant insights for the design of data integration requirements, our findings point to communication theory as a sound underlying foundation for a design theory of information systems development.     

网络环境下动态分布内容的自组织语义整合框架

随着网络和多媒体技术的发展,新型网络技术不断出现,并通过互联网络不断融合,使得网络更加泛在化、开放和动态化.目前,网络中动态分布的内容爆炸式增长与用户个性化需求之间的矛盾也日益突出.因此,基于开放的网络环境下海量的内容,如何提供个性化、智能的内容服务,已成为研究界和工业界共同关注的问题.基于开放、动态的网络环境,以个性化的语义整合服务为核心目标,将语义技术与网络通信机制相结合,提出了动态分布内容自组织语义整合的网络结构和关键技术的实现机制,包括关系路由模型、自组织语义整合技术框架和实现流程,以支持在网络环境下针对动态分布的内容构建个性化和智能的语义整合应用,并且为动态分布内容的语义整合系统提供工程设计方案和技术实现方法.     

Intelligent Services for the Elderly Over the TV

The TV is usually considered just another channel to receive information and services. However, for certain users with special needs, such as the Disabled and Elderly, TV based interfaces could become the only suitable way to defeat interfacing barriers and enter the Information Society.Elderly users have special requirements with respect to user interfacing approaches and home delivered services. The EC funded project SAID proposes the combination of iTV technologies, agents based intelligent services and innovative “active” interfaces as the best way overcome the reluctancy elderly users show to the introduction of ICT technologies in their home environment. SAID uses state of the art agent technology to implement the following services: intelligent information assistants on the TV, automatic suggestions engine based on a stored user profile, automatic user monitoring and profile acquisition and intelligent mobile visits planner running over GPRS.     

A new territory of multi-user variable remote control for interactive TV

Unlike passive analog TV, interactive TV (iTV) is the next step toward interactivity that offers users a friendly interactive experience. As there are fewer studies focused on multi-user interaction in a local environment, we concentrate on multi-user interaction with families, especially within a home information system. Therefore, we propose a control service framework “MVC-iTV,” based on distributed computing and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, in which external displays (TVs or projectors) and handheld devices can be used for controlling iTV services by several members of the family at the same time, without any relocation. Further, the new remote control framework can free users from the restrictions of using one remote controller. The experiment results indicate that the MVC-iTV framework is applicable to the iTV service and that users can operate the service in any visible environment via wireless networking technologies. Besides, requirements of the hardware compatibility of the TV appliance and remote controller will be reduced in the MVC-iTV framework.     

Investigating the added value of interactivity and serious gaming for educational TV

TV is a medium with high penetration rates and has been suited to deliver informal education in several aspects since years. Thus, interactive TV may play a significant role in the current Life-Long Learning challenges, provided that meaningful applications are implemented. In this research work, we have explored the added value of interactivity in digital TV, with a particular focus on Serious Games (SGs), given their growing relevance in technology-enhanced learning. We have followed an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach, in particular given the still traditional use of TV by a large audience. The approach preserves a media-driven strategy and the role of the author/director in proposing contents (storytelling), as in the TV tradition. We argue that interactive SGs may help the viewer to better contextualize/understand the video stream and go more in depth about the touched items at the end of the stream. This also enables new iTV applications, in particular to support weaker users (i.e. users that could not view the video without a help). This paper presents the results from user tests based on an interactive enhancement of a clip from the Disney’s Snow White movie, that challenged the authors in addressing a dynamic, high-value document. Qualitative and quantitative results show the potential of the system for informal education. The tests also stress the importance of good solutions (e.g., development languages, display modalities, metaphors) for synchronizing video and overlaid interactive elements. To the best of our knowledge, this research work is the first one discussing user test results about the usefulness of a class of iTV SG applications that can be instantiated serially in several different contexts.     

Industrial application integration using the unification approach to agent-enabled semantic SOA

Within the enterprise, information infrastructure as the mean to bring together different software applications is the key component to enable cooperation and information and knowledge exchange in an open-distributed environment. The paper addresses the issues of industrial application integration in business processes using agent-enabled service-oriented architectures (SOA). In this paper, we show that agent-enabled SOA can play an important role for service integration. Our framework combines Web services (WS) and intelligent agent technologies orchestrated by a business process management system. This framework looks for unification of agent and WS service models, is grounded in a semantic SOA of an agent platform and is supported by the Component Agent Platform Over .NET Framework agent platform tools. We describe the architecture and illustrate the approach by an industrial application scenario from petroleum wells’ drilling.     

Applying intelligent agents and semantic web services in eGovernment environments

The increasing volume of eGovernment‐related services is demanding new approaches for service integration and interoperability in this domain. Semantic web (SW) technologies and applications can leverage the potential of eGovernment service integration and discovery, thus tackling the problems of semantic heterogeneity characterizing eGovernment information sources and the different levels of interoperability. eGovernment services will therefore be semantically described in the foreseeable future. In an environment with semantically annotated services, software agents are essential as the entities responsible for exploiting the semantic content in order to automate some tasks, and so enhance the user's experience. In this paper, we present a framework that provides a seamless integration of semantic web services and intelligent agents technologies by making use of ontologies to facilitate their interoperation. The proposed framework can assist in the development of powerful and flexible distributed systems in complex, dynamic, heterogeneous, unpredictable and open environments. Our approach is backed up by a proof‐of‐concept implementation, where the breakthrough of integrating disparate eGovernment services has been tested.     

Toward Self-Integrating Software Applications for Supply Chain Management

Each paper in this special issue deals with a particular aspect of supply chain management. Nevertheless, they all point to a common need for meaningful and timely information exchange across the supply chain. The Internet and the existing Web technologies have made the exchange of information essentially free and instantaneous. On the other hand, determining the meaning of that information, which we call integration, is still very costly. Millions of dollars and hundreds of man-years have been spent developing and coding interface specifications and software applications to achieve this integration. While this approach has been successful in the past, it is not a viable approach for the future in which the Semantic Web is becoming an important business strategy. In this paper, we discuss a new approach, called self-integration in which software applications are imbedded in an environment that allows them to integrate automatically. We first provide some background information on integration and then focus on our research on semantic querying, semantic mapping, and semantic inferencing.     

Iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for interactive TV menu

This paper shows an iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for future interactive TV services. In doing the RNRT (French National Network of Research in Telecommunications) iTV project, we tried to generate icons easy to identify, associate and memorise for 32 categories and services of our iTV system.

Through an iterative process, the Multiple Index Approach was applied until an acceptable icon set was achieved. In addition to existing evaluation criteria such as the intuitiveness, associativeness, preference and suitability with subjective certainty of users, we emphasised the importance of the learnability measured by recall tests.

As a conclusion, we propose a methodology of icon design and evaluation for information appliances that integrate unfamiliar features with common users.     

Iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for interactive TV menu

This paper shows an iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for future interactive TV services. In doing the RNRT (French National Network of Research in Telecommunications) iTV project, we tried to generate icons easy to identify, associate and memorise for 32 categories and services of our iTV system.

Through an iterative process, the Multiple Index Approach was applied until an acceptable icon set was achieved. In addition to existing evaluation criteria such as the intuitiveness, associativeness, preference and suitability with subjective certainty of users, we emphasised the importance of the learnability measured by recall tests.

As a conclusion, we propose a methodology of icon design and evaluation for information appliances that integrate unfamiliar features with common users.     

A semantic enriched data model for sensor network interoperability

One of the main open issues in the development of applications for sensor network management is the definition of interoperability mechanisms among the several monitoring systems and heterogeneous data. Interesting researches related to integration techniques have taken place, they are primary based on the adoption of sharing data mechanisms. In the last years, the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach has become predominant in many sensor network projects as it enables the cooperation and interoperability of different sensor platforms at an higher level of abstraction. In this paper we propose a novel architecture for the interoperability of sensor networks, which is based on web services technologies and on a common data model enriched with semantic concepts and annotations. The proposed architecture allows the development of complex decision support system applications by integration of heterogeneous data, accessible through services, according to standard data format and standard protocols.     

数字电视中的设备管理和监控系统

数字电视是建立在光通信、宽带网络、数字编码解码以及计算机增值服务等一整套技术基础之上的电视服务系统.近年来,数字化电视的各种技术和应用研究得到迅猛发展.描述了数字电视中的播出设备管理和监控系统,给出了系统的设计和实现,说明了该系统的特点,并介绍了该系统在电子节目指南中的应用.     

GeoMergeP: Geographic Information Integration through Enriched Ontology Matching

The combination of the use of advanced Information and Communication Technology, especially the Internet, to enable new ways of working, with the enhanced provision of information and interactive services accessible over different channels, is the foundation of a new family of information systems. Particularly, this information explosion on the Web, which threatens our ability to manage information, has affected the geographic information systems. Interoperability is a key word here, since it means, an increasing level of cooperation between information sources on national, regional and local levels; and requires new methods to develop interoperable geographic systems. In this paper, an ontology-driven system (GeoMergeP) is described for the semantic integration of geographic information sources. Particularly, we focus on how ontology matching can be enriched through the use of standards for implementing a semi-automatic matching approach. Then, the requirements and steps of the system are illustrated on the ISPRA (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) case study. Our preliminary results show that ontology matching can be improved; helping interoperating systems increase reliability of exchanged and shared information.     

An infrastructure for scalable, reliable semantic portals

This article extends and implements the basic conceptual framework SEAL (semantic portal) with the aim of using semantic technologies in real-world scenarios through a reliable, scalable infrastructure. We also show how multiple semantic portals can interact with one another to exchange knowledge, thus fostering reuse. The building blocks of our extension include knowledge integration, processing, representation, organization, and access. The authors harness the access facilities of semantic Web technologies to provide an infrastructure suitable for industrial applications.     

Using a trope-based foundational ontology for bridging different areas of concern in ontology-driven conceptual modeling

In recent years, ontology-driven reference models have gained much attention in the literature due to their potential key role in activities such as complex information modeling and semantic interoperability. The engineering process of these conceptual models should account for different phases addressing different areas of concern. In an initial phase of conceptual domain modeling, the target modeling artifacts should be constructed with the goal of maximizing quality attributes such as expressivity and truthfulness to the represented domain in reality. In a subsequent development phase, the resulting domain models can be used to guide the design decisions in the construction of different implementation artifacts addressing different computational concerns. In this paper, we present a philosophically sound, cognitively-oriented and formally characterized foundational theory of objects and tropes (property-instances). Moreover, we use this theory to bring about engineering contributions to both the aforementioned phases of ontology-driven conceptual modeling. Firstly, we show how this theory has been used to (re)design a system of modeling primitives underlying the conceptual domain modeling language OntoUML. Furthermore, we provide precise directives on how to map conceptual domain models in this language to their implementation in less-expressive computationally-oriented codification languages. In particular, we address here a mapping strategy to OWL (Web Ontology Language) that partially preserves the modal-temporal semantics of OntoUML. Finally, we discuss computational support for the proposed approach in terms of conceptual model construction, automatic transformation and temporal querying.     

Frame-based ontological view for semantic integration

Semantic integration is crucial for successful collaboration between heterogeneous information systems. Traditional ontology-driven approaches rely on the availability of explicit ontologies. However, in most application domains, this prerequisite cannot be met. In order to address this issue, this paper investigates the theoretical foundation of ontologies and extends the traditional ontology concept to an ontological view concept. To explicitly and formally specify the ontological views, a Frame-based Ontological view Specification Language (FOSL) is proposed. This language is based on the frame knowledge representation paradigm and uses XML as the encoding. The ontological view driven semantic integration can be achieved based on the specifications. A proof-of-concept prototype environment has been implemented to achieve semantic integration based on ontological views specified with FOSL.     

An ontology-based semantic service for cooperative urban equipments

The development of SOA (service oriented architecture) applications is a paradigm to consider for the integration of services which usually requires the incorporation of distributed artificial intelligence technologies or multi agent systems (MAS) to achieve their objectives. This is the case of transportation field, where the improvement of urban data networks and embedded systems allow the implementation of complex distributed services based on intelligent transportation systems. One of the challenges of this kind of systems is the discovery of services. Typically, discovery of services lacks of intelligence, or the result of this process returns a lot of nonsense information. However, the field of transportation requires quick and accurate requests and answers to deal with emergencies or incidents in the traffic flow. For this purpose, this paper proposes the development of a specific service called semantic service (an ontology-based semantic communication service) developed in TAO (The ACE ORB) of CORBA (common object request broker architecture). This service is able to provide a communication support for distributed environment in conjunction with a set of base libraries like Redland (RDF language bindings) for interacting with ontologies written in RDF and RDFS format. A parser Raptor (RDF Syntax Library) is used for analyzing sequences of symbols to determine the grammatical structure, and a syntax query language, Rasqal (RDF Query Library) is used to build and execute queries. Both, Raptor and Rasqal were designed to work with the Redland library. The main objective is to manage ontological information and interoperate with implemented services in embedded urban devices. Obtained results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Ontological user modelling and semantic rule-based reasoning for personalisation of Help-On-Demand services in pervasive environments

Existing context-aware applications are limited in their support of user personalisation. Nevertheless, the increase in the use of context-aware technologies has sparked the growth in assistive applications resulting in a need to enable adaptation to reflect the changes in user behaviours. This paper introduces a systematic approach to service personalisation for mobile users in pervasive environments and presents a service-oriented distributed system architecture. The developed approach makes use of semantic technologies for user modelling and personalisation reasoning. In the paper we characterise user behaviours and needs in pervasive environments upon which ontological user models are created with special emphasis being placed on ontological modelling of dynamic and adaptive user profiles. We develop a rule-based personalisation mechanism that exploits semantic web rule mark-up language for rule design and a combination of semantic and rule-based reasoning for personalisation. We use two case studies focusing on providing personalised travel assistance for people using Help-on-Demand services deployed on a smart-phone to contextualise the discussions within the paper. The proposed approach is implemented in a prototype system, which includes Help-on-Demand services, content management services, user models and personalisation mechanisms in addition to application specific rules. Experiments have been designed and conducted to test and evaluate the approach with initial results demonstrating the functionality of the approach.