academic works

Background

These are some of the papers I have written. They are archived here in the hope they may at some point prove useful in the future to others. (I started this in response to negative comments in a discussion section about the uselessness of individual web archives of academic works, so hopefully you're proving that person wrong right now.)

Knowledge Representation and Formal Ontology

• Source vs. Resource Ontology
  The notion of a resource is fundamental in current networked information systems. The term "resource" is used often, specifically in relation the World Wide Web and the W3C's semantic web activity, in standards such as Resource Description Framework (RDF), Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and others. This relatively simple term masks an exceptional amount of ambiguity.
  
  What is a resource, exactly, in the context of electronic documents served over the web? The ontology developed here attempts to explicate what a resource is and its relation to other related entities. [xhtml | presentation]

Document Processing

• Schema Support for S5
  This paper describes a first attempt to create tools and schema to support the S5 format. S5 - A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System - is a tool that displays slideshows in web browsers using a combination of JavaScript, CSS, and specific XHTML markup. The markup necessary is specified in prose. This project attempts to create machine-readable schema to aid in authoring and validation of these format, as well as explore issues in formalizing so called "microformat." [xhtml]

Computer Mediated Communication

• Folksonomies: Cooperative Classification and Communication Through Metadata
  "This paper examines user-generated metadata as implemented and applied in two web services designed to share and organize digital media to better understand grassroots classification." [ presentation | xhtml | pdf ]

Archives

• Scurlock Photographs Cataloging Analysis
  "The Addison Scurlock Studio Photographs and Records collection will be scanned and cataloged. The problem to analyze and put forth a recommendation on is whether this collection will be cataloged using traditional MARC records, or the more recently developed Encoded Archival Description (EAD) format." [xhtml | pdf]

Document Modeling

• Final project: Dramatic works model and DTD
  An XML dialect for representing plays and other dramatic works.

Reference Services

• Weblogs In Libraries: Opportunities and Challenges
  "Weblogs are an increasingly popular form of content on the World Wide Web. While they are not a new concept, having been around in one form or another arguably since the very beginning of the Web, they present a number of issues and opportunities for librarians. In examining how weblogs could be used by libraries, there are two fundamental issues. First, what are the important aspects of weblogs that librarians should evaluate and consider. Second, what are the important aspects of traditional library and information science lacking from weblogs that should be considered when using them in a library context." [xhtml | pdf]

Search Engines and Information Retrieval Systems

• A Comparison of WWW News Search Engines
  "This report critically evaluates and compares four popular World Wide Web search engines that focus exclusively on news content. After a cursory analysis of the policies, scope, and interface of each engine, the results of the search engines are compared. Results are analyzed for subject relevance to the query, their date of publication, publication source, and country of publication."
• The Effectiveness of Content-Based Information Retrieval of Video Game Screenshots
  "This report evaluates the effectiveness of a content-based image retrieval system in the specific domain of video games. More specifically, the domain of video game screenshots - actual pixel representations of the game during execution. By examining the results of image-based queries, this study attempts to determine if visual similarity as determined algorithmically correlates with subjective determinations of video games, such as genre."
• Evaluating Desktop Search Systems
  "Search engines on the web often give people the experience that they have the entire world's knowledge at their fingertips. By indexing millions of documents on servers located around the world and returning ranked results of a user's queries almost instantly, systems like Google, Teoma, and Alltheweb make vast quantities of material more accessible in a manner that was unthinkable even a few years ago. Somewhat paradoxically, the general user experience of searching through the material located on a single user's desktop personal computer in 2004 is far worse. This paper will examine the problems of desktop search, evaluate some of the more recent offerings that attempt to deal with it, and make recommendations for further areas of study and development in this domain."

Rare Books and Special Collection

• Collecting and Preserving Infocom Interactive Fiction [ xhtml | pdf ]

Libraries, Information and Society

• DMCA Tracking Assignment
  "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was passed in 1998 in an attempt to modernize US copyright law and its application to newer digital forms of media. Much like the legislation that has consistently expanded the term of copyright, the DMCA’s provisions generally favor the interests of copyright holders over other parties that use copyrighted works. For librarians and information professionals, the legislation raises a number of important issues. A provision of the law that outlaws circumvention of copy protection can severely curtail activity that previously was considered fair use. The effect of the DMCA on the applicability of the first-sale doctrine is also of importance as libraries purchase and use more electronic resources." [xhtml | pdf]
• Copyrights and Copywrongs Review Review of Siva Vaidhyanathan's Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity. [xhtml | pdf]