Semantic VisualizationSemantic Visualization

• What do we mean when we talk about visualization?- Understanding data- Showing the relationships between elements of

data

• Overviews• Changes• The context of information can be set with

semantic information

A Geospatial WebA Geospatial Web

• A set of semantic ontologies to organize information

• Searching semantic data can be contextually driven- Does searching become browsing with semantic

information defaults?- Personalized results based on matching the

semantics of your situation & the data?

• People, interfaces, search systems & information resources

Beyond KeywordsBeyond Keywords

• Semantics take us beyond keywords- How far beyond?- Exposing metadata?

• “the structure of the posted data is flat”- What about existing & derived metadata?

• GML helps with geospatial information- But users still need to understand what they’re

looking at- Subtleties of understanding are complex• Time * Place vs. Time / Place

Lakes in MaineLakes in Maine

• Find “lakes in Maine”• User sees lakes by counties in Maine• Matching US geometry & lake information• Distinctions between lakes inside Maine &

actual lake location• Understanding of what a lake is, typical uses

of lake data, etc.

• Users will have more facets of their query exposed, with some good initial guesses as to their intention with the query

Geospatial SemanticsGeospatial Semantics

• Natural language with minimum markup- HTML, XHTML, META tags, naming conventions

• Simple metadata- XML, Dublin Core, Links

• Data models- RDF for relationships, better interfaces

• Logical semantics- Automated reasoning to determine

correspondence among queries & real-world entities

• Is this easy (easier) because it is real world based?

A Geospatial formatA Geospatial format

• Another flavor of XML to help with this complex relationship- Geospatial format for queries- Assessment metrics for matching queries & noting

precision & recall

• What is the best format for storing geo semantics?

• What is the best way to present this to users?- Map coordinates?- Drill down?

A Conversational Web MappingA Conversational Web Mapping

• There are many ways to map information• Non-physical methods are the most

challenging, but also potentially the most interesting- From an additive, metadata view

• Netscan project- “Qualitative data in a quantified setting”- Is it possible to extract semantics from this?

• What would you need to know to make use of this data?

Semantic Structures?Semantic Structures?

• Usenet is organized into groups• These groups fit a complex taxonomy• Mostly text- Annotations (threads)- Date & Time- User ID

• Variance among groups- Posting vs. Conversing- Topic influences post types- Contributions

Let’s take a look at a mapLet’s take a look at a map

Are groups changing?Are groups changing?

• Alt.binaries is growing, changing usenet from conversation to file exchange

• Areas of usenet are popular, and shifting- SPAM- Alt groups change- More users online = more potential conversations?- Corporate or intended use of groups

Special purposes & repliesSpecial purposes & replies

Semantic InteractionsSemantic Interactions

• How are people changing online?• What is the metadata than can be derived &

shown or used semantically?• How can you understand posting conventions

automatically?- Question, reply, trolls, flamer, chatter

• Does this analysis help us understand the conversations visually?- What about any kind of understanding, even

generally?

Blog ConversationsBlog Conversations

• Blogs provide us with some extra semantics by default

TagCloudsTagClouds

• What could be better with tag clouds?- Delicious- NY Times- Flickr- Yahoo News

Semantic Interfaces or Maps?Semantic Interfaces or Maps?

- Tag Cloud Gallery- 5 Alternate Ways to Browse Amazon.com- Many Eyes – Semantic- MindRaider (Outliner)- Bioinformatics