Call
for Participation
Virtual
Documents: Hypertext Functionality in Digital Libraries
at the Digital Libraries 2000, DL00,
conference
San Antonio, June 3, 2000.
Workshop
Theme
Virtual
documents are documents for which the content, nodes or links, or all three,
are created as needed. There already exist several kinds of documents for which
the content is determined dynamically.
A template can be used for which node contents are substituted at
runtime. Second, applications can be employed to dynamically construct virtual
documents from underlying data in data or knowledge bases for one time use.
Third, CGI scripts and search engines can be used to compose virtual documents
from fragments of other documents for the user on demand. Fourth, metadata can
be generated for summarization for users, where the extraction and
summarization is done on the fly for the user. Now we
need to answer questions
about how to handle these documents within the context of Digital Libraries.
How are virtual documents defined and managed? The management of this class of
documents requires new understandings of bookmarking, versioning,
authentication, structure, ownership, navigation, collaboration, and reuse of
components. Issues of security, data
protection, verification, and access control may also need to be addressed.
Finally we need to answer the questions about how to determine if these
structures are actually improving service to the users.
By
"hypertext functionality", we mean much more than browsing by
clicking on "goto" links from one node to another. The focus of the
HTF series has been on the identification of characteristics that define and
describe the "hypertextuality" of system. For instance, it aims at
describing new ways to view a system's knowledge and processes from a
conceptual point
of view, to let users access and navigate
and select from items of interest, to enhance knowledge through comments and
relationships, and to customize information and display to the individual users
and their tasks.
As
the concept of Digital Library continues to expand from static, passive
repository to active information resource, the potential for virtual documents
in that context increases. The convergence in the work in hypertext
functionality and virtual documents has grown significantly in volume and scope
in recent years. The goal of this workshop is to expand the scope of the
earlier series, reaching out to a broader audience in the Digital Library
community in order to influence and be influenced by the convergent and
divergent needs of this audience.
Workshop Series
This
will be the second workshop on virtual documents (and eighth on hypertext
functionality) following discussions started at the WWW7 conference in
Australia by members of the Reuse of Web Information/ Flexible Hypertext and
Hypertext Functionality workshops.
There have been eight previous Hypertext
Functionality (HTF)
workshops, which began in conjunction with the ACM
Hypertext Conferences. The first three HTF workshops concentrated on the
identification and organization of hypertext functionalities that could form
the core of
hypertext systems in a wide variety of
application areas. HTF4 examined issues
related to the incorporation of advanced hypertext functionality to web-based
applications. HTF5, held in conjunction with the ICSE conference in Kyoto, May
1998, examined the impact of HTF on software engineering. There have also been
several workshops on the use of adaptive and dynamic hypertext techniques. Some related events which have been held in
the past include: the combined workshop on Reuse of Web-based Information and
Flexible Hypertext held in conjunction with WWW7 in Brisbane, the Flexible
Hypertext Workshop held at Hypertext'97, the workshop on Adaptive Systems and User
Modeling on the world wide web held in conjunction with the Sixth International
Conference on User Modeling (UM'97).
Participation
In
this workshop we look forward to fostering the fertile area of overlap not only
with members of the Digital Library, Hypertext, and Virtual Document
communities but with the WWW, the MIS, and the Open Hypermedia Systems (OHS)
communities as well.
This workshop intends to examine the role of virtual
documents in Digital Libraries. Topics of interest include, but
are not limited to, the following:
Submissions
Submissions
are requested in the form of short papers, 5-10 pages, on a related topic or a
position paper, 2-3 pages, indicating interest in the topic. Papers should be
prepared and submitted as html documents to both of the conference chair by the
submission date given below. All papers will be reviewed by 3 referees and
authors will be notified as quickly as possible. The papers will be collected
in a workshop proceeding as well as part of the HTF website collection.
Important
Dates
Submissions due: March 31,
2000
Authors notified: April 15,
2000
Final versions due: May 1,
2000
Workshop date: June 3,
2000
Workshop format
The first session will provide time for
short participant presentations and discussions. In the second session, working
groups will focus on themes identified in the first sessions, followed by group
presentations and discussions on these themes.
The results of the working groups and ensuing discussion will be a
written report on the state of virtual documents in Digital Libraries and a
broader and grander vision for future research. We expect participants to be
prepared to write as well as talk, and to contribute to the delivery of such a
final report.
The
final report plus longer versions of selected papers may be included in a
proposed monograph series by Addison-Wesley on the HTF workshops.
Organizers:
The organizers have been involved in
the HTF and VD workshop series from their inception. Michael Bieber has
research interests in hypertext and networked communities and is currently
working with ACM SIGWEB in developing a digital library (HyNIC) for that
community. His interest in this project is in adding support for hypermedia,
communications, and conceptual mapping to the digital library architecture.
Carolyn Watters has long research interests in information retrieval and
hypertext access and is a member of the HyNIC architecture task force.
Contact
Information
Carolyn Watters
Faculty of Computer Science,
Dalhousie University
E-mail: watters@cs.dal.ca
Phone:
902-494-2093
Michael Bieber
CIS Department
New Jersey Institute of Technology
E-mail: bieber@njit.edu