Portal Structure:

IST World covers four different content types:

• Organisations
• Projects
• Experts
• Publications

and allows for different types of search:

• Basic Search
• Categorial Search
• Partner/Consortia Search.

Query definition options vary for each content type (i.e., location for organisations, funding program for projects, author for publications, etc.) and allow for advanced queries.

If queries are defined correctly results will be displayed in the center part of the IST World portal. The results are cut down to a maximum of 200 hits. Subsequently, results can be analysed and visualised with the IST World tools:

• Collaboration Diagram
• Competence Diagram
• Collaboration Trends
• Competence Trends
• Consortia Prediction
• Semantic Search

Portal Startpage:

The IST World start page allows for queries ranging over all IST World data sets. Query results are presented as a list, showing hits from individual data sets.

Datasets and Queries:

• All queries are based on keyword matching. In case of no results please check your spelling.
• The current implementation by default is based on Boolean AND.
• It is possible to query for phrases like "Information Systems", "Semantic Web" by adding quotations around the query phrase.
• National data sets often contain bi-lingual information. It is therefore possible, to query in English or national languages to get results.
  

Search Methods:

• Basic Search is provided by default.
• Partner Search allows for search of people and organisations with expertise in the areas represented by the query words. The Partner Finder is available for organisations and experts only, and gives start examples (knowledge, technologies, semantic search, etc.).
• Categorial Search is a topic-driven navigation interface based on the "Science" part of the dmoz taxonomy, including relevant scientific areas for IST World. It is intended for navigation between categories and subcategories. Checking the checkbox “Retrieve Sub Category hits” (left menu) shows the results for all subcategories (default). The Categorial Search will be improved during the remaining project duration.

Results: Queries from the start page show the list of results from within each individual data set. The results are generated with links pointing to specific content within one data sets. The query terms are remembered and kept as long as no new query is explicitly defined. A switch between content types and data sets based on keywords in memory is therefore possible and very convenient.

Content Types: Organisations, Projects, Experts, Publications

Results: Either based on keywords in memory from the startpage or by definition of a new query results are listed with rank numbers, computed keywords (optional), and related text snippets (optional), based on the query to allow for an evaluation of the results.

• Query terms are highlighted in bold fonts.
• For each entity, text snippets are collected from all related entities.

Sign Up (Join the IST World Community)!

The IST World Community Tool or Social Networking Site enables you to register and become a member of the IST World Community. Within the IST World Community you can connect and build your own network, send messages to colleagues and maintain your RTD contacts. With registration in the IST World Community, you are able to fill your profile, and add links to experts, organisations, project and publications. Profiles can (optionally) be uploaded to the IST World repository for analysis and visualisation.

Collaboration Diagram

Collaboration Diagram for the top 10% of
Organisations in Germany within the FP5+FP6 IST data set

The collaboration diagram visualises collaboration among found entities. The maximum number of collaborating entities for a diagram is restricted to 300, to prevent from slow visualisation and unreadable diagrams. A message is given if too many relations were found.

To optimize and modify the diagram of collaborating entities, change the graph configuration (right hand side menu). The Graph Configuration tool allows you to:

• analyze top x % of search results
• create the graph based on experts, projects or publications
• rank the nodes inside the diagram
  • according to the query
  • according to the intensity of collaboration between entities
• constrain the time you are willing (max =60 seconds) to wait for an optimized graph visualization

After the modification of parameters, click UPDATE to see the changes.

At the lower bottom of the visualised graph, additional tools are available to optimize and change the visibility of the generated graph:

• increase / decrease the number of nodes
• zoom in/out on the graph
• produce a circular or rectangular oriented graph
• hide/show nodes/edges labels
  
• arrange the graph by moving individual nodes;
• node labels are becoming larger based on the proximity to the center
• edge labels show the strength of the collaboration connections between entities and represent real numbers

Competence Diagram

Competence Diagram representing competences for
organisations in Germany from the FP5+FP6 IST dataset

The Competence Diagram is a two-dimensional graph of keywords indicating frequencies of entities related to displayed keywords. It can be viewed as ‘topic clusters’ in which organisations (see graph) experts, or projects specialize. The major topics can be viewed as blue clouds with centers representing peaks of competence. The darker blue background colors are, the stronger the competencies behind it. The expertise or competence of selected subsets of instances is represented by the displayed keywords in the background.

Red crosses locate individual instances within the competence landscape. The distance of the red crosses towards the center indicates how strongly/weakly instances are associated with major topics or competences. Instances within white spaces are not assigned to one topic but rather have a general allocation towards many topic or competence clouds around them.

Moving of the mouse over an individual (red cross) highlights its competence areas. The dynamic circle shows the keywords in its range. Tools at the bottom of the graph allow for an increase/decrease of font size of labels and the range of coverage of the blue circle. Turn off the labeling of crosses by clicking on the large “L” to concentrate on the landscape. Individual names still appear when moving the mouse over the red crosses.

Change or improve the diagram by a) clicking on the diagram area itself; and b) using the Configuration tools in the right menu.

A click on the colored community regions results in a more detailed view of community development by further splitting the region into sub-community regions. At the lower left side menu the list of community members and their strength of participation (in %) are given.

To view instance details, click on an instance in the lower left side list to be directed to the instance details page.

Configuration Tool:

The configuration tool allows you to choose:

• the top percentage of the results for a more detailed or a more broad view of trends.
• to calculate the trends based on textual and temporal descriptions of the related projects or publications information.
• query to show trends for a specific year (2007 by default).
  

Competence Trends Diagram

Competence Trends Diagram representing Trends for
organisations in Germany from the FP5+FP6 IST dataset

The Competence Trends Diagram shows competence strength development. The diagram is computed from temporal and collaboration descriptions of related projects or publications as selected in the configuration settings. The temporal strength development of each competence is identified with a colored region across the diagram. Every colored region is described by competence keywords in the lower right hand side of the diagram. Instances are listed on the lower left hand side. The order of the displayed instances is associated with their strength in the field of the selected competence.

Clicking on the competence region allows a more detailed insight into competence development by further splitting the region into sub-competence regions. Click on the instances in the lower left to view instance details.

Change or improve the diagram as explained above, by a) clicking on the diagram area itself; and b) using the Configuration tools in the right menu.

Collaboration Trends Diagram

Collaboration Trends Diagram representing Trends for organisations in Germany from the FP5+FP6 IST dataset

The Collaboration Trends Diagram shows community strength development. The diagram is computed from temporal and collaboration descriptions of related projects or publications, as selected in the Configuration Settings. The temporal strength development of each community is identified as a colored region across the diagram. Every colored region is described by the most indicative community members listed in the lower right hand side of the diagram. Individual instances are listed on the lower left hand side of the diagram. The order of displayed instances is based on the participation strength of an instance within the selected community.

Change or improve the diagram as explained above, by a) clicking on the diagram area itself; and b) using the Configuration tools in the right menu.

Consortia Prediction Diagram

Consortia Prediction Trends Diagram representing Trends for collaborating organisations in Germany from the FP5+FP6 IST dataset

The computed diagram represents your query results. The visual map shows collaboration or community clusters. The major communities can be viewed as green clouds with the center representing the strongest bonds. Individual instances are represented by red crosses. Their position is identified by their connection to the major communities. The closer the red dots, the higher the probability they will collaborate in the future. Individual instances within white spaces are not definitely assigned to one specific community but rather have a general allocation towards the community clouds around.

By moving the mouse around the diagram, you can highlight specific communities indicated by keywords in the range of the dynamic blue circle. Click on red dots to view individual instance details.

Semantic Search