UMDL: Other: Glossary

Welcome to the Glossary for the NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Library project at the University of Michigan. Below you will find two glossaries, actually, the first is a glossary of terms and concepts associated with our Project here and related projects we discuss on our web pages. We link to the entries from their appearance in the text of our content pages. Also, if there is a site which has a great deal more useful information about the term or concept, we supply that as well (see SGML).

The other glossary concerns Organizations, Partners, Companies, and Initiatives we mention in our pages. The entries here include a full name of the entry if it is an acronym, information about our relationship with the organization if one exists, and a link to the actual homepage of the entry if one exists. Finally, at the end of the page is a listing for comments, suggested terms not in the glossaries, and corrections to the glossaries. Please use it. We will be continually adding to and upgrading the site.

Term & Concept Glossary
Organizations, Partners, Companies, and Initiatives
Other Helpful Links
Comments, Additions, Corrections - If you want to suggest additions, changes or comments, click here

Term & Concept Glossary

Agent: In UMDL, agents are the basic software modules that perform library services and provide content. We call them "agents" to emphasize that these modules act autonomously, negotiate among themselves, and are responsible for their own resources.
Architecture Group: The group which works on the design and implementation of the system architecture in the Michigan Digital Library (DL) project.
Auction Agent: See _market facilitator_
AUI - the Advanced User Interface: This group within the UMDL project focuses on the user centered design of new paradigms for gathering and organizing information. It is based on the premise more much than support for The One-Shot Query is needed, and that state-of-the-art interface technology is currently underutilized in DL interfaces.
BSO - Broad System of Ordering: A general subject classification scheme, commissioned by UNESCO, intended to be a "switching language" among existing classification schemes and thesauri, to make them mutually compatible on a general level. It provides about 4,000 not very detailed subdivisions. (ALA Encyclopedia) It was chosen for the Digital Library because of its attempted universality, because it was already in electronic form, and because it was not expensive. Used by the project ot provide basic subject indexing.
Collection Interface Agent: a program operating in the Digital Library which interacts with the Collection Registry. For searchable collections (Z39.50 or FTL or ...) it takes care of talking to the remote collection, submitting searches, fetching and processing results, etc. Also referred to as a CIA or a collection agent.
Collection Registry: The database in which descriptions of collections are stored
ColSR: The Collection Search & Retrieval Group
Conspectus Language: The language for expressing meta-data in the Digital Library
ConSR The Conspectus Search and Retrieval Group: Conspectus search and retrieval is focused on the general problem of forming teams of agents to accomplish tasks within the UMDL.
Content Description Language: A subset of the conspectus language, dealing specifically with content (as opposed, for example, to services)
FTL: FTL is a locally-developed search engine used in several collections of journals that are accessible through UMDL.
Information Goods and Services: The fundamental resources exchanged by UMDL agents. Information goods and services include library content, as well as results from any other activity (e.g., search, notification) performed by UMDL agents.
Information Visualization - Advanced graphical information display.: A method of presenting data or information in non-traditional, interactive graphical forms. By using 2-D or 3-D color graphics and animation, these visualizations can show the structure of information, allow one to navigate through it, and modify it with graphical interactions.; Reference URL: http://http2.sils.umich.edu/~furnas/InfoVis.ILS888.95/Course.Refs.html
Intellectual Property Usage License: The authority to employ a particular intellectual work in a designated way, possibly associated with other specifications of scope. These licenses are the basic form of _information good_ related to library content.
Intellectual Work: In IPE usage, the object requiring an _intellectual property usage license_. An authored document, for example. Has an associated individual or agent with authority to grant such licenses.
IPE Group - Intellectual Property & Economic Issues: UMDL subgroup on Intellectual Property and Economic issues. Investigates general economic concerns arising in digital library environments (e.g., pricing models), and develops commerce mechanisms for the UMDL.
Magic Lenses - A specialized local view.: An idea out of Xerox PARC where a region of the display (the "lens"), positioned by the mouse, is rendered in a special way. A simple example would be a magnifying lens. Other lenses might show labels where none were before, or "handles" on objects, or highlight certain subsets of items. We expect they will be useful in the AUI.; Reference URL: http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/projects/MagicLenses/
Market Facilitator: A type of _mediator agent_ that determines the terms of exchange among agents, based on bids they have submitted. Also called an auction agent.
Mediator Agent: Provide intermediate information services. In the UMDL they deal exclusively with other software agents rather than end users or collections, performing such functions as directing a query from a UIA to a collection, monitoring query progress, transmitting results, translating formats and bookkeeping. A subclass of mediators, facilitators, exists expressly to team up other agents to accomplish a given task.
Metadata: Data about data. Includes information about the context of data, the content of data, and the control of or over data.
NetBill: The NetBill project at CMU's Information Networking Institute is designing the protocols and software to support network-based payment for goods and services delivered over the Internet. NetBill acts as a third party to provide authentication, account management, transaction processing, billing, and reporting services for network-based clients and users.; Reference URL: http://www.ini.cmu.edu/netbill/
Ontology: An explicit formal specification of how to represent the objects, concepts and other entities that are assumed to exist in some area of interest and the relationships that hold among them. (FOLDC); Reference URL: http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html
PAD++ - A zooming worksurface.: Software which provides a virtual infinite extent, infinitely zoomable worksurface, being developed under an ARPA grant at the University of New Mexico. Its "multiscale" interface, allowing interaction at many scales, it is expected to allow the visualization of large scale information structures, and the organization of large and complex work activities. It is integrated with the Tcl/Tk prototyping environment and is being used as the development platform for the AUI.; Reference URL: http://found.cs.nyu.edu/MRL/pad/pad.html
PAT: Indexing software developed by the OpenText Corp. which serves as the basis for its products used for searching the WWW , intranets, etc.; Web Search URL: http://www.opentext.com/omw/f-omw.html
Portals - Windows on a zooming worksurface.: Live windows from one part of the Pad (q.v.) surface onto another. They can be used to bring distant regions close, to give simultaneous views at multiple scales, or, when given special active functionality, to create Magic lenses (q.v.)
Query Planning Agent: A kind of Task Planning Agent. In many contexts, this means task planners who specialize in query tasks. Some select only from a library of exisiting plans for executing queries, others contruct new plans.
Registrar: A person who registers a collection with the Digital Library (DL)
Registration: The process of adding new descriptions to the registry database.
Registry Agent: The agent that possesses the registry database.
Registry Database: The database in which descriptions of agents (including collections) are stored. Also called the Conspectus database, or the registry.
Remora Agents: An agent in the Digital Library which, given a URL, will check the links of a homepage at a specified interval of time, check a specified homepage for any changes in the homepage at a specified interval and notify the user of any changes, and/or search a specified homepage for key phrases, results or which are e-mailed to the user.; Reference URL: http://bandwidth.engin.umich.edu:8080/remora/remora_main.html
Rights (do we want to omit this?): generally, "an interest or title in an object of property; a just and legal claim to hold, use, or enjoy it, or to convey or donate it" (Black's Law Dictionary). In the Digital Library the "object of property" is an information good or service.
Scaffolding: This concept is based on the idea that at the beginning of learning, students need a great deal of support; gradually, this support is taken away to allow students to try their independence. Providing support takes place in a number of ways - the way in which the selections are organized in a theme, the amount of prior knowledge activation that is provided, the way in which the literature is read by the students, and the types of responses students are encouraged to make. (from the work "Useful Instructional Strategies for Literature-Based Instruction"); Reference URL: http://www.hmco.com/hmco/school/rdg/res/literacy/lit_ins4.html
Semantic zooming: In a multiscale interface like PAD++, normal, "geometric" zooming simply changes the size of objects in the view. In semantic zooming, objects change appearance or shape as they change size. For example a growing dot will become a simple box, then a box with a one-word label, then a box with a longer label, then a rectangle filled with text and pictures. The goal is to give the most meaningful presentation at each size.
SGML: Standard Generalized Markup Language.; Reference URL: SGML/HTML Resource Centre http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2694/sgml.html
Synergy of Query and Browse - Making the best of both: The AUI part of the UMDL project intends to explore various ways to combine querying (the usual DL focus) with browsing. For example, one can use the results of queries to highlight the structure being browsed to help guide navigation.
Task Analysis: The study of tasks, their sequences of action, and their information requirements (from the book "Graphical User Interface Design & Analysis" by Redmond-Pyle & Moore)
Task Language: This is the language for describing a task. It includes not only a description of the desired results, but also parameters associated with the achievement of the results.
Task Modeling - an Early step in UCD: This is among the first steps in doing User Centered Design (UCD), following User Class Description. This involves understanding, and as much as possible formally representing, what activities users will be trying to do with the system to be designed. This defines the functionality the software is to provide, and gives clues about how it will be used.
Task Planning Agent: Also called task planner. Agents that plan tasks, which entails figuring out what agents/results to bring together to accomplish a task within the DL architecture.
Testbed: a platform upon which an assortment of experimental tools and products may be deployed and allowed to interact in real-time. In the ensuing fermentation, successful tools and products may be identified and/or amended in an iterative, evolutionary, interdependent process.
Thesaurus: A controlled vocabulary within a circumscribed subject field used to organize material or information. Consists of a syndetic structure that attempts to perform for the field in question the same function that conventional subject heading lists serve for the whole body of recorded knowledge.; Plural: Thesauri.
UIA - also called (user interface agent): a program (or suite of programs?) operating in the Digital Library which interacts with the user. UIAs provide a graphical environment in which a user may register information about himself, construct and deploy a search and/or view search results. The UIA is designed to elicit from the user information needed by the DL in order to perform the user desired tasks and to display results of a DL function in a way the user can readily comprehend. The UIA, then acts as an "interface" between the user and the DL system. A goal of the Digital Library (DL) is to provide an assortment of UIAs, each appropriate to a particular user or set of tasks.
UM-PRS: A system that we previously developed for flexible procedure specification and execution as a general basis of Task Planning Agents.
Usage License: See_intellectual property usage license_
User Centered Design (UCD) - How to make it really work for users.: UCD is a design methodology focusing on how real users will use systems to do real, useful work. Users are observed before design, in testing design ideas before implementation, and in evaluating and shaping the implementation through many iterative cycles, until the system works well for them. This is the methodology we plan to use for the AUI.
User Class Description - An early step in UCD: This is among the first steps in doing User Centered Design (UCD). This characterizes the different types of users (e.g., education, skills, incentives) for whom the interface must ultimately be suitable. This step is followed by Task Modeling.
User Environment - A workspace: An integrated system which seamlessly supports wider functionality then traditional single application software. Sometimes characterized by the extent to which information and functionality has been arranged so that the cost structure of its use for a particular set of tasks has been optimized - what you need at your fingertips...
WAIS: Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) A distributed information retrieval system. (FOLDC)
Z39.50: the American National Standard Information Retrieval Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification for Open Systems Interconnection. The National Information Standards Organization (NISO), an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards developer that serves the library, information, and publishing communities, approved the original standard in 1988 (referred to as Z39.50-1988 or Version 1). NISO published a revised version of the standard in 1992 (referred to as Z39.50-1992 or Version 2). ANSI/NISO Z39.50 defines a standard way for two computers to communicate for the purpose of information retrieval. Z39.50 makes it easier to use large information databases by standardizing the procedures and features for searching and retrieving information. Specifically, Z39.50 supports information retrieval in a distributed, client and server environment where a computer operating as a client submits a search request (i.e., a query) to another computer acting as an information server. Software on the server performs a search on one or more databases and creates a result set of records that meet the criteria of the search request. The server returns records from the result set to the client for processing. The power of Z39.50 is that it separates the user interface on the client side from the information servers, search engines, and databases. Z39.50 provides a consistent view of information from a wide variety of sources, and it offers client implementors the capability to integrate information from a range of databases and servers.; Reference URL: http://www.cni.org/pub/NISO/docs/Z39.50-1992/50.brochure.txt

Organizations, Partners, Companies, and Initiatives

AAAS: "The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, pronounced "Triple-A-S") is a nonprofit professional society dedicated to the advancement of scientific and technological excellence across all disciplines, and to the public's understanding of science and technology. AAAS is among the oldest societies in America, having been founded in Philadelphia in 1848. Many of today's most prestigious and influential scientific societies have their historical origins in AAAS. "; URL: http://www.aaas.org
Apple: URL: http://www.apple.com/
ARPA: "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions and dual-use applications."; URL: http://www.arpa.mil/
Blue Skies: An award-winning interactive internet based weather service and educational initiative.; URL: http://groundhog.sprl.umich.edu/blueskies.html
CHICO project: Cultural Heritage Initiative for Community Outreach; URL: http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/
CNRI: "The Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to formulating, planning, and carrying out national-level research initiatives on the use of network-based information technology. CNRI is concentrating on research and development for the National Information Infrastructure, working collaboratively with industry, academia, and government."; URL: http://www.cnri.reston.va.us/
CPA: Commission on Preservation and Access; URL:http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/cpa/
CREW: Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work at the University of Michigan; URL: http://www.csmil.umich.edu/
Digital Library Federation: "The Federation is comprised of leaders of fifteen of the nation's largest research libraries and archives and the Commission on Preservation and Access. "A primary goal of the Federation is the implementation of a distributed, open digital library accessible across the global Internet. The library will consist of collections expanding over time in number and scope to be created from the conversion to digital form of documents contained in founding member and other libraries and archives, and from the incorporation of holdings already in electronic form."; URL: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/cpa/newsletter/cpanl80.html
EECS: University of Michigan's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; URL: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/
Elsevier Science Publishers: URL: http://www.elsevier.com/
ESRI: Environmental Systems Research Institute; URL: http://www.esri.com/
European Digital Library Consortium (ERCIM): "the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. Leading research establishments from fourteen European countries are members of ERCIM."; URL: http://www-ercim.inria.fr/
Hewlett-Packard: URL: http://www.hp.com/
HTI: "The Humanities Text Initiative (HTI) was designed with several purposes in mind, and serves as an umbrella effort both for the creation and maintenance of online texts through UMLibText, and as a mechanism for furthering the University's capabilities in the area of online text. The HTI was conceived by the University of Michigan Press, the School of Information and Library Studies, and the University Library, with important support from LS&A and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. "; URL: http://www.hti.umich.edu/
IBM: International Business Machines; URL: http://www.ibm.com/
IPL: Internet Public Library; URL: http://www.ipl.org
Joint Digitial Libraries Initiative: "The Joint Digital Libraries Initiative (DLI) is a four-year research effort exploring the technical requirements for future digital libraries. The Joint DLI is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), and NASA. The Joint DLI is a project of the federal Internet Infrastructure Technology and Applications Working Group of the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative (HPCC). Digital libraries add value and content to the communication, computation, and infrastructure of the Internet and are viewable among data sources on the Internet."; URL: http://techinfo.jpl.nasa.gov/JPLTRS/SISN/ISSUE37/Library.htm
JSTOR: Journal Storage Project, "Established in August 1995, JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization created with the assistance of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in information technology. "; URL:http://index.umdl.umich.edu/jstor/
Making of America: "The Making of America (MOA) Project is a multi-institutional initiative to create and make accessible over the internet a distributed digital library of important materials on the history of the United States. The Cornell University and the University of Michigan libraries are cooperating in the initial phase of MOA, which is being funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation. "; URL: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/MOA/moa-main_page.html
McGraw-Hill: URL: http://www.mghr.com/
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration; URL: http://www.nasa.gov/
NII: National Information Infrastructure
NRC: "The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of further knowledge and advising the federal government."; URL: http://www.nas.edu/nrc/
NSF: The National Science Foundation is an independent U.S. Government agency established in 1950, with a mission "To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense."; URL:http://www.nsf.gov/
OpenText: Open Text Corporation is a leading provider of applications, tools and services that enable organizations to use intranets as new platforms for collaborative, distributed computing headquartered in Waterloo, near Toronto, Canada. The company was founded in 1991. Its U.S. operations are headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois and its European operations in St. Gallen, Switzerland.; URL: http://www.opentext.com/
TULIP: The University Licensing Project. TULIP is "an initiative of Elsevier Science Publishers to explore the issues involved in electronic distribution of scholarly journals. The TULIP project involves nine universities and about sixty Materials Science journal titles."; URL: http://tulipsrvr.engin.umich.edu/tulip/
UMDL: The University of Michigan Digital Library Project.; URL: http://www.si.umich.edu/UMDL/
UMI: University Microfilms International, a Bell & Howell Company; URL: http://www.umi.com/
Vision 2010: "The School of Information and Library Studies (SILS) joins the Commission on Preservation and Access in a partnership to study the implication of technological developments for higher education and scholarly communication in the next 20 years. The 18-month study, "Vision 2010," is funded in part by a $180,000 grant the Commission received from the Carnegie Corporation. "Vision 2010" began in May 1994 and involves individuals from a broad range of activities and professional experience, including the teaching, research administration, scholarly communication, publishing, librarianship and information technology fields."; URL: http://www2.sils.umich.edu/hp/pr/vision2010.html
Windows to the Universe: "Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system on the Earth and Space Sciences for the use of the general public. Windows to the Universe is a project to the University of Michigan funded by NASA through the NASA Office of High Performance Communications and Computing (HPCC) Information Infrastructure Technologies and Applications (IITA) Remote Sensing Data Base Applications Program and the NASA Space Physics Division."; URL: http://www.windows.umich.edu/
WWW: "The World Wide Web (WWW) is the universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of human knowledge. It is an initiative started at CERN, now with many participants. It has a body of software, and a set of protocols and conventions. WWW uses hypertext and multimedia techniques to make the web easy for anyone to roam, browse, and contribute to."; URL: http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/WWW/