the web as an information market dr. bas van gils [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
Agenda
Two scenarios The information market
demand and supply Brokers
(Part of) a formal model Summary Discussion
Scenario 1
A professor in mathematics .. .. profound background in mathematics .. preparing lecture on triangles .. behind his desk .. all the time in the world ??222 cba
Scenario 2
A construction worker .. .. hardly any mathematical background .. is building a roof on a chemical plant .. is in the field and has to estimate the
amount of lumber needed .. Is in a big hurry
So what?
Both need to know “something” about triangles, and may use the same keywords to describe their information need.
Since both use different appliances, results must be presented in a different way.
Results valuable for one, are likely to be “useless” for the other.
One is in a hurry, the other needs the information immediately
...
Information market
Information demand Information supplyBrokering / MatchingInformation demand Information supplyBrokering / Matching
Information supply
The Web can be seen as an information landscape with resources
How should information supply be characterized? Traditional : topic Modern approaches such as Google:
include typing / relative importance Where to gather this information? RDF
Annotations?
A rich(er) characterization of the Web
Include “all” measurable properties of online resources: Topic (resource is about Mona Lisa) Typing (resource is an EPS file) Relations (resource is linked with website of Le
Louvre) Attributes (resource has resolution 1024x768) Type of representation (resource is a picture)
A formal model for supply (+example)
ResourceSubject
Value
Data Element Resource
Relation Attribute
Resource SpaceElement
Representation
Type
Resource is a Representation of Type “picture” about “Mona Lisa” and is of Type “EPS” and has Attribute of Type “resolution” with value “1024x768” and is destination of Relation with source “lelouvre.html” and Type “part-of”
Demand
Demand is heterogeneous: different searchers need different “things” at different times, presented in a variety of ways
Assumption: query is “complete”: Informational aspects (Aboutness) Structural aspects (relations / attributes) Emotional aspects (knowledge about the
searcher)
Query
Has different “components” and is expressed in the language presented earlier.
Query formulation is a big challenge QBN might help? Profile-based retrieval? Recommender systems? What about role-based searching?
Intermezzo (roles & profiles)
SearchRole A
SearchRole B
Broker
Profile Service
Search System
The broker
The main task of the broker is to value resources for searchers based on a query. Dissect the query into distinct,
measurable properties Measure which resources have the
desired properties (and to what extent!) Rank resource based on their aptness
From a query to an aptness score
Query
Properties&
Weights
Scores / property
Final score
Issues
Properties / Queries can be fuzzy… has Attribute of Type “resolution” with value “high” …
when is a resolution “high” and is this always the same?
Which tools are used to measure the properties a resource has?
How does the search broker determine the weighting of different properties? In the query? Based on the profile?
Valuing resources
Value of an asset is personal and situational There is no (mathematical) domain in which
value can be expressed Therefore: concept of value of an asset only
makes sense in comparison to the value of other assets (partial order)
Value(a1,p,s) > Value(a2,p,s)
Example: buying coffee
In this example the woman buys some coffee to go with her cookies. To her, value of coffee exceeds the value of money. For the man, the value of the money exceeds the value of coffee
Value on the Web
From searcher perspective: exchange time/effort (and sometimes money) in exchange for information (transaction)
An important distinction: the searcher “only” receives a copy of the information
Brokers estimate the value of resources for searchers to facilitate these transactions
Summary
Economic theory (market thinking, value, economic transactions) can be applied to search on the Web
Core concepts: searchers, suppliers, brokers, value, transactions
The research presented here is the result of 4 years of conceptualizing; no tooling available yet
Question / discussion
What tooling would you make if you had a lot of money / time / programmers?
Which aspects of the research presented here strikes you as most / least valuable?
How does your own research fit in? Which online developments fit within the
view / framework presented here?