Research Projects

http://brain.lis.uiuc.edu/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

BeeSpace: An Interactive Environment for Analyzing Nature and Nurture in Societal Roles

Abstract

This project will analyze social behavior on an unprecedented whole-genome scale, using Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee, as the model organism. Honey bees live in a complex society governed by an age-related division of labor, with each individual assuming many roles during her lifetime. Both genetic heredity and environmental conditions determine what role a bee performs, and when she performs it. The biology research will generate a unique database of gene expressions for all social behavior, recording brain gene expression for hundreds of individuals, each with a specific societal role. These microarray experiments utilize the recently sequenced genome, supported by state-of-the-art statistics. The informatics research will develop an interactive environment to analyze all information sources relevant to bee social behavior. These include genome databases from honey bee and related organisms, linked to complete scientific literature relevant to insect behavior. New text mining technology will integrate molecular description with information from physiology, behavior, neuroscience, and evolution.

Better Repositories Are Information Networks (BRAIN)

Abstract

About 40% of US universities have or are building institutional repositories, and another 40% are planning them. About 80% of all journals now permit authors to self-archive (on a personal web site or in an institutional repository). About 15% of faculty publishing new scholarly articles actually do this. BRAIN aims to raise the rate of voluntary participation in institutional repositories.

Website

Principal Investigator

John Unsworth

BioGeoMancer

Abstract

The BioGeomancer (BG) Project is a worldwide collaboration of natural history and geospatial data experts. The primary goal of the project is to maximize the quality and quantity of biodiversity data that can be mapped in support of scientific research, planning, conservation, and management. The project promotes discussion, manages geospatial data and data standards, and develops software tools in support of this mission.

Website

http://www.biogeomancer.org/

Principal Investigator

Bryan Heidorn

Biological Information Specialist

Abstract

The objectives of this NSF funded project are to develop curriculum, establish internships, integrate course work with informatics research, share the educational approach, and expand understanding of the role of informatics in scientific progress. The BIS program is aimed at making progress toward the problem of "getting past the prototype" by educating information professionals responsible for the implementation, evaluation, continual improvement, sustainability, and integration of information and data systems about biology. BIS professionals are trained to exploit existing data standards and work toward "long-lived data" and interoperability, and to build and integrate the increasing number of digital libraries, repositories, indexing systems, ontologies, taxonomies, vocabularies, and tools associated with digital data and products.

Website

http://sci.lis.uiuc.edu/index.php?page=BISInfo

Co Principal Investigator

Bryan Heidorn, Carole Palmer

Funding

Funding

$249,189, National Science Foundation

Centuries of Knowledge

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Bryan Heidorn

Funding

$852,502, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Chicago Community Informatics: Places, Uses, Resources

Abstract

In this Early Career Development project, Dr. Williams will use a social capital/social network model to research actual and potential IT use in six disadvantaged communities across Chicago. The research will analyze how people and communities are already using computers and the Internet, and how their own lives and identities might be represented as part of our nation's cyberinfrastructure.

Principal Investigator

Kate Williams

Funding

$199,796, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Civic Commitment and Student Life

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Community Funds of Knowledge

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Community Informatics Corps: The Next Generation

Abstract

GSLIS will expand and enhance its pilot Community Informatics master's program. The aim of the CI program is to recruit and mentor a group of Latino, African-American, and other students interested in the experiences of underserved groups in society who are eager for a career that gives them the opportunity to contribute to their communities. Students in the CI program focus their coursework on social entrepreneurship and community library and information services, so that they are prepared to apply what they've learned to the creation of innovative information services implemented within and across a range of community-based and public interest organizations.

Principal Investigator

http://ilabs.inquiry.uiuc.edu/ilab/cii/

Funding

$996,243, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Community Informatics for Youth: Using the Extension Network to Recruit Future LIS Professionals

Abstract

Under this grant, GSLIS and the University of Illinois Extension's statewide 4-H network will partner to reach youth and youth leaders with engaging, educational activities to recruit underserved youth into Library and Information Science (LIS). Five Illinois communities--Champaign-Urbana, Chicago, Danville, East St. Louis, and Rockford--with a high concentration of minority, low-income, and English-language-learner populations will pilot the program. Junior high and high school youths will participate in a variety of activities designed to give them familiarity with a range of information science topics, and a variety of LIS careers. The project will also produce a curriculum for use elsewhere.

Principal Investigator

Chip Bruce

Funding

$778,895, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Community Inquiry Labs (iLabs)

Abstract

The Community Inquiry Laboratory (iLab) project develops both conceptual frameworks and open source software:
* Community emphasizes support for collaborative activity and for creating knowledge that is connected to people's values, history, and lived experiences.
* Inquiry points to support for open-ended, democratic, participatory engagement.
* Laboratory indicates a space and resources to bring theory and action together in an experimental and critical manner.
iLab software is itself developed through an open process of inquiry in which users participate. People around the world have used iLabs to create interactive websites for school and university courses, research projects, neighborhood action, etc.

Website

Co Principal Investigator

Chip Bruce, Ann Bishop

Funding

Computer-Supported Social Networks

Abstract

This work is being conducted through a variety of studies that address the way computer media are used to support social networks. The work explores how work, learning, and social relations are maintained online, as well as what kinds of relations make up a collaborative, learning, work, and/or friendship tie.

Contact

Caroline Haythornthwaite

Cultural Heritage and Museum Practices (CHAMP)

Abstract

Principal Investigator

http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~twidale/research/docents/

The Cyberdocent

Abstract

How might we use advanced networked technologies in museums? How might they be used to improve the experience for visitors to the museum? We are investigating these questions through a careful analysis of what currently happens in museums and how we might want to build on or change that. We think that much can be learned from studying the kind of things that docents do when they give a guided tour. We are not proposing that museums should replace docents, but rather that they should serve as a starting point for considering the kinds of functionalities that computer systems should be provided with. This approach tries to avoid the technology-driven obsession of much innovative use of advanced technologies and instead to explore the design space of possibilities with a stronger focus on what could and should be built based on user needs.

Website

Contact

Michael Twidale

Development of International Educational Guidelines for Digital Librarianship

Abstract

Funded by IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions), this research explores the variety of educational models for developing digital librarians around the world. Working with members of the IFLA Education and Training Section the results will be used to determine the feasibility of establishing international guidelines for educating digital librarians.

Co Principal Investigator

Terry L. Weech

Funding

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

Digital Collections and Content

Abstract

Website

http://imlsdcc.grainger.uiuc.edu/research.htm

Principal Investigator

http://www.ndiipp.uiuc.edu/

Distributed Knowledge

Abstract

This work explores the process of knowledge construction across divides in discipline, geography, etc. This work is undertaken with the aim of providing a better understanding of such processes in order to facilitate collaborative work across knowledge divides, and to inform design of computer-supported collaborative environments for such work.

Contact

Caroline Haythornthwaite

ECHODep: A Partnership in the National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program

Abstract

The ECHO DEPository is a 3-year digital preservation research and development project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partnership with OCLC and funded by the Library of Congress under their National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP). Other project partners include NCSA, Tufts University, Michigan State University, and state libraries from Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

Website

Co Principal Investigator

John Unsworth, Beth Sandore

Funding

$3,100,000, Library of Congress

Electronic Journals in the Humanities: Patterns of Use and Measures of Impact

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Enhancing Knowledge Discovery for Humanities through the Software Environment for the Advancement of Scholarly Research

Abstract

The project will address the "80 percent problem": 80 percent of the information needed for business and research is unstructured, meaning it's not in easily searchable databases (think of email, text documents, and even images, audio, and video); 80 percent of the required information is "open source," meaning it's not proprietary or top secret; and people are spending 80 percent of their time hunting for the information they need and just 20 percent actually using it.

Co Principal Investigator

John Unsworth

Funding

$1,124,800, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education Program

Abstract

The National Science Foundation's Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Program supports teaching fellowships for graduate students in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) disciplines. The fellows collaborate with SMET and Education faculty and participating K-12 teachers to integrate the use of computer-based modeling, scientific visualization, and informatics in science and mathematics education.

Website

http://gk12-uiuc.net/pn/

Contact

Chip Bruce

Funding

http://www.monkproject.org/

Herbis

Abstract

This project offers proof of concept and an initial implementation of 'one-button' specimen imaging and data capture. Clicking the shutter on a digital camera initiates a sequence that culminates with the population of label data and a specimen image into a structured collection database. Our ultimate goal is to reduce the total cost of digital collection data capture by significantly reducing human labor required and total project duration. Significant gains can be achieved by developing appropriate protocols and methodologies, then packaging them as web services. Much of this can be accomplished by applying existing technology to data acquisition bottlenecks.

Website

http://www.herbis.org/

Principal Investigator

Bryan Heidorn

The Hidden History of U.S. Telecommunications

Abstract

An archivally grounded research project on telecom system development between the 1870s and the 1950s.

Principal Investigator

Dan Schiller

How Timeless Are the Classics? Documenting the Children's Canon, 1909-1996

Abstract

The creation of a searchable electronic database of the titles designated "first purchase" for children's library collections from 1909 to the present.

Principal Investigator

Christine Jenkins

Humanities text-mining in the Digital Library (MONK)

Abstract

MONK (Metadata Offer New Knowledge) is a digital environment designed to help humanities scholars discover and analyze patterns in the texts they study. It supports both micro analyses of the verbal texture of an individual text and macro analyses that let you locate texts in the context of a large document space consisting of hundreds or thousands of other texts. Shuttling between the "micro" and the "macro" is a distinctive feature of the MONK environment, where you may read as closely as you wish but can also practice many forms of what Franco Moretti has provocatively called "distant reading."

Website

Principal Investigator

John Unsworth

Funding

$999,883, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Information and Discovery in Neuroscience

Abstract

This project aims to specify information technology needed to 1) improve neuroscientists' ability to synthesize existing research results and share information and 2) support different modes of discovery and collaboration. Through field studies at neuroscience labs we are identifying high impact information, critical information problems, and constraints on the transfer and exchange of information within research teams and between specializations and disciplines.

Website

http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~neuro/

Principal Investigator

Funding

$345,331, National Science Foundation

The Information Environments of Humanities Scholars

Abstract

Investigates how humanities scholars think about and organize their work and how they gather and use information sources. We are analyzing the interplay between print and digital materials in the research process and are particularly interested in the unique role of primary source materials and how enhancements in electronic texts impact their use.

Principal Investigator

Investigating Data Curation Profiles across Research Domains

Abstract

Investigators in the Distributed Data Curation Center in the Libraries at Purdue University, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign will address the question "which researchers are willing to share data, when, with whom, and under what conditions?" The team will produce case studies of researcher data/metadata workflow, curation profiles describing policies for archiving and making available research data, a matrix to compare parameters across disciplines, system requirements for managing data in a repository, and recommendations for implementing results under diverse systems. The project will describe the roles of librarians and identify the skill sets they need to facilitate scholarly communication and data sharing.

Co Principal Investigator

http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/amag/langevgroup/

Funding

$272,229, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Language Evolution

Abstract

Language is an information system. We're building computer-based models of language evolution so that societies of autonomous agents can develop their own languages, and as a foundation for theories of dynamic information systems of all kinds (e.g. mutually co-adapting distributed subject indexes, website structure evolution).

Website

Contact

Les Gasser

Librarians Serving Community-based Higher Education: Preparing the Next Generation of Community College Librarians

Abstract

This project partners NILRC along with ten libraries in community colleges in Illinois and Missouri to build a diverse professional workforce that understands community-based library staffing and service strategies as well as the challenges of serving a non-traditional, diverse, commuter-based student population. GSLIS will work with the University of Illinois College of Education to provide a varied curriculum. The partner libraries offer the students mentoring throughout the graduate program and for six months following graduation.

Principal Investigator

Linda C. Smith

Funding

$354,896, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Library Access Midwest Program (LAMP)

Abstract

LIS Access Midwest Program (LAMP) is a regional network of academic libraries and information science schools dedicated to promoting careers within the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) by targeting promising undergraduate students at its member institutions to participate in activities and events designed to increase their awareness of the profession and to provide support for subsequent graduate studies in Library and Information Science. LAMP seeks to employ a range of recruitment techniques including summer institutes and internships, peer and professional mentorship and guidance, and financial assistance for the completion of a Masters degree in LIS.

Website

http://www.lisaccess.org/

Principal Investigator

Rae-Anne Montague

Funding

$971,915, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Markup Languages for Complex Documents

Abstract

For all the developments in XML since 1998, one thing that has not changed is the understanding of XML documents as serializations of tree structures conforming to the constraints expressed in the document's schema. Notwithstanding XML's many strengths, there are problem areas which invite further research on some of the fundamental assumptions of XML and the document models associated with it. It is a challenge to represent in XML anything that does not easily lend itself to representation by context-free or constituent structure grammars, such as overlapping or fragmented elements, and multiple co-existing complete or partial alternative structures or orderings. For the purpose of our work, we call such structures complex structures, and we call documents containing such structures complex documents. The MLCD (Markup Languages for Complex Documents) project aims to integrate alternative approaches by developing both an alternative notation, a data structure and a constraint language which as far as possible is compatible with and retains the strengths of XML-based markup, yet solves the problems with representation and processing of complex structures. MLCD started in 2001 and is expected to complete its work in 2007. The project is a collaboration between a group of researchers based at several different institutions.

Website

http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~dubin/research.html#huitfeldt06:DH

Contact

http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~dubin/research.html#dubin04:trends

Mathematical Models in Information Retrieval

Abstract

Gerard Salton is often credited with developing the vector space model (VSM) for information retrieval (IR). Citations to Salton give the impression that the VSM must have been articulated as an IR model sometime between 1970 and 1975. However, the VSM as it is understood today evolved over a longer time period than is usually acknowledged, and an articulation of the model and its assumptions did not appear in print until several years after those assumptions had been criticized and alternative models proposed. An often cited overview paper titled "A Vector Space Model for Information Retrieval" (alleged to have been published in 1975) does not exist, and citations to it represent a confusion of two 1975 articles, neither of which were overviews of the VSM as a model of information retrieval. Until the late 1970s, Salton did not present vector spaces as models of IR generally but rather as models of specific computations. Citations to the phantom paper reflect an apparently widely held misconception that the operational features and explanatory devices now associated with the VSM must have been introduced at the same time it was first proposed as an IR model.

Website

Contact

http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/amag/

Multi Agent Systems

Abstract

Multi-Agent Systems research at the ISRL covers basic studies of multi-agent systems, including coordination models, computational organization theory, and multi-agent infrastructure. The Multi-Agent Systems Group is home of the MACE3J experimental platform.

Website

Contact

Les Gasser

Music Information Retrieval

Abstract

The objective of the International Music Information Retrieval Systems Evaluation Laboratory (IMIRSEL) project is the creation of a large, secure corpus of audio and symbolic music data accessible to the music information retrieval (MIR) community for the testing and evaluation of various MIR techniques. As part of the IMIRSEL project, a cross-platform JAVA based visual programming environment called Music to Knowledge (M2K) is being developed for a variety of music information retrieval related tasks. The primary objective of M2K is to supply the MIR community with a toolset that provides the ability to rapidly prototype algorithms, as well as foster the sharing of techniques within the MIR community through the use of a standardized set of tools. Due to the relatively large size of audio data and the computational costs associated with some digital signal processing and machine learning techniques, M2K is also designed to support distributed computing across computing clusters. In addition, facilities to allow the integration of non-JAVA based (e.g., C/C++, MATLAB, etc.) algorithms and programs are provided within M2K.

Website

http://www.music-ir.org/

Principal Investigator

J. Stephen Downie

Funding

$504,854, National Science Foundation

Funding

$390,000, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

An Analysis of Metadata Encoding Standards

Abstract

Like most XML applications, METS, the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard, overloads a small number of generic syntactic relationships (e.g., parent/child) to represent a variety of specific semantic relationships. Human beings correctly infer the meaning of METS markup, and these understandings inform the logic and design of applications that import, export, and transform METS-encoded resources and descriptions. However, METS's flexibility and generality invite diverse interpretations, posing challenges for processing across different METS profiles and local adaptations. Robust processing requires support in the form of a general software library for reasoning about METS documents. We describe the current state of development for such a library. This METS interpretation software is an application of the BECHAMEL markup semantics framework. BECHAMEL applications translate properties and relationships expressed in conventional markup into logical assertions that unpack the overloaded XML-based syntax. The inference problems we aim to support include identifying inline and external storage objects, mapping storage objects to resources and descriptions, and correctly classifying the role of namespaces. Another goal of explicating the interpretation of METS documents is to reserialize them in XML, directly asserting as many of the inferred facts as we can. In this way we hope to improve prospects for long term digital preservation.

Website

http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~dubin/research.html#dubin05:DLF

Contact

Narratives and New Media: Guiding Young People's Stories

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Carol Tilley

Next Generation Digital Federations: Adding Value through Collection Evaluation, Metadata Relations and Strategic Scaling

Abstract

This project will investigate and implement a systematic approach to developing useful, meaningful, and usable digital collections. Building on the prior work of the IMLS Digital Collections and Content (DCC) project, the researchers will explore how to use the relationships between collection-level and item-level metadata in federated digital repositories to preserve content and make the content more useful for scholars and the public. The project will experiment with and test metasearch capabilities, and expand and improve the IMLS DCC with new IMLS-funded and other digital content and advanced search capabilities.

Principal Investigator

http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~twidale/research/otsl/

Funding

$975,903, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Over the Shoulder Learning

Abstract

Outside of conventional classes, outside of schools and universities, how do people learn things? Often they ask a colleague to help show them what to do. It sounds obvious, but all our work on interface design, help systems, manuals and even training seems to ignore it. What would systems be like if they actively tried to support this process? That is what this research tries to address.

Website

Contact

Michael Twidale

Funding

$442,184, National Science Foundation

Palmer Cox's Brownies as Comic Art

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Carol Tilley

Paseo Boricua Community Library Project

Abstract

Principal Investigator

Plants, Pathogens and People

Abstract

This project seeks to enhance agriculture literacy through video and web-based materials. At this site you can explore the interactions among plants, the diseases that harm them, and the people who depend upon them. Here you can find resources on the biology, the history, the economic importance, and other aspects of plant diseases. You can do activities in the laboratory or the field to see how different forces of nature or actions of people affect the course of plant diseases. And you can have a dialogue with other people to learn how to use this site more effectively and to make it even better.

Website

http://www.ppp.uiuc.edu/

Contact

Chip Bruce

Funding

http://www.ndiipp.uiuc.edu/pca/

Preparing Future Faculty: Enhancing the Doctoral Program

Abstract

This project will enhance the GSLIS doctoral program by building a stronger research community within the school for the study of information in society, including policy, economic, and historical dimensions. Project goals include enhancing the doctoral program curriculum; connecting the research community to the wider world of librarianship; and attracting and supporting thirteen diverse students, especially those from underrepresented groups, with a specific focus on recruiting doctoral students who will teach master's students capable of becoming future leaders in public, academic, and school libraries.

Principal Investigator

Linda C. Smith

Funding

$990,234, Institute of Museum and Library Services

Preserving Creative America: Preserving Virtual Worlds

Abstract

Interactive media are highly complex and at high risk for loss as technologies rapidly become obsolete. The Preserving Virtual Worlds project will explore methods for preserving digital games and interactive fiction. Major activities will include developing basic standards for metadata and content representation and conducting a series of archiving case studies for early video games, electronic literature and Second Life, an interactive multiplayer game. Second Life content participants include Life to the Second Power, Democracy Island and the International Spaceflight Museum. Partners include the University of Maryland, Stanford University, Rochester Institute of Technology and Linden Lab.

Website

Principal Investigator

Jerome McDonough

Funding

$590,000, Library of Congress

Preserving Electronic Publications

Abstract

This work, with the Illinois State Library, will develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating changes made to electronically published state government documents to ensure permanent public access.

Website

http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/pep/

Contact

Larry Jackson

Funding

Illinois State Library

Quality and Reliability Dynamics

Abstract

Temporal and social dynamics of the quality and reliability of information and information systems. How do information systems improve, fail, and fit in their social contexts? How does information quality evolve in large information bases?

Website

http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/qrd/

Contact

Les Gasser

ARIADNE Collaborative Browsing Project

Abstract

The use of library resources is stereotyped as a solitary activity, with hardly any mention in the library science and information retrieval literature on the social aspects of information systems. However, it is clear that end-users engage in significant collaboration; both with co-searchers, library staff and other interested parties. The skill of locating information is one that a growing number of people require but our knowledge of how to teach it remains rudimentary. In particular database systems fail to support both the learning of skills and the sharing of information.

Website

http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/projects/ariadne/

Contact

Michael Twidale

Semantic Analysis for Digital Preservation

Abstract

Description of structural and semantic relationships and properties of, within, and between resources is seen as a key issue in digital preservation. But the markup languages used to encode descriptions for migration between and storage within digital repositories are subject to the same interpretive problems that complicate other uses of markup. This paper reports on a project that aims to address these problems by explicating facts that otherwise would not support automated inferencing. These facts are expressed as RDF (Resource Description Framework) triples, stored in and retrieved from a scalable RDF-based repository.

Website

http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~dubin/research.html#dubin06:extreme

Contact