'InContext' visualiser
Scholarly Communication - Enhanced publications
Status: Completed
Aim
‘Enhanced publications’ (EPs) are a new type of scientific/scholarly communication whereby researchers make publications available online in combination with other material. This includes such things as research reports that are publicly available on the Internet or film clips to explain the research method to the general public.
So as to show the connection between the various items of research material, SURFfoundation has had an open source tool developed that does this in a visually interesting way.
Result
http://escape.utwente.nl/graph/demo-2-aggregation#id=demo-2-pub2
The ‘InContext’ EP visualisation tool provides a clear overview of the research material and the connections between the various different items. Each item is visualised as a rectangular button giving the title and the type of material concerned. When you click on a button, it moves to the centre of the presentation and it is then surrounded by the items to which it is related. The type of relationship between the various items is shown and grouped clearly.
The design and user-friendliness adds to the textual representation of research data, and it also encourages the user to check out the various items and the relationships between them.
Applications
‘InContext’ is a separate, reusable browser component that can be built into html pages, making it easy to reuse. It has already been built in to the ESCAPE editor, thus greatly improving the existing visualisations in ESCAPE.
Examples from three different research groups:
1. University of Twente: Brandaris128
The Physics of Fluids research group wanted an environment for presenting the results and derived materials generated during research with the Brandaris128 high-speed camera.
2. University of Twente: Centre for Risk and Safety Perception (iCRISP)
The visualisation of the collection “Communication with the public about flooding” has proved useful when coordinating requests for information about dynamic policy developments. It also makes the research clearer, as well as its public relevance.
3. University of Groningen: Centre for Public Order and Safety (COOV).
The connections between annotations to court rulings and policy memoranda in the field of public order and safety can now be made clearer for fellow scholars, practising lawyers, and interested members of the public.
The ‘InContext’ visualisation tool can also be used for more than just enhanced publications. Because it utilises RDF, it can visualise any three-part subject-predicate-object structure. There are plans to use it to visualise data from CRIS (Current Research Information System).
Background information
InContext utilises the Resource Description Framework (RDF). This is an Internet standard that is used as a format for presenting and exchanging data. The RDF model enables us to make statements about the features of resources on the Web in the form of a three-part subject-predicate-object structure (referred to in the context of RDF as a ‘triple’). The subject is basically the resource that is described. The predicate is the feature or aspect of that resource. The object is the value of that feature or aspect. Presenting content in RDF terms means it can be read by computer systems. RDF is therefore also an important component of the semantic web.
More information
More information about the “InContext” EP visualisation tool can be found on the wiki or in the flyer.
Information for installing InContext can be found on Google Code.