Digital Ecosystems (original) (raw)

Abstract

In this talk we present the idea of Web-based Digital Ecosystems as a metaphor for contemporary information systems development. We motivate and explain the Digital Ecosystem metaphor. To this end, we demonstrate a combined Semantic Web and Web 2.0 approach to semi-automate the development of social media Web sites, in particular for Museum collections. The CollectionWeb framework has been applied in two Web-information systems, the Virtual Museum of the Pacific, developed for the Australian Museum and the Art Collection Ecosystem. Several other Web-based Digital Ecosystems are under development using the framework. In CollectionWeb, digital artefacts of artistic or cultural significance are assembled in a Web-based content management system. A concept clustering technique called Formal Concept Analysis induces page impressions and drives semantic navigation. The object descriptions determine the navigation that can change with the user’s chosen perspective. All that need be done is for the Museum to describe an object to an adequate digital standard. In this way, leveraging existing metadata from a collection management system becomes a possibility for automatically generating Museum sites. Similarly, because association rules can be derived from Formal Concept Analysis, the sites provide a lightweight inference engine without semantic mark-up other than object metadata. The systems allow users to add their own tags to the objects, which in turn can influence the structure and the presentation of the collection. This self-organising capability is a key feature of CollectionWeb and is a key characteristic of the Digital Ecosystem metaphor in general. In doing so we present a compelling way for art institutions, museums and enthusiasts to present, organise and tag their collections.

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