Transcript The Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM) Jonathan M. Borwein, Mason S. Macklem and Jaehyun Paek, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

The Federated World
Directory of
Mathematicians (FWDM)
Jonathan M. Borwein,
Mason S. Macklem and
Jaehyun Paek,
Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Canada
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
1
International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
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Non-governmental, non-profit ICSU
organization
Focused on promoting and developing
math research internationally
Organizes the International Congress of
Mathematicians (ICM) every four years
Awards the Fields Medals
Publishes the World Directory of
Mathematicians to coincide with the ICM
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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World Directory of
Mathematicians
Members
Members
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Members
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WDM
Members
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Data collection is not
performed directly by
the IMU
Member nations provide
their membership lists
for inclusion in WDM
66 Member Nations
Goal: Design electronic
version of WDM to
replace physical version
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Committee on Electronic
Information and Communication
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Members
Members
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Members
WDM
Members
Internet
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1998: IMU asked CEIC
about feasibility of
electronic version of
WDM
Conclusion: A
centralized database
would be subject to
intellectual property and
privacy laws
Different laws for
different nations
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Federated World Directory of
Mathematicians
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Goal: Simulate electronic version of
WDM without creating a centralized
database
Federated search: any system that
provides a common user interface
for searching and retrieving
information across heterogeneous
datasets via the internet
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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FWDM: Structure
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User
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FWDM
User Interface
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Members
Members
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Members
Members
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User requests information
from FWDM interface
FWDM sends separate
requests to search engines
for member nations
FWDM merges separate
responses into single set of
results
Returns merged results to
user
No centralized database!
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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FWDM Prototype
http://www.fwdm.math.ca
Includes: AMS Combined Membership List (CML), and
membership lists for Australia, Canada, France, and
Germany
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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FWDM Basic Search
http://www.fwdm.math.ca/cgi-bin/search_sm.cgi
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Search parameters:
- First Name
- Last Name
Two parameters comprise
minimum requirements for
inclusion of search engine
into FWDM
Most searches are on
these two parameters
Default version of FWDM
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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FWDM Standard Search
http://www.fwdm.math.ca/cgi-bin/search.cgi
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Search parameters:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Employer/
University
- Country
Not all member
search engines have
the last two fields
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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FWDM
Advanced Search
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Includes fields for
every search
parameter available on
any included member
search engine
New fields include:
- Research Interests
- Position
- Member society
http://www.fwdm.math.ca/cgi-bin/search_adv.cgi
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Structure of Search Results
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Individuals name, linked to all personal email addresses
found in search
Separate link for each society containing that individual
Links to every homepage found (currently shown as
numbered links when multiple are found)
Links to searches for each individual using Google and
Google Scholar
- Google search performed using individual’s name and
“mathematics”
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Layout of Search Results
Search
Google
Results:
results:
individuals
shows
number
foundof
inofsearch
all
results
Your
Query:
a copy
of the
version
thedatabases
search
using all
specified
search
parameters
using
interface,
with
specified
parameters
Search
Results
by
Society:
Groups
the
results(to
by
- Excludes individuals found only in the CML
both Google
Google
Scholar,
along
with
- member-society
Allows
you toand
adjust
search
by
database,
with
links
to collected
avoid
overwhelming
theyour
results
due
to changing
the
size of the
linksOnly
toonthe
results
from“Search
each
parameters
and
clicking
Again”
results
each
society’s
member
database
CML
Results:
contains
results
of
CML
database)
-individuals
Also shows you what
parameters
you entered to
only
the CML
- Identifiespresent
and links
to in
societies
thatdatabase
either return
get the results displayed above
no results or timed out during the search
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Sample Approach: CMS
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Merging Results: CML and CMS
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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NCMS, DMV, SMF
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Member Databases: Recent Additions
EWDM: Electronic
World
Directory of
Mathematicians
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Member Databases: Recent Additions
OeMG (Austrian Mathematical Society)
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Member Databases: Recent Additions
PDM (Portuguese Directory of Mathematicians)
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Adding Search Engines
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First and Last Name searchable and separable
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Recent Additions
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Multiple threads:
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Previous prototype performed the searches for all societies
in sequence, with the search in the next society not started
until the search in the previous society’s member list has
completed
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Length (in time) of search = sum of lengths of all member
society’s searches
Current version employs multiple threads, so that all
searches are performed in parallel
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Length of search = longest length of member society’s search
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Recent Additions II
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Accented characters:
 Previous active version was unable to deal effectively (and
predictably) with accents, either when inputted into FWDM
interface, or when returned from member database
 New version now can robustly deal with accents in either setting
 Future work: add multiple searches in cases where accents are
present in user input, one search with accents intact and one with
them removed
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Necessary in case the member society does not have the accents
present in their database
Multiple searches more feasible with the multithreaded version
complete
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World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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Next Steps
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Two goals for prototype:
Add more search engines for national societies
 Support increased number of users
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Requirements for new search engines:
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First and Last Name are searchable fields
Interested in working with national societies
http://www.cs.dal.ca/ddrive/fwdm
(includes documentation on history and future of FWDM)
A Prototype for the Federated
World Directory of Mathematicians
(FWDM)
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