In this paper we present an overview of several visualization techniques to support the search process in Digital Libraries (DLs). The search process typically can be separated into three major phases: query formulation and refinement, browsing through result lists and viewing and interacting with documents and their properties. We discuss a selection of popular visualization techniques that ha...

needs of 59 McGill University undergraduates researching essay topics for either a history or psychology course, interviewed just after they had selected their essay topic. The interview’s purpose was to transform the undergraduate’s query from general topic terms, based on vague conceptions of their essay topic, to an information need-based query. To chart the transformation, the authors inves...

Assessing learners’ present and real life language needs can contribute to learners’ active participation in learning processes. , Assessing learners’ task-based needs and aligning them with pedagogical tasks are significant in English for medical purpose (EMS) courses. The main objectives of the present study were to assess learners’ needs and to determine whether they are practiced in EMS cou...

Foundational controversies in artificial life and artificial intelligence arise from lack of decidable criteria for defining the epistemic cuts that separate knowledge of reality from reality itself, e.g., description from construction, simulation from realization, mind from brain. Selective evolution began with a description-construction cut, i.e., the genetically coded synthesis of proteins. ...

We present OASSIS (for Ontology ASSISted crowd mining), a prototype system which allows users to declaratively specify their information needs, and mines the crowd for answers. The answers that the system computes are concise and relevant, and represent frequent, significant data patterns. The system is based on (1) a generic model that captures both ontological knowledge, as well as the indivi...

In this book chapter the authors address two main challenges for building compelling social applications. In the first challenge they focus on the user by addressing the issue of building dynamic interaction profiles from the content they produce in a social system. Such profiles are key to find the best person to contact based on an information need. The second challenge presents their vision ...