Towards Web 2.0 Argumentation

1. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 License Proc. 2nd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Toulouse, May 2008 Towards Web 2.0 Argumentation Simon Buckingham Shum Knowledge Media InstituteThe Open UniversityMilton Keynes, UK http://kmi.open.ac.uk/sbs

2. Overview • The Web 2.0 phenomenon • Key aspects for COMMA end-user tools • Web argumentation state of the art • Cohere • Limitations and future work

3. The dizzy world of “Web 2.0” http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/wp-content/uploads/shop/EBY_FooBar_35t.png

4. Defining “Web 2.0”

5. Web 2.0: user experience:simple, engaging multimedia

6. Web 2.0: user experience:simple, engaging multimedia Open applications that serve one activity very well http://37signals.com

7. Web 2.0: user experience:simple, engaging multimedia Open applications that serve one activity very well http://rememberthemilk.com

8. Web 2.0: social networks, media sharing, and mass collaboration

9. Web 2.0: social networks, media sharing, and mass collaboration

10. Web 2.0: information structuring:emergent, not predefined, semantics

11. Web 2.0: information structuring:emergent, not predefined, semantics • Tagclouds: simple visualization of keywords by popularity, reflecting emergent community “folksonomy”

12. Web 2.0: information structuring:emergent, not predefined, semantics • Wikis: designed to enable a community to add structure as and when they need, not be locked into a set of predefined forms

13. Web 2.0: interoperability, mashups, embedded content

14. RSS as data exchange lingua franca APIs enable data mashups + services easily embeddable media helps them spread virally http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/launch_anim_slavery.shtml Web 2.0: interoperability, mashups, embedded content

15. The bar has been raised for the Web user and developer experience Are COMMA tools up to the challenge? The bottom line:

16. Web-based Argumentation: state of the art • Debatepedia — a wiki structured into arguments for and against a question • http://wiki.idebate.org

17. Web-based Argumentation: state of the art • TruthMapping — distinguishes unsupported premises from evidenced claims • http://truthmapping.com

18. Web-based Argumentation: state of the art • DebateGraph — an IBIS-based tool providing a structured outline view • http://debategraph.net

19. Web-based Argumentation: state of the art • CoPe_it! —IBIS-based tool providing threads, maps and decision-support • http://copeit.cti.gr/site

20. Web-based Argumentation: state of the art • ClaiMaker/ClaimFinder — semantic annotation and search of scholarly literature • http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/scholonto

21. Web-based Argumentation: state of the art • ArgDF — first platform implementing AIF in RDF • http://argdf.org

22. Conclusion: there are currently no “Web 2.0” argumentation tools • There are no tools satisfying all of the following criteria: • Provide an engaging, “walk up and use” interface • Make it easy to link to, and embed argumentation in other websites (like a YouTube movie) • Enable end-user definition of the semantics • Promote networking between participants • Provide an open architecture with API services

23. Cohere is introduced not as an argumentation tool, but as a tool for making meaningful connections between ideas. Argumentationis just one possible application that some users may want to pursue

24. Cohere homepage: people + ideas + connections

25. Cohere: creating a new Idea for Google’s “Knol”, linked to a website

26. Cohere: embedding an Idea or Map in another website (a blog post)

27. Cohere: raising issues about Google’s “Knol” Idea

28. Cohere: from tag clouds to idea webs

29. Ideas may be assigned a Role in the context of a given connection • your assumption may be my problem… • my claim may be your evidence… • The default Idea role can be specialized to one of the preset examples or user-defined

30. Cohere: extensible connection language doesn’t lock users into one ontology, except to classify connections as positive, neutral or negative to assist subsequent filtering

31. Expanding the neutral and negative connection menus default connection labels are listed firstuser-defined connections can be appended

32. Cohere: all incoming and outgoing links from a focal Idea

33. Cohere: Argument from Expert Opinion with Critical Questions (from Walton & Reed)

34. Cohere: semantically filtering a focal Idea by “contrasting” connections

35. Cohere: semantically filtering a focal Idea by “contrasting” connections

36. Cohere: a mashup visualization merging different connections around a common Idea

37. Cohere usage statistics • We are logging a range of statistics — yet to be analysed, e.g. Approx 1-3 new users/day register, consistent for last few months

38. manually created in Cohere Imported into Cohere from Compendium RSS feeds from del.icio.us Cohere usage statistics(cont/d)

39. Limitations, and future work • Interface not responsive on all platforms (Windows is currently best) or with large datasets • moving from Java to Flash visualizations • re-architecting the interface to be more efficient • Usability trials have shown weaknesses • now being tackled in a new version of the user interface • Much requested user-groups management added to strengthen the social/collaboration dimension • Cohere not currently an open platform • v2 has a RESTful services API enabling data read/write through URLs

40. Cohere v1 (the current public release) is a closed application Database(MySQL)

41. Firefox Extension Other Services Other Applications Cohere v2 is an open data platform + API providing REST services User Interface API (REST services) Application (PHP) Database(MySQL)

42. Limitations, and future work (cont/d) • RDF import/export now working (+ basic AIF) • RSS feeds to be added • New mashup possibilities • arguments merged with GIS (GoogleMaps) • or timelines (Simile), etc • An open platform for COMMA researchers? • add your own user interfaces and reasoning services…

43. Thank You!Resources… • Cohere: cohereweb.net • Cohere blog: kmi.open.ac.uk/technologies/cohere • Hypermedia Discourse research: kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/hyperdiscourse