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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. International Mathematical Union (IMU). Non-governmental, non-profit ICSU organization

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The Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

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  1. 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)

  2. International Mathematical Union (IMU) • 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)

  3. World Directory of Mathematicians • 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 Members Members Members WDM Members A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  4. Committee on Electronic Information and Communication • 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 Members Members Members WDM Members Internet A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  5. Federated World Directory of Mathematicians • 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)

  6. FWDM: Structure User • 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! FWDMUser Interface Members Members Members Members A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  7. FWDM Prototype http://www.fwdm.math.ca Includes: AMS Combined Membership List (CML), and membership lists for Australia, Canada, France, and Germany A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  8. FWDM Basic Search http://www.fwdm.math.ca/cgi-bin/search_sm.cgi • 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 A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  9. FWDM Standard Search http://www.fwdm.math.ca/cgi-bin/search.cgi • 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)

  10. FWDM Advanced Search • 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 A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  11. Structure of Search Results • 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” A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  12. Layout of Search Results Search Results: individuals found in all databases - Excludes individuals found only in the CML (to avoid overwhelming the results due to the size of the CML database) Google results: shows number of search results using all specified search parameters using both Google and Google Scholar, along with links to the results from each • Your Query: a copy of the version of the search interface, with specified parameters • Allows you to adjust your search by changing parameters and clicking “Search Again” • Also shows you what parameters you entered to get the results displayed above • Search Results by Society: Groups the results by member-society database, with links to collected results on each society’s member database • Identifies and links to societies that either return no results or timed out during the search CML Only Results: contains results of individuals present only in the CML database A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  13. Sample Approach: CMS A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  14. Merging Results: CML and CMS A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  15. NCMS, DMV, SMF A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  16. Member Databases: Recent Additions EWDM: Electronic World Directory of Mathematicians A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  17. Member Databases: Recent Additions OeMG (Austrian Mathematical Society) A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  18. Member Databases: Recent Additions PDM (Portuguese Directory of Mathematicians) A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  19. Adding Search Engines • First and Last Name searchable and separable A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  20. Recent Additions • Multiple threads: • 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 • 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 • Length of search = longest length of member society’s search A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  21. Recent Additions II • 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 • Necessary in case the member society does not have the accents present in their database • Multiple searches more feasible with the multithreaded version complete A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)

  22. Next Steps • Two goals for prototype: • Add more search engines for national societies • Support increased number of users • Requirements for new search engines: • 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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