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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) Jonathan M. Borwein, Mason S. Macklem and Jaehyun Paek,Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Sample Approach: CMS A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
Merging Results: CML and CMS A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
NCMS, DMV, SMF A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
Member Databases: Recent Additions EWDM: Electronic World Directory of Mathematicians A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
Member Databases: Recent Additions OeMG (Austrian Mathematical Society) A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
Member Databases: Recent Additions PDM (Portuguese Directory of Mathematicians) A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
Adding Search Engines • First and Last Name searchable and separable A Prototype for the Federated World Directory of Mathematicians (FWDM)
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)
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)
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)