FactMiners.org - Crowdsourcing

FactMiners & Softalk Apple Project to Host Global Collaboration Day Event!

Jim Salmons — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 19:42:19 +0000

Psssst.... this is just a quick heads-up ahead of the official announcement forthcoming...

FactMiners & The Softalk Apple Project are pleased to announce that we will host a Global Collaboration Day Event "all day" on September 17th.! :-)

Details of our event will be forthcoming and announced here as an update to this announcement. Time is short, so we're in crunch mode to be ready for this fun event.

On September 17th, students, teachers, and organizations – including grassroots Citizen Science and Citizen History projects like ours – will celebrate global collaboration! On this day, experienced global educators and professionals will host connective projects and events and invite public participation. The primary goals of this whole day event are to demonstrate the power of global connectivity in classrooms, schools, institutions of informal learning and universities around the world, and to introduce others to the tools, resources and projects that are available to educators today.

At FactMiners and The Softalk Apple Project, we believe in the power of connected learners... Let's show others what globally connected learning looks like on September 17th! Keep an ear out for our and other Global Collaboration Day events. And if you are a connected learner organization of any stripe, we encourage you to join in and host a virtual event. Everyone everywhere learning together... start with a day, make it a habit.

Transkribus & Crowdsourcing

Jim Salmons — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 16:02:10 +0000

I have contributed a 6-part series of short articles to a new FactMiners' Musings publication on Medium about my discovery and exploration of the wonderful Transkribus applied researchers at the University of Innsbruck and their amazing Big Vision for the TRP, the Transkribus Recognition Platform.

In addition to a basic introduction to these folks and their research, in the last piece in the series I frame their crowdsourcing transcription platform that supports historical handwritten document recognition (the hardest kind of OCR) as a Social Machine. Social Machines can be envisioned as part of an Entrepreneurial Community Ecosystem and should be explored as among the incubators for what "human work" will look like in the 21st Century.

Is FactMiners Like Metadatagam.es or Tiltfactor's Metadatagames.org?

Jim Salmons — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 16:43:20 +0000

Pressed for time? The short answer is, "Yes, in all the most general and important ways, and 'No' in the specific way that we are designing our #LODLAM social-gaming platform around an "embedded metamodel subgraph" design pattern within an Open Source stack based on the Neo4j graph database and Structr, the Neo4j-based next-gen CMS and web services framework. This innovative design and associated platform will take FactMiners into qualitatively new LAM social gaming territory."

That quickly said, let me provide some backstory and detail in the first of this multi-part post.

I recently had a "tweet-versation" with Mia Ridge – the Oxford-based, PhD candidate in digital humanities, Open Uni (geospatial, crowdsourcing digitisation); Chair of @ukmcg; into code, UX, history and cultural heritage. I responded to her solicitation of input for her dissertation research survey (the link in her Tweet embedded here is live if you have input to share).

I jumped at the chance to share our experience – especially after visiting her blog and reading her Big Ideas about the Participatory History Commons as summarized in the linked post that served as a companion piece to her recent keynote at the Sharing Is Caring seminar.

Run a crowdsourcing or participatory project in history or cultural heritage? Help me learn from your experience http://t.co/sC3JjYIpTg

— Mia (@mia_out) May 29, 2014

@FactMiners @Softalk_Apple by the way, have you seen http://t.co/uS74wsVr5E and http://t.co/cmq3CUJG3c?

— Mia (@mia_out) June 3, 2014

This post – to which I'll point in Tweet-reply – answers her inquiry and, hopefully, stimulates further conversations and potential collaborations...

So "...have we seen Metadatagam.es or Metadatagames.org?"

Oh absolutely! :-) We're familiar with the amazing fun work of both (Mia's own) Metadatagam.es and the Dartmouth-affiliated Tiltfactor people and projects, as exemplified by their work on Metadatagames.org.

From a Kindred Spirits perspective, all of us (and others doing similar Cultural Heritage social games) are in the same "Serious Fun" Big Tent. Besides sharing many motivational values, there is lots of overlap at the user interaction (UX) and basic game design levels. That is, we're using game dynamics as a motive-force for crowdsourcing activity in response to traditional LAM (Library, Archives, and Museums) digital curation challenges and opportunities. In this sense we all have much to learn and share with each other.

Yet, and this is a good thing I think, each of these and other Cultural Heritage projects take a slightly different road toward the Valhalla land we all see on the horizon, and which Mia has conveniently and effectively characterized as the Participatory History Commons as shown here diagrammatically (click to enlarge this image from Mia's PHC article):

This diagram will be extremely valuable in helping us talk with each other about where and how we see similarities and differences between our projects' goals and methods.

FactMiners.org Proposals ACCEPTED for #MCN2014

Jim Salmons — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 22:26:15 +0000

We are EXTREMELY pleased to report that BOTH our proposals have been accepted for presentation at #MCN2014! Here are our two proposals for presentations at this year's Museum Computer Network conference to be held in Dallas in November. And even better, we are so pleased to report that FactMiners' Jim Salmons has been awarded an Emerging Professional Scholarship to attend #MCN2014! We're going to Dallas! :-)

30-Minute Presentation Proposal

30-Minute Presentation: 30-minute presentations are deep explorations into specific concepts, often illustrated with examples and case studies from the field. The presentations are typically 20 minutes, with an additional 10 minutes for audience questions. 30-minute presentations will usually be thematically grouped together with one or more other presentations to create 90-minute sessions. Choose this option if you have a specific concept you would like to explore in depth.

Title: The Embedded Metamodel Subgraph Design Pattern: Its Use in Crowdsourced Social-Gaming LOD Repository Generation at The Softalk Apple Project

Abstract: This 30-Minute Presentation is a companion to our proposal for a 10-Minute Case Study, "The FactMiners Social Game Ecosystem."

The FactMiners ecosystem is a social gaming community supported by the FactMiners Open Source developers community (www.FactMiners.org). Our "serious fun" playgrounds are the OpenCulture/OpenData digital collections of LAM (Library, Archive, and Museum) hosts of FactMiners Fact Clouds.

FactMiners Fact Clouds are LOD (Linked Open Data) repositories constructed through the crowdsourced gameplay of FactMiners players. LAM hosts interested in adding a Fact Cloud to their visitor and researcher resources use the FactMiners Fact Cloud Wizard to create a domain-specific extension of the CIDOC-CRM Conceptual Reference Model (hereafter 'cidcoCRM'). These Wizard-generated cidocCRM-compliant domain-specific metamodel instances guide players' generation of new 'facts' about the LAM host's collection.

FactMiners domain-specific cidocCRM extensions can be used in the more-typical descriptive realm of folksonomy (social-tagging) and Open Culture visitor-contributed stories and interpretation. But our project is particularly focused on taking the Fact Cloud Wizard's generated metamodel semantics into the "inner space" of textual and image symbolic and/or referential meaning -- i.e., what the words mean and what we 'see' in the image.

In this deep-dive presentation, we'll detail the FactMiner's use of the "embedded metamodel subgraph" design pattern as it is being applied in the Neo4j graph database implementation of the "self-descriptive" Fact Cloud LOD repositories. The case study example detailed will be The Softalk Apple Project, the first FactMiners Fact Cloud under development.

The presentation will include detailed examination of the cidocCRM metamodel as expressed in a Neo4j graph database with particular attention paid to domain-specific extension points and lessons learned while developing this project.

This exploration will be done 'in vivo' through interactive exploration of the metamodel and accompanying 'actual' data through a collection of Cypher queries on the Neo4j graph database. A side effect of attending this presentation will be learning about to the Neo4j graph database and its Cypher query language through a relevant and non-trivial example -- a magazine is a remarkably complex cidocCRM artifact, as will be demonstrated by this presentation.

The Softalk magazine digital archive of the STAP project is a unique historical collection consisting of 48 monthly issues (9,300+ pages), published between September 1980 and August 1984, detailing the Dawn of the Microcomputer Revolution which so significantly shaped the world we live in today. The FactMiners Fact Cloud under development will be a qualitatively new and innovative "lens" on this previously unavailable* resource. (* While collectors have sets of physical issues and various collectors have made scans of select issues available on-line, the STAP project is collaborating with the Stanford Digital Repository for archival storage of the complete 48-issue collection in high-resolution page-wise reference images as well as full-issue PDFs, etc.)

At proposal submission deadline (April 30th), the best representative resources demonstrating the work in process are these:

* The first two parts of a 4-part GraphGist design document submitted to (and won 1st place in its category within) the Neo4j GraphGist Domain Model Winter Challenge:

- Part 1 - The 'Hello World' Introduction to the Embedded Metamodel Subgraph Design Pattern
http://gist.neo4j.org/?8640853

- Part 2 - The 'Self-Descriptive' Neo4j Graph Database: Exploring The Softalk Apple Project's FactMiners Fact Cloud Metamodel
http://gist.neo4j.org/?7817558

* Initial activity importing the cidocCRM Conceptual Reference Model into Neo4j graph database for use as a Reference Model within the Fact Cloud Metamodel Wizard (tool generating cidocCRM-compliant domain-specific metamodel instances):

- A Py2Neo Python utility to parse the CIDOC-CRM official text document into a Neo4j graph database
https://github.com/FactMiners/factminers/tree/master/Documents/Reference...

- Work-In-Process GraphGist, initial activity exploring the cidocCRM in Neo4j
http://jexp.github.io/graphgist/?9904584

* Currently in development but not published (on-line)

- A second-edition of Part 2 of the above GraphGist design document is in development that recasts first edition metamodel as a domain specific extension of the cidocCRM.

- A 'next step' enhancement to the Neo4j reference dataset for the cidocCRM. The current dataset consists of the cidocCRM Class Declarations as nodes and CRM Properties as graph Relationships. The next step is to "node-ify" the cidocCRM Property Declarations with respective Domain and Range (Neo4j graph) relationships to the appropriate Class Declarations. This representation, BTW, is both consistent with the textual presentation of the cidocCRM AND the embedded metamodel subgraph design pattern.

If possible and allowed by the Program Committee reviewers, I will update this proposal abstract with additional information as it becomes available before the committee's review, especially links to the not-yet-on-line resources mentioned above and in active short-term development. If proposal abstract updating is not possible, I will update information on this page: www.FactMiners.org/MCN2014

In the proposed 10-minute companion case study, we'll provide an overview of the FactMiners social network ecosystem and the Open Source web services platform supporting this LAM-focused social gaming community.

Reference Links:
www.FactMiners.org
www.SoftalkApple.com
http://gist.neo4j.org/?7817558
http://www.softalkapple.com/blogs/factminers-more-or-less-folksonomy

Theme 1: OpenData/OpenAuthority
Theme 2: Software/Programming Languages
Theme 3: Curatorial/Scientist/Historian

Presenter Biography: Jim Salmons is Founder and lead designer/developer of the FactMiners ecosystem, and Founder and Project Director of The Softalk Apple Project. He is an independent researcher/developer (AKA "citizen scientist/historian") and former Executive Consultant in the Object Technology Practice of IBM Global Services where he was a lead designer/developer of Smalltalk-based "executable business model" technologies -- work which now informs his vision for the FactMiners ecosystem. For more information: http://sohodojo.biz/about/JimSalmons or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimsalmons

10-Minute Case Study Proposal

10-Minute Case Study: Case studies are demonstrations of specific projects (whether complete or in-progress). Presenters will have 10 minutes to give an overview of the project, and then will have an opportunity to meet with other attendees for deep-dive discussions. Choose this type if you would like to demonstrate a specific unique project you’re working on.

Title: The FactMiners Social Game Ecosystem

Presenter: Jim Salmons (@Jim_Salmons), Founder and Project Director, FactMiners.org

Abstract: This 10-Minute Case Study is a companion to our proposal for a 30-Minute Presentation, "The Embedded Metamodel Subgraph Design Pattern: Its Use in Crowdsourced Social-Gaming LOD Repository Generation at The Softalk Apple Project."

In the proposed 30-minute companion presentation, we'll detail the FactMiner's use of the "embedded metamodel subgraph" design pattern as it is being applied in the Neo4j graph database implementation of the "self-descriptive" Fact Cloud LOD repositories. The case study example detailed in the 30-minute presentation will be The Softalk Apple Project, the first FactMiners Fact Cloud under development.

In this demonstration we will provide an overview of the social network (people and organizations) that make up the FactMiners social game ecosystem, and we'll briefly explain how the FactMiners technical platform supports this ecosystem.

The emphasis will be on describing the role of the FactMiners.org Open Source developers community. In particular, we'll describe our active "itches needing scratching" areas of activity. Our goal in presenting at #MCN2014 is to identify Kindred Spirits interested in joining the FactMiners.org developers community or who want to collaborate with us (or point us to helpful resources) as we pursue our mission of Serious Fun for Everyone.

Reference Links:
www.FactMiners.org
www.SoftalkApple.com
http://gist.neo4j.org/?7817558
http://www.softalkapple.com/blogs/factminers-more-or-less-folksonomy

Theme 1: OpenData/OpenAuthority
Theme 2: Software/Programming Languages
Theme 3: Curatorial/Scientist/Historian

FactMiners: Scientists Say It's a Great Idea!

Jim Salmons — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 20:42:01 +0000

Okay, the headline's unnamed scientists did not specifically say that the idea for the FactMiners social-game ecosystem we're developing in support of The Softalk Apple Project is a great idea. What they are saying is that game-powered crowdsourcing methods are a tremendous resource for doing real and important science research.

In today's world where pure science and many domains of research are financially challenged, getting gamers to have "serious fun" helping with underfunded research activity is a win-win for sure. But beyond creative financing, many scientists are also finding that social games with a "serious fun" side can be a great way to engage the public; a great way to have science be something 'we' do rather than something 'scientists' do 'over there' (and without 'us'). More win-win.

You don't need me to fill you in further, simply check out this exciting article at The Guardian and Observer website, 'How online gamers are solving science's biggest problems'. The column's author, Dara Mohammadi, has thoughtfully provided an excellent overview of this exciting gaming trend and then profiled ten examples with links to on-line games where you can help do serious scientific research by playing games.

This article gives me the proverbial goosebumps. It affirms my personal belief about the potential for the FactMiners social-game ecosystem to be my "pay it forward" tribute in honor and recognition of the importance of Softalk Magazine. This article – and especially the games and associated projects to which it links – provide context for what we're doing here to create the first FactMiners Fact Cloud as a companion to the on-line digital archive of Softalk Magazine. It is also good context to justify the excitement I feel about the ideas captured in the thread of blog posts looking at the potential to create FactMiners game plug-ins to build a Fact Cloud for the million-plus Public Domain Image Collection of the British Library.

If FactMiners sounds like it might be an interesting idea to you, by all means check out this article. In the meantime, I have to get back to writing an entry for the Neo4j's January GraphGist Challenge. I am writing a piece to explore the embedded metamodel subgraph design pattern used for "self-descriptive" Fact Clouds that are part of the FactMiners social-game ecosystem.