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utilisez la page discussion pour commenter - modifier faire vos propositions ... n'oubliez pas de signer vos commentaires par votre nom !!! = DRAFT =

NEW Latest abstract proposal skype discussion with Martin, Duc, Kasia & Nathalie - Martin's reformulation

Keywords: web, collaboration, data visualization, map, user, knowledge, sharing

Buzzaar: An Environment and Tool to Map Your Web

Keywords: web, collaboration, data visualization, map, user, knowledge, sharing

The Web is getting more and more important for a growing fraction of the people it is accessible for.

As Web users, we visit numerous pages and our navigation history is often locally stored in our browser logs thus creating a data set that contains a lot of valuable information, not only for ourselves but also for other users we might be willing to share this information with.

How can we best exploit this information? How can we give it a meaning and transform it into a knowledge that we could share with others?

Buzzaar is a tool and a web site that provide answers to such questions. It is free and available for all. Buzzaar users can interact with their browsing history, and transform it into meaningful, dynamic webmaps that intuitively and dynamically represent their interests and habits.

A webmap is an efficient representation of the web pages visited by a user. It can be easily modified and tailored to specific user needs. In particular, users can tag, filter, and sort the visualized data, and customise its appearance.

Webmaps can be easily shared with friends and colleagues. They can be merged or projected into eachother to identify their commonalities or differences, thus allowing their owners to better understand and benefit from the knowledge they contain.

The Buzzaar website also allows anyone to register to the Buzzaar network, within which users can share their webmaps and collaboratively build a common webmap representative of the user community as a whole. This common webmap provides a usefull context to better interprete each user's individual webmap.

The team who created the Buzzar tool and website is composed of researchers from the EPFL Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and netartists from the meetopia community.

More information is available on www.buzzaar.net.

Abstract --archived
abstract: 300 words max, language:english. latest draft - with gender and syntax modification "Buzzaar: Tool and Place to Map Your Web"

Keywords: web, collaboration, data visualization, map, user, knowledge, sharing

We live in a world of data and most of these data and good part of our life is now online.

As Web users, we surf the Web, we send our requests to search engines and we leave traces (create data) that are partially enclosed in private databases and hardly accessible or locally stored in our browser history logs.

Relations between these data make information. How could we best use them? How could we give it a meaning and transform it into a shared knowledge, accessible for all?

Buzzaar is a tool and place for doing it. It is free and available for all web users, who can see and transform their data into their own dynamic maps. Users are in the center of their data map, and they can tag, sort data and customise its appearance. They can share these private maps with friends. They can also import friend's buzzaar file and compare it or merge with their own. Those actions could improve the results of their web research and provide them with a network of related data. Visualising data relations let them understand better these relations but also their own research, classification and web habits. Contextualizing and sharing these data relations can potentially enrich their knowledge and as such be a tool for empowerment.

Buzzaar is also a public network, which could be used by and useful for everyone. It provides us with a common map made of data of all its users. Everyone, member or not, can play with and learn from it.

Team who has created it is made of scientists and developers of the EPFL A.I lab at and netartists from the meetopia community. More on www.buzzaar.net

Second draft- abstract base proposal, 28.11.2010. Keywords : collaborations, visualisation, cartes, utilisateurs, internet, réseaux, connaissance, partage

We live in a world of data and most of these data and good part of our life is now online.

As Web users, we surf on the web and we query search engines: we create data, partially enclosed in private databases and hardly accessible or locally stored in our browser history logs.

These data are information. How could we use it at best? How could we give sense to it and transform it into a shared knowledge, accessible for all?

Buzzaar is designed for all web users. As its member I can see and transform my data from my web activity into a dynamic user centered map. I am at the center of my data. I can tag them, sort them by filter and customize my map. I can share this file and send the result to my friends.

I can import my friend's buzzaar file and compare it to mine, or merge it with mine. These two actions improve the results, and provides me with a new network of linked data.

When I visualize my data, I can see more about me. What are my interests and how I link them, see and understand the relations between my links. When I manipulate my data, when I share it and contextualize it, I improve my knowledge and I change my relation to my known environment. This is an empowerment.

Buzzaar is also a public network, useful for everyone. It provides us with a common map from all its users. Everyone, member or not, can play with it, filter, tag and store the result on their local machine.

Our team is made of scientists and developers of the A.I lab at EPFL and netartists from the meetopia community.

First draft - 23.11.10

 map your web 

« The map is open and connectable in all of its dimensions; it is attachable, reversible, susceptible to constant modification. It can be torn, reversed, adapted to any kind of mounting, reworked by an individual, group, or social formation.( ...)The map has to do with performance, whereas the tracing always involves an alleged "competence".» Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Rhizome (Thousand Plateaux).

Nous vivons dans un monde de données.

En tant qu'utilisateurs d'Internet, nous générons des données ; nous faisons des recherches, nous posons des requêtes, nous activons des liens. Toutes ces données créent de l'information. C'est un bien précieux mais c'est de l'information brute gérées par des algorithmes. Que pouvons-nous en faire ? Comment donner sens a cette information et la transformer en connaissance vivace et partagée ?

Voir ou l'on est et ce que l'on fait valide ses connaissances et permet de se situer. Nous pouvons nous approprier l'information lorsque nous pouvons la voir (visualiser), la manipuler (jouer, transformer), la partager (exporter, copier, sauvegarder). Nous modifions notre relation à la connaissance, et partant, notre implication dans le monde dans lequel nous vivons.

Buzzaar permet aux utilisateurs de s'approprier ces données. Ils peuvent visualiser leur historique web sous la forme de cartes, étiqueter leur liens, partager et comparer leurs résultats avec leurs amis, créer des données communes, combiner leur cartes indéfiniment.

C'est également un réseau d'utilisateurs. La session partagée contient l'ensemble des données des membres. Il est possible pour un visiteur anonyme de jouer avec ces cartes collectives sans devoir s'inscrire et envoyer ses propres données. Participer et partager ses informations est un acte volontaire et choisis.

Développé par une équipe transdisciplinaire, composée des scientifiques du laboratoire d'Intelligence Artificielle de L'EPFL( Suisse) des netartistes du collectif « meetopia » (Suisse - Bosnie) et de professionnels de la communication, le projet bénéficie du soutien de l'Office fédéral de la Culture, Confédération Helvétique, sitemapping, soutien aux projets numériques, de la fondation Hasler et de l'EPFL.

L'application est un logiciel libre sous licence GNU/GPL, développé en Java. 22.11.10  Buzzaar map your web 

projet collaboratif transdisciplinaire de visualisation des données Internet.

Nous sommes une équipe transdisciplinaire, composée des scientifiques du laboratoire d'Intelligence Artificielle de L'EPFL( Suisse) des netartistes du collectif « meetopia » (Suisse - Bosnie) et de professionnels de la communication.

Nous partageons l'idée que le traitement des données sur Internet est de l'information publique et qu'elle doit pouvoir bénéficier aux utilisateurs.

En tant qu'utilisateurs d'Internet, nous faisons des recherches et nous visitons des sites. Ces actions génèrent des données. Ces données publiques créent de l'information.

Aujourd'hui, pour consulter cette information on interroge des moteurs de recherches, ou on consulte son historique web. Soit ce sont données gérées par des entreprises, et ça pose la question de la 'liberté' de ces informations. Soit c'est un fichier stocké sur une machine locale et non disponible publiquement.

Cette informations peut devenir de la connaissance, et doit pouvoir être libre et partagée. Nous avons voulu donc développer une application qui permette aux utilisateurs de s'approprier ces données, d'interagir avec elles et d'en générer de la connaissance qui peut être partagée facilement.

En adhérant à buzzaar, les utilisateurs peuvent visualiser leur historique web sous la forme de cartographies, étiqueter leur liens, partager les résultat avec leurs amis, les comparer avec les leur, créer des données communes. Projeter leur données dans le réseau global de buzzaar, comparer et combiner leur cartes indéfiniment.

Voir ou l'on est, ce que l'on fait valide ses connaissances et permet de se situer. Les utilisateurs peuvent mieux s'approprier ces informations lorsqu'ils peuvent les manipuler sous la forme de cartes dynamiques et interactives, plutôt que de lire de longues listes de textes. Ils modifient leur relation à la connaissance, et partant, leur implication dans le monde numérique.

Le projet bénéficie du soutien de l'Office fédéral de la Culture, Confédération Helvétique, sitemapping, soutien aux projets numériques, de la fondation Hasler et de l'EPFL.

L'application est un logiciel libre sous licence GNU/GPL, développé en Java.

14.11.10 Buzzaar; map your web

buzzaar est un projet de visualisation des données de votre historique web. En développement depuis juin 2009, le projet implique des collaborations trans-disciplinaires entre les scientifiques du laboratoire d'Intelligence Artificielle de L'EPFL à Lausanne Suisse et les netartistes du collectif « meetopia », basés à Genève et Lausanne en Suisse et à Sarajevo en Bosnie Ce projet bénéficie du soutien de l'Office fédéral de la Culture, Confédération Helvétique, sitemapping, soutien aux projets numériques, de la fondation Hasler et de l'EPFL. C'est une application web, développée en Java et sous licence GNU/GPL.

Il se présente à l'utilisateur sous la forme d'une plateforme web, d'un applet Java et d'un plugin pour le navigateur Firefox. L'applet java comporte plusieurs fonctionnalités intéressantes pour les utilisateurs d'Internet. Ils peuvent ainsi visualiser les co-occurances entre les URL qu'ils visitent, organiser leur historique en étiquettant leur liens. Filtrer leurs données par mot clefs, enregistrer les différents résultats sous la forme de fichiers XML.

Parmi toutes les fonctionnalités de buzzaar, il y en a une qui nous tient à coeur ; le partage des données et l'amélioration des connaissances par comparaison entre pairs. Nous partons de l'idée que les historiques de navigation sont une partie de la mémoire d'Internet, c'est de l'information publique et collective et c'est un bien précieux. Il est important de pouvoir visualiser ces données, les partager  et les manipuler. Ainsi les utilisateurs de buzzaar peuvent envoyer leur carte sous un format XML à leurs amis et peuvent manipuler les données qu'ils ont reçu de leurs amis. sous la forme de projection ou d'union des données.

Les utilisateurs qui veulent visualiser les données de leur historique de navigation, téléchargent le plugin « buzzaarbar » pour Firefox. Ils créent une session sur le serveur de buzzaar. Ils peuvent peu à peu, et de manière anonyme, envoyer les données de leur navigation sur le serveur de Buzzaar.

Buzzaar est également un réseau d'utilisateurs. L'ensemble de toutes les navigations des utilisateurs se retrouvent projetée dans le réseau publique. Il est possible pour un visiteur anonyme de jouer avec les données du réseau publique, sans avoir forcément à décider de participer et envoyer ses propres données. C'est une participation restreinte aux données du seul réseau publique.

la version finale sera traduite en anglais

Letter of Intent
max 300 words

should outline our interests, expectations and how we wish to contribute to the event.

last proposal - skype meeting - 01.12.10:15h30 One of our main interest in participating to the «Making visible the invisible: Data Visualisation in Art, Design and Science Collaborations » conference is to share the results obtained so far in our Buzzaar project within a larger panel of collaborative and transdiciplinary projects dealing with new network interfaces and data visualization techniques.

We intend to contribute to the discussions by providing our findings with respect to questions such as: how to efficiently visualize digital data, what audience should such visualisation be addressed to, and how can visualization of information improve people's knowledge and lead to their digital empowerment?

We propose a less conventional and more conversational format for our participation to the conference.

First, we would like to show how a project like Buzzaar could grow up and develop, although it involves very different partners, both from the academia and from net art field.

Then, we intend to illustrate what such a project can bring to the net culture through data visualization seen as new mediated interfaces for the development and sharing of «the commons».

In particular, we would like to discuss the role of

(1) free open source tools for visualization of and navigation in complex data sets; and

(2) the usefulness of open online spaces for knowledge creation and sharing.

Finally, we would like to discuss the importance / necessity / opportunity of interdisciplinary collaboration and heterogeneous approaches on the creation of such tools.

archives - novembre 2010

One of our main interest in participating to this conference is to share our project within a larger panel of collaborative and transdiciplinary projects dealing with new network interfaces and in a data visualization perspective.

We intend to contribute to the discussions dealing with the questions of visualizing digital data, audience it is addressed to and how visualization of information can improve people's knowledge and lead to empowerment.

We propose a less conventional and more conversational format of our participation within the conference. Primarily, we would like to present Buzzaar, how it started, and what kind of collaboration have been initiated through the project. Mainly: How can a project like this grow up and develop through different approaches from the technical and academic field of Artificial Intelligence laboratory to the field of net art and interest for network culture and visualization of data as new mediated interfaces for the development and sharing of «the commons». We would like to present the project, what it does and how it is set and open up the floor for reflections and questions on the issues we met during its development.

Mainly we would like to discuss during our presentation the role of: 1.free tools for visualization and navigation of complex data sets and processes that are related to our online behavior, 2.open online spaces for knowledge creation and sharing.

Additionally, we would like to discuss the importance / necessity / opportunity of interdisciplinary collaboration and heterogeneous approaches on the creation of such tools.

ARCHIVES DRAFT - PAPER
Shared and distributed web environment

The development of digital technologies has  brought fundamental changes into our lives, culture and society. Following this development new architectures enable and strengthen participatory and distributed practices.

Among them, social networking media (i.e. Twitter, facebook),  user generated sites (i.e blogs, Wikis, YouTube, Flickr, delicious…), and peer-to peer networks[3] have contributed to turn us from passive consumer (“cauch potatos”) (footnote?) into  “users” who can now choose if and what content, when and how they will consume and even remix, create, share with their friends and community.

Distributed knowledge[4] and shared contents  become part of a new ecology of knowledge[5] -- new as different to a relationship to knowledge based on credientialism[6], hierachy and authority.

Data visualization in the process of knowledge creation and representation

Our capacity to produce data has overwhelmed our possibility to read, understand,  and manipulate it. We find ourselves with millions of bits of data. It becomes more and more decisive to design tools that will help us to give sense to all this information. That's why the visualization of data is interesting.

Visualizing data appear to be more intuitive to users as it has been reviewed in several studies.(see references and bibliography)

Visualization  show relations that are otherwise difficult  to represent.

Tools for visualization can create dynamic interactive displays  where users can see, explore, sometimes even touch and manipulate contents. They produce graphs in a real time, with up to date information, support hyper linking as well as multimedia contents., They can filter information, aggregate contents, enable tools for layout personalization.

These visualizations represent both a meta language that contains the information as well as a discourse on this information, its representativeness (what is it represented, how and why).

One well-known figure for visualizing dynamic data is  the web mapping.

Today’s web visualizations are not only knowledge environments for users. They are also tools for contextualization, conscientiousness, and actions and can potentially contribute to public awareness and lead to their empowerment.

There are several examples of web maps that efficiently visualize relations between web pages visited by web users. (SEE related works.). They can translate huge amount of textual data into relational visual representations that are simple and understandable.

They show different informations such as pages popularity (number of page /URL visits)  Co-frequencies (relationnal frequencies among pages and/or users), categorization (tagging and filtering) using different visual artifacts: size, opacity position  colors, alpha transparency, other visual or/and audio effects (such as blinking, movements, noises) etc  In that way, users can easily understand differences among pages, nodes or similar data.

Using the elements of the visual language (metaphors) of an intuitive environment, they can associate meanings and better situate themselves in the informational context.

Aggregated contents[7] such as co-frequencies[8] help contextualizing user's interests. It can be used as requests to a peer for a recommendation or advice (if they share same interest),Many companies already use this type of collaborative filtering and recommendation, among them is e-commerce site Amazon.

Since today’s maps can be fully interactive, multimedia, explorable, collaborative and sharable, users are in position to experiment with their emotional and intellectual understanding and knowledge building.

Buzzaar Representational mechanism Web sites we visit have different levels (pages) that was one of the challenges that Buzzaar had to address. What should be shown, how and when? What kind of information is the most useful to the user?

We chose dynamic, interactive, web graphs that users can edit, manipulate, filter and sharertransforming these textual data into understandable visual representations. These representation can be easily modified and tailored to specific needs and interest..

Operations such as filtering, searching, merging and projecting results can be easly monitored and provide users with a different display of information at each time. Therefore, webmaps have infinite display possibilities..

Aggregation Webmap contains different levels of information: domain URL (aggregated information) and nodes (different type of files - images, documentation, movies, web pages).

The aggregated domain has visual markers that signify their nature. User can visualize information at different levels of granularity[9] (e.g. aggregated level or detailed level) by expanding or collapsing aggregated node under examination.

Tag and filter Webmaps can have different display modes. Buzzaar has two display modes: domain mode and tag mode. The tag mode allow users to aggregate and classify their nodes giving a personal meaning to their information.

Users have also the possibility to filter their data in order to focus on specific topics or URL names. They can save the result of such requests as a separate map too (to save it as a particular moment or part of the research).

In order to help users in manipulating and interacting intuitively with their data, Buzzaar allow them to share their webmaps with their peers.(they can send their data to friends or relatives. ) They can upload someone else's data, compare and add it to theirs in order  to manipulate and improve their results.

Two operations are designed for that.

Merge When users add someone's data to theirs.

In this process, resources of two maps are merged. The highest value counts for the whole. Itt allows usersto put their resources in common, and build a representation of common interests.

mathematical formula:of the merge operation

Project When users compare someone's data with theirs.

This process represents a comparison and a differentiation of data. It allows users to see what kind of information from the projected map is related/similar to theirs and then eventually to add these information to their map by tagging and saving this result..

The projection allow users to compare, access to others' resources, fullfill their interests and improve their knowledge.

Mathematical formula of the projection operation.

Structure and representation of the system ( architecture trust and privacy)

To come !

EXPERIMENTATION
Webmaps representation and customisation

Webmaps are user-centered.Graph is not displayed as a network without a center. It is a map of their interests and knowledge and it needs to be user oriented and personally addressed. Users are at the center surrounded by their own navigation history.

The interface layout it divided in two parts: the webmap and the list. The webmap is the graphical translation of visited URLs, while the list is its textual representation. Basic principles that define the relationship between graphical environment and list are simultaneity and reciprocity - any change on the list is immediately represented on the graph and vice versa.

Nodes and domain URL  are represented by circles. Each of them represent one level of information.Circles are commonly used in other similar efficient graphics and visualizations (see related works). We believed that this visual metaphor is familiar and clear when used in similar situations.

These circles are displayed in a matrix composed of individual circles.which are different layers, different areas of  information. The matrix is like a target:

- The- central circle (first circle)contains a visual marker for the user (an icon that can be customized);

- The second circle is the area  for the expansion of aggregated information (domain URL or tag)

- the third circle shows related  and co-frequent nodes to the expanded information;

- the forth and last circle is that area that contain external data (co-frequent nodes of a projected map, tag names) /images/ 

Users can personalize the display of their webmaps.They can change the colors of nodes, of co-frequencies links and they can personalize the central icon. In social media members are used to such practices.It enables them to mark their identity. It renders the usage more playful and more personal.

Working with their webmaps, users create new graphics, new environments containing useful information that can be shared with others.

As sait before, different visual markers are used to represent different information and data relations (color, opacity, size, position…) /image/

Users can decide whether they want to see co-frequencies and how (all co-frequencies, co-frequencies from or to activated node). That action shows users what relation they make between data And how they behave online with informations.

Buzzaar provides users with two different spaces: ones private space: the member s space where its data are stored and the buzzaar public map which is a merge of all data from all registered users. Any time, members can switch from one space to the other and interact with the public map as well.

How to deal with operations

When users want to tag their information, they have to enter the tag mode display (they leave the domain mode). All nodes that aren't tagged are gathered in the «un-tagged» category. When users create tags, they can define name and colors. When they tag their nodes, they aggregate them; their nodes move from the «un-tagged category» to the defined tag.

As said before,. Merging two maps creates a new map that keeps the highest value of both I Example: friends want to create their common webmap, so they merge all their personal webmaps together, one by one. The result is their common map. /image/

Projection Example: student “A” wants to compare her sources with student “B”. Student “A” will project her map into the map of student “B” and will analyze the result showing related nodes.

In this comparison Co-frequent nodes from the projected map are displayed within third circle and have different color (in relation to the rest of the map)./image/. How to work with buzzaar.

Buzzaar webmaps are visual representations of the rough textual data stored on a server. These textual data comes from its users who are registred members of the system and who agreed to send their data to the server. An application in java translates these rough data into a visual and interactive display (graphical environment).

Buzzaar users are registered members. They have their own private space on the server where they manage their map.

In order to have their own map and interact with it, to send their data to the server, users need to:

1. register to buzzaar

2. download and install a (Firefox) plugin which will allow them to share their data. (share = vote for an URL).

Directly from the plugin, members can define if they want to ban some domain sharing (avoiding to send sensitive and personal information to peer review). At any time, they can decide ether to start sharing (send) or stop sharing (suspend from sending) their data to the buzzaar network.

Everyone can use Buzzaar. There is no registration nor installation needed to play with the buzzaar public webmap. However visitors (unregistered users) do not have a private space on server (privilage of members only), neither they can see and customize their own webmap. They have to become member for that.

The network's architecture - user privacy and anonymity

To come !

CONCLUSION
To come !