CS5604 Projects: Suggestions

There are many possible projects suitable for CS5604. Please read over the Overview of Related Projects. Then select from the Suggestion List below, or suggest an adaption thereto, or propose a project of your own creation.

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Overview of Related Projects

• ACM DL
  ACM has allowed us to make their content available for research in CS education. Some of the SIGs (SIGCOMM, SIGIR) would like to have some of their conference proceedings and other publications added to our collection.
• CS Courseware DL
  NSF has supported our efforts to improve CS education by making our CS digital library accessible to students, and by funding faculty to make learning more interactive (adding online interactive exercises or making tools or packages available).
• CS5604 Modules
  As part our CS Courseware project, and to help with a proposal for curriculum, course and knowledge development in the broad area of Multimedia, Hypertext and Information Access (MHIA), we are collecting and analyzing IR curriculum, and preparing small modules that can be used at a variety of institutions for IR courses.
• Envision Interface
  As part of our work on digital libraries, the Envision interface was developed. It includes a query window, a results list window, and a results visualization window. Some other features have been designed but not implemented, such as browsing or zoom in/out.
• IBM DL
  IBM is working with Virginia Tech on Digital Library research and development. This involves use of search engines, rights management software, DBMS, and image handling software. Extensions desired relate to making it compatible with NCSTRL and with the Envision Interface.
• MARIAN
  MARIAN is a library catalog search system developed at Virginia Tech. It now runs with the same content as VTLS, and serves as a vehicle for research as well as providing an alternative to VTLS.
• NCSTRL
  The Networked CS Technical Report Library runs as a distributed digital library among CS departments. Further research is needed to improve its performance and reliability.
• NDLTD
  Virginia Tech is funded by Southeastern Universities Research Association and US Dept. of Education to build a National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. This involves developing a distributed digital library of great size, training large numbers of students about digital libraries and electronic publishing, and developing tools and procedures so students can easily add to the archive.
• Scaling DLs
  For systems like NDLTD it is useful to develop simple analytic or trace driven simulations so that predictions can be made about the effect of various architectures on performance and cost effectivness. Some work has been done by Ghaleb Abdulla on scaling issues, some simulation software tools are available, and the instructor has started to develop an analytical model for one class of architectures.
• SWAN
  Drs. Shaffer and Heath, along with various students, have developed a system for algorithm visualization. Manuals are available and grad student Jeff Nielsen (nielsen@csgrad.cs.vt.edu) also can help others develop visualizations.
• ZPRISE
  The Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval Group at NIST makes available a public domain package of source code and documentation (ZPRISE), which includes a Z39.50 UNIX client/server pair. It runs on Solaris. See online documentation.

Suggestion List

• Title: ACM DL - Rights Management
  • Number of people: 2
  • Goal: Prepare beta test report for IBM of the rights management software being added to their digital library systems.
  • Required background: C, C++ programming
  • Description: IBM has recently developed software to manage rights in digital libraries, i.e., restrict access to certain contents to certain people, using a system of cryptolopes. We would like to test to see how this might protect the publications of ACM SIGCOMM or SIGIR to be available only to ACM members. IBM requires a report by end of semester regarding the beta test software that will be provided.
• Title: ACM DL - Making HQ System Operate
  • Number of people: 2
  • Goal: ACM now has an IBM RS/6000 system to work together with the IBM SMP machine at Virginia Tech for digital library services. These need to become usable by ACM members.
  • Required background: PERL, UNIX
  • Description: As part of our CS digital library efforts we procured and installed an RS/6000 in ACM Headquarters, NYC. This system runs the same software as our IBM SMP machine, and mirrors the content on that machine. Both use the software that underlies NCSTRL. Collaboration with ACM staff is needed to make these systems easily usable by ACM members, affording access to page images and other data we have converted and organized.
• Title: CS Courseware DL - Log Analysis
  • Number of people: 1
  • Goal: Tools to capture and characterize users' sessions and accesses to courses.
  • Required background: PERL, UNIX, probability and statistics
  • Description: We have extensive logs of students accessing the CS courseware online for almost 2 years. These can be analyzed with various routines already developed, as well as statistical analysis packages. We wish to discover how courses can be improved, prepare tools to help in the process, and generate such recommendations. We need to develop tools to extract users' sessions and characterize them. We will try to answer the following questions: Can we identify a user session and how? If yes, can we characterize it? What is the effect of a single session on the network and server? Do we have different types of sessions, or they are all the same? If they are different, what types of sessions do we have, and what do we need to support every type of session?
• Title: CS5604 Modules
  • Number of people: 1-4
  • Goal: Modules that can be used in CS5604 in future years to help students learn, or at other sites where IR courses are given.
  • Required background: various, depending on part
  • Description:
    • One student can learn SWAN, and prepare 2-3 algorithm animations, such as of string search routines.
    • One student can extend a mini-IR system developed by the instructor into a larger IR system that can be used to demonstrate query processing and retrieval.
    • The JMP statistical package can be adapted to help students learn about clustering for IR applications.
    • The SMART, ZPRISE and/or INQUERY systems can be installed on video.cs.vt.edu and documented so that students can use them to index and search against their own document collection.
• Title: Envision Interface
  • Number of people: 2-6
  • Goal: Design and if possible (partial) implementation of enhancements to the current Envision interface.
  • Required background: C++ or Java
  • Contact: Lucy Nowell, nowell@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu
  • Description:
    • The current Envision interface could be redone in Java.
    • The Envision interface could be adapted by connecting it with NIST's ZPRISE system, to work with any Z39.50 accessible collection.
    • A detailed design of browsing for Envision could be completed, and implementation begun.
    • A detailed design of zooming (in, out) for Envision could be completed, and implementation begun.
    • The Envision system could be extended so that documents can be displayed with Netscape when selected.
• Title: IBM DL Enhancement
  • Number of people: 1-3
  • Goal: IBM DL capable of fitting in with NCSTRL and NDLTD.
  • Required background: C++
  • Description: NCSTRL follows an open architecture, with particular protocols used to connect the user interface, index server, and repository. Right now the only software usable with it is the Dienst package from Cornell. Using the API provided, the IBM DL system could be extended/adapted so that a site could use the IBM DL instead of the Dienst software.
• Title: IR Query Log Analysis
  • Number of people: 1-3
  • Goal: Characterization of IR queries, building of large test collections, construction of models of query submission.
  • Required background: probability and statistics
  • Description: We have a large number of queries available from records of IR systems. One is the full log of MARIAN queries. Another is the log of NCSTRL queries. The third can be obtained from InfoSeek, one of the large companies providing support for searching the WWW. We would like to characterize these query collections, compare them, build models of them, and when possible, develop IR test collections that include queries and relevance judgments.
• Title: MARIAN Enhancement
  • Number of people: 1-4
  • Goal: MARIAN should be more fully functional.
  • Required background: C++
  • Description: MARIAN is now usable, and will be more widely used later this year with new hardware being added. It could be enhanced by completing the relevance feedback subsection. Design and possible implementation for browsing by author and subject would be helpful too. Addition of a Z39.50 interface, possibly from the ZPRISE system, also would help.
• Title: NDLTD - Digital Library Setup
  • Number of people: 2-5
  • Goal: The NDLTD must operate as a distributed digital library, with roles for Virginia Tech, UMI, and various universities.
  • Required background: PERL, C++
  • Description: As the coordinating institution for the NDLTD, Virginia Tech must set up the central digital library and prepare training materials for other universities. First, we must decide if NCSTRL will work satisfactorily. Second, we must decide if and when the IBM DL will fit. Third, we need to establish a handle service for theses. Fourth, we must convert our existing WWW-based software into this new environment. Finally, we must document this so other universities can deploy our scheme and it will operate in distributed fashion.
• Title: NDLTD - Filtering
  • Number of people: 1
  • Goal: Design of a filtering mechanism for NDLTD.
  • Required background: systems analysis
  • Description: Users of the NDLTD will want to have relevant new works brought to their attention, based on a stored profile that describes their interest. A design is needed for such filtering, at the level of institution as well as individual. The architecture of this service, what technology is used, and details of the user interface are needed.
• Title: NDLTD - LaTeX and SGML
  • Number of people: 1-2
  • Goal: Students should be able to author theses and dissertations in LaTex and have them converted correctly to SGML, and SGML-coded theses should be convertible to LaTeX for formatting and printing.
  • Required background: LaTeX, some knowledge of SGML (or at least HTML)
  • Description: Based on the Document Type Definition for SGML, macros should be chosen so that an author working in LaTeX can use them to mark up a document. A converter must be developed to translate from LaTeX to SGML. Another converter must be developed to translate from SGML to LaTeX.
• Title: Scaling DLs
  • Number of people: 1-2
  • Goal: An analytical model or software simulation of architectures that will enable DLs to scale to large numbers of users and large content objects.
  • Required background: probability and statistics
  • Description: What will happen to digital libraries when serving millions of users with millions of gigabytes worth of information? The instructor has a preliminary formulation of a massively parallel solution, which needs to be completed and tested to see how various architectures will affect response time. Data from services such as InfoSeek can be obtained to allow some trace-driven simulations to help in this process. After characterizing users, sessions, clients, servers, and classes of servers and clients, we can use this data to build a predictive model. The model can be applied on various levels, server level, group of clients level, enterprise level, etc. If the model is accurate, then the invariants and characteristics identified can be used to test and build models for other Web communities.