Recommendation of Multimedia Objects Using Metadata and Link Analysis

We investigate methods for recommending multimedia items suitable for an online multimedia sharing community and introduce a novel algorithm called UserRank for ranking multimedia items based on link analysis. We also take the initiative of applying EigenRumor from the domain of blogosphere to multimedia. Furthermore, we present a strategy for making personalized recommendation that combines UserRank with collaborative filtering. We evaluate our method with an informal user study and show that results obtained are promising.

Efficient Content-based Routing, Mobility-aware Topologies, and Temporal Subspace Matching

Event-based systems are seen as good candidates for supporting distributed applications in dynamic and ubiquitous environments because they support decoupled and asynchronous many-to-many information dissemination. Event systems are widely used, because asynchronous messaging provides a flexible alternative to RPC (Remote Procedure Call). They are typically implemented using an overlay network of routers. A content-based router forwards event messages based on filters that are installed by subscribers and other routers. The filters are organized into a routing table in order to forward incoming events to proper subscribers and neighbouring routers. This thesis addresses the optimization of content-based routing tables organized using the covering relation and presents novel data structures and configurations for improving local and distributed operation. Data structures are needed for organizing filters into a routing table that supports efficient matching and runtime operation. We present novel results on dynamic filter merging and the integration of filter merging with content-based routing tables. In addition, the thesis examines the cost of client mobility using different protocols and routing topologies. We also present a new matching technique called temporal subspace matching. The technique combines two new features. The first feature, temporal operation, supports notifications, or content profiles, that persist in time. The second feature, subspace matching, allows more expressive semantics, because notifications may contain intervals and be defined as subspaces of the content space. We also present an application of temporal subspace matching pertaining to metadata-based continuous collection and object tracking.

Digitaalisten teosten maailmanlaajuinen rekisteröinti ja käyttömaksujen kerääminen internetissä

The vastly increased popularity of the Internet as an effective publication and distribution channel of digital works has created serious challenges to enforcing intellectual property rights. Works are widely disseminated on the Internet, with and without permission. This thesis examines the current problems with licence management and copy protection and outlines a new method and system that solve these problems. The WARP system (Works, Authors, Royalties, and Payments) is based on global registration and transfer monitoring of digital works, and accounting and collection of Internet levy funded usage fees payable to the authors and right holders of the works. The detection and counting of downloads is implemented with origrams, short and original parts picked from the contents of the digital work. The origrams are used to create digests, digital fingerprints that identify the piece of work transmitted over the Internet without the need to embed ID tags or any other easily removable metadata in the file.

Dessy : desktop search and synchronization

Current smartphones have a storage capacity of several gigabytes. More and more information is stored on mobile devices. To meet the challenge of information organization, we turn to desktop search. Users often possess multiple devices, and synchronize (subsets of) information between them. This makes file synchronization more important. This thesis presents Dessy, a desktop search and synchronization framework for mobile devices. Dessy uses desktop search techniques, such as indexing, query and index term stemming, and search relevance ranking. Dessy finds files by their content, metadata, and context information. For example, PDF files may be found by their author, subject, title, or text. EXIF data of JPEG files may be used in finding them. User–defined tags can be added to files to organize and retrieve them later. Retrieved files are ranked according to their relevance to the search query. The Dessy prototype uses the BM25 ranking function, used widely in information retrieval. Dessy provides an interface for locating files for both users and applications. Dessy is closely integrated with the Syxaw file synchronizer, which provides efficient file and metadata synchronization, optimizing network usage. Dessy supports synchronization of search results, individual files, and directory trees. It allows finding and synchronizing files that reside on remote computers, or the Internet. Dessy is designed to solve the problem of efficient mobile desktop search and synchronization, also supporting remote and Internet search. Remote searches may be carried out offline using a downloaded index, or while connected to the remote machine on a weak network. To secure user data, transmissions between the Dessy client and server are encrypted using symmetric encryption. Symmetric encryption keys are exchanged with RSA key exchange. Dessy emphasizes extensibility. Also the cryptography can be extended. Users may tag their files with context tags and control custom file metadata. Adding new indexed file types, metadata fields, ranking methods, and index types is easy. Finding files is done with virtual directories, which are views into the user’s files, browseable by regular file managers. On mobile devices, the Dessy GUI provides easy access to the search and synchronization system. This thesis includes results of Dessy synchronization and search experiments, including power usage measurements. Finally, Dessy has been designed with mobility and device constraints in mind. It requires only MIDP 2.0 Mobile Java with FileConnection support, and Java 1.5 on desktop machines.

META-NORD: Towards Sharing of Language Resources in Nordic and Baltic Countries

This paper introduces the META-NORD project which develops Nordic and Baltic part of the European open language resource infrastructure. META-NORD works on assembling, linking across languages, and making widely available the basic language resources used by developers, professionals and researchers to build specific products and applications. The goals of the project, overall approach and specific focus lines on wordnets, terminology resources and treebanks are described. Moreover, results achieved in first five months of the project, i.e. language whitepapers, metadata specification and IPR, are presented.