Stanford University SALT Project 2007 - 2009

1. Self Archiving Legacy Toolkit (SALT)
Computer-assisted Semantic Annotation
of Scientific Life Works
Will Snow, Project Manager
wdsnow-EE77@stanfordalumni.org

2. The problem
 Preservation and access of the “papers” of
distinguished faculty (Luminaries)
 Adding “context and content” implies rapid
preparation for the Luminary

3. The opportunity
 Living Luminaries
 The Internet
Image: New York Times Photograph from the Year in Ideas by Zachary Scott December 12, 2004.

4. SALT end-to-end
 Semi-automated organization of “papers”
 Make available via the next-gen Internet
 Elicit new knowledge and meaning
• Born-digital workflow
• Auto entity extraction
• Concept mapping
• Archival Tools

5. SALT vs. traditional archiving
 SALT will engage earlier with the Luminary
 Encouraging participation by the “record maker”
 Processes born-digital material and physical
 Creates a “hybrid” representation
 Largely automated process
 Speed and scalability
 Rich and findable content
 Online links are inherent
 “Snap to Grid”

6. SALT Workflow
 Semi-automatic workflow creates
representation for proofing
 Results in preservation and access

7. Content
 Born digital files are normalized to PDF
 Metadata extracted electronically
 Scanned physical documents incorporated

8. Auto Tag Documents

9. Faceted Browser
 Automatic tags used to create “facets”
 Enables filtered search and pivoting

10. Snap to Grid
 Tags distilled with automatic synonyms
 Links to online “name authority”

11. Edit Tools
 For Luminary, Archivist, Legal
 Snap to Grid and clean up

12. Visualization of Legacy
 Tags auto-generate visualization
 The Luminary may edit, add connections

13. Visualization of Legacy
 Automated generation of timeline

14. Pathway
 The Luminary may draw a Pathway
 An annotation may be recorded and linked

15. Mash Ups, Network Effect
 Linked knowledge appears in mash ups
 Thinkbase shows a visualization of links

16. Mash Ups, Network Effect
 Genealogy of Influence viewer

17. Mash Ups, Network Effect
 Powerset indexes all of Freebase
 Results yield names, dates, concepts

18. Mash Ups, Network Effect
 Parallax is a public faceted browser

19. Serving the Patron
 Typical scholar, student starts with search

20. Serving the Patron
 Key Archive docs may appear in results

21. Serving the Patron
 The Patron is led to a faceted search

22. Stanford Luminary Archives
 SALT enables our own Collections
 Links to other institutions
 Pivot through information
 Paths of influence
 Progression of ideas
 Network of innovation

23. Call to action
 For questions or next steps…
Self Archiving Legacy Toolkit
Computer-assisted Semantic Annotation
of Scientific Life Works
Will Snow
wdsnow-EE77@stanfordalumni.org
doodle from http://accuracyandaesthetics.com