Organizing Large Information Spaces

Project: Organizing Large Information Spaces

When multiple models for one building exist, how do we decide which one should be shown, and how do we deal with other models that have not been selected as the main representation?

This project would develop a social curatorial mechanism that allows all participants to choose and criticize the models and to ensure the quality of user contributions (with tagging and rating). The curatorial mechanism will introduce new roles that can be assumed by any user. Critics can review and comment on other models, and such critiques will be assembled and integrated to provide guidance for other users to view the most suitable model. Critiques can be used as an alternative social validation mechanism to the current process in which the model to be displayed in Google Earth is chosen by the professionals at Google.

Explore whether the social curatorial mechanisms that we will introduce will lead to exchanges among users (both as model creators and model critics) so that the intentions and opinions of users are better understood.

examples to look at:

• Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)
  • http://www.eol.org/
  • EOL is a free, online collaborative encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.8 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing databases and from contributions by experts and non-experts throughout the world. It aims to build one "infinitely expandable" page for each species, including video, sound, images, graphics, as well as text. In addition, the Encyclopedia will incorporate the Biodiversity Heritage Library, which will contain the digitized print collections from the world's major natural history libraries.
• The Google 3D Warehouse
  • http://www.google.com/intl/en/sketchup/3dwh/
  • is a online repository of 3D models. Anyone can search for and download models, but to publish your own, you'll need to sign in using your Google account.
  • Publishing your models to the Google 3D Warehouse is a great way to showcase your work. If you model 3D buildings and would like to share them with the world, you can do so through the "Best of the 3D Warehouse" layer in Google Earth. Only the very best models are selected for inclusion in this layer, but here are some helpful guidelines that will improve your chances. Learn more about getting added to this layer.
• Scratch: MIT Media Lab
  • http://scratch.mit.edu/
  • Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
  • Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.