Context Spaces as the Cornerstone of a Near-Transparent & Self-Reorganizing Semantic Desktop

Abstract

Existing Semantic Desktops are still reproached for being too complicated to use or not scaling well. Besides, a real "killer app" is still missing. In this paper, we present a new prototype inspired by NEPOMUK and its successors having a semantic graph and ontologies as its basis. In addition, we introduce the idea of context spaces that users can directly interact with and work on. To make them available in all applications without further ado, the system is transparently integrated using mostly standard protocols complemented by a sidebar for advanced features. By exploiting collected context information and applying Managed Forgetting features (like hiding, condensation or deletion), the system is able to dynamically reorganize itself, which also includes a kind of tidy-up-itself functionality. We therefore expect it to be more scalable while providing new levels of user support. An early prototype has been implemented and is presented in this demo.

Authors


Images & Screenshots

High-resolution versions of figures used in the paper (click to open in separate tab):
 
 
Figure 1: Conceptual overview of the cSpaces Semantic Desktop

 
 
Figure 2 (initial version): Screenshot showing sidebar, file explorer and browser before (left half) and after a context switch (right half), illustrating the effects of a dynamic reorganization of the system. (Note: windows were rearranged for easier comparison.)

 
 
Figure 2 (updated version): Screenshot of sidebar, file explorer and browser before (top) and after a context switch (bottom), illustrating the effects of a dynamic reorganization of the system.


Demo Video

This demo video shows some features of our early prototype implementation (watching in full screen mode is recommended, 720p video).
 


Paper

preprint (arXiv)
paper (Springer)