It s Time to Link! On the Development of Time-Sensitive Linking Structures for the Web

Abstract

Context dependent access is becoming the most relevant means of retrieving information from both the traditional and mobile Web. The user, location, device and time can be regarded as dimensions of the context. For example, in industrial maintenance situations a maintenance crew onsite needs step-by-step instructions for their devices. Time is a fundamental parameter because the maintenance procedure descriptions can depend on the service intervals of the technical object. For example, if time t1 <t ≤ t2 then document group Dg1 = (d1, d2, d3) will be delivered to the user. If t2 <t <t3, then the deliverable document assembly may be Dg2 = (d1, d4, d5). The problem is how to connect the right document groups with associated time contexts. Other examples of time-sensitive Web applications are time-based project management and communication in distributed environments, time-sensitive filters for Web-based news services, composing and presenting training resources from a time-based point of view.

In this thesis an XLinkTime model for time-sensitive linking structures is introduced. It is demonstrated in this thesis that XLink s (XML Linking Language) multiple linking, link traversal rules and linkbases with a timerule namespace extension can be used to realize time-sensitive linking structures in professional Web-based applications. Proof-of-concept implementations have been carried out in two application domains: project management and usage of technical manuals.