1 SmartCode Brad Argue INLS 03/19/2001

2 Overview RDF Server Separation of content from format and presentationEnables maintenance-cheap… Aggregation Syndication Personalization Distribution to multiple end-user devices

3 History / Development Leon Shklar1995 InfoHarness Bell Communications Research 1996? GeoHarness Bell Communications Research Metaphoria Pencode Web Works 2000 SmartCode Information Architects

4 Motivation Web publishing maintenance nightmares:Same content, multiple formats HTML, XML, PDF, Word, WML, etc. Same content, multiple end-user devices Browser, FTP client, PDA, cell phone, etc. Aggregation of distributed content URL, file, XML element, search engine, database query Dynamic Personalization/Syndication

5 Analysis The SmartCode FrameworkImplemented as hierarchy of Java classes Works in conjunction with any web server that supports the Java Servlet API Applications are created using a GUI RDF (XML) metadata repository Pages are built based on information contained in: URL parameters HTTP headers state/session information node path (URL) metadata

6 Architecture – Process ModelSource:

7 Architecture RDF metadata repositoryHierarchical, logically related nodes Leaf nodes point to single piece of data (a paragraph from a file, a web resource, a database query, etc.) Higher-level nodes aggregate sub-nodes and act as virtual containers Nodes contain two types of metadata Access-descriptive Content-descriptive

8 Architecture Responders are chosen and build pages based on information contained in: URL parameters HTTP headers State/session information Node path (URL) Metadata Templates define page layout HTML (“#MM…”) XML (pre-designated elements are processed)

9 Architecture Data integrity maintained automatically through continual comparison between metadata and original source Greater efficiency/speed achieved through “Repository generation” versus “request processing” phases Multi-level caching system

10 System Requirements All major platforms, includingLinux Solaris Windows NT/2000 Can be used in conjunction with any web server that supports Java Servlet API, including Apache Microsoft IIS Netscape Enterprise Server JRun Sun Java Web Server

11 Example Applications Scenario 1: Affiliate sites / syndicationScenario 2: Portal site / aggregation

12 Summary Strengths Weaknesses RDF/metadataDynamic aggregation/ syndication Maintenance-time savings Java/XML…platform independence Weaknesses Cost: $140,000/server Proprietary—lack of openness Not widely used Speed? ???

13 For More Information SmartCode Metaphoria InfoHarness Metaphoria InfoHarness