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 UW Mangrove Project

How to add yourself to the Departmental Who's Who

There are two general ways to add yourself to the Who's Who:
  1. Fill in a simple XML template and store this in your web directory. This is simple, but not as cool (from our point of view) and not linked up with the content on your existing web page (so it may get out of date).
  2. Add some basic annotations to your web page, either by hand with an editor or with a simple tool we provide. This will take a little more work, but then anytime you change your web page your Who's Who entry will automatically be updated. Plus, you will be one of the first to really participate in the Semantic Web, and will then be able to easily add information to the Department Calendar and Publications Database (see these instructions for more info). This will not change the appearance of your page within a browser and you can continue to maintain your web page as normal (e.g., with a text editor or with FrontPage).

You can use either technique (or even a mixture of the two). This document is geared towards UW graduate students, but these instructions will also work for undergrads, faculty members, and staff members, and also for persons not affiliated with UW.

Bear in mind that all the information you provide will be freely accessible to anyone with a web browser, though the most common users will be people within the department.

Using a XML template

  1. Log into a UNIX machine. From Windows, use "Programs->Internet and Remote Connections->SSH->Secure Shell Client" and log into 'bicycle.cs.washington.edu'. For undergrads, try 'barb.cs.washington.edu'.
  2. Copy the template into your web directory:
    cp /projects/semweb1/www/info.xml ~/www
    (or download from here)
  3. Make your file web-accessible:
    chmod a+rx ~/www
    cd ~/www
    chmod a+rx info.xml
  4. Use an editor to fill in the form with info about you. For instance, use 'emacs -nw info.xml'. Everything except the 'name' is optional.
  5. If you are not a grad student, change the <uw:gradStudent> and </uw:gradStudent> tags from 'gradStudent' to 'undergradStudent', 'staffMember', or 'facultyMember'
  6. Publish your info by entering the URL for your file (e.g., http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/myusername/info.xml) into this form.
  7. You should be immediately added to the Who's Who. Check it out!
  8. The server will perioidically revisit this file, so any changes you make will automatically propagate to the Who's Who.
That's all. See here if you want more info on setting up your web directory, or continue reading to find out how to add annotations to your main web page.

Adding Annotations to Your Home Page

First a quick overview on what annotations are, then some instructions.

Annotation Basics

We assume that you already have a personal web page. If not, follow the directions here to create one. If you need a UNIX host, try 'bicycle.cs.washington.edu.' (undergrads: try barb.cs.washington.edu) Your web page can be in any format; here is a completed example (to see annotations, look at the source).

Annotation consists of adding semantic tags to your HTML document. For example,

The semantic tags are ignored by traditional browsers and thus will not disrupt the look and feel of your home page. Likewise, HTML formatting tags (like the <i> tag inside the <uw:name> element above) are ignored by the semantic parser, so you can tag your data without having to make any other changes to the HTML. The system will, however, make use of link or image tags where possible (like in the <a href...> tag inside <uw:advisor> above).

You have a choice of annotating a document either:

  • Using the graphical annotation tool.
  • "By hand" (i.e. with an editor such as emacs)

    Using the annotation tool is easier and just requires a simple download. The annotation tool will not do any annoying reformatting of your document. This tools runs on Linux but is a little clumsy; we recommend annotation by hand instead on Linux.

    If you have more than one page that contains your personal information, simply follow the steps below for each page that you wish to annotate. The Who's Who will automatically combine the information about you into a single entry.

    Instructions using the Annotation Tool ("Tagger")

    1. Follow these instructions for basics on how to download and use the tagger.
    2. First tag the entire document as a <uw:gradStudent> (or use <uw:undergradStudent>, <uw:staffMember>, or <uw:facultyMember> as appropriate)
    3. Then highlight specific regions of the page and right-click to select other tags such as <uw:name>, <uw:workEmail>, and <uw:hobbies>. See the schema for explanations.
    4. (optional)Highlight and tag your picture with the <uw:portrait> tag.
    5. Save your file, then click on the Publish button in the tagger to send the URL of your page to the server.
    6. If there are no errors, view the result on the Who's Who. You can stop now, or add more tags and publish again.
    7. The server will periodically revisit your home page, so changes will automatically propagate into the Who's Who.

    Instructions using a text editor

    1. Open your HTML file using an editor such as emacs.
    2. Change the initial <html> tag to be:
          <html xmlns:uw="http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/semweb/vocab#v1_0">
    3. If you are a grad student, add the <uw:gradStudent> and </uw:gradStudent> tags surrounding everything between the <body> and </body> HTML tags (or use <uw:undergradStudent>, <uw:staffMember>, or <uw:facultyMember> as appropriate). Then add <uw:name>, <uw:workEmail>, and <uw:hobbies> tags (and closing tags) as appropriate. See the example given above.
    4. (Optional) Add other tags as desired. For instance:
          <uw:portrait> (around an HTML <img> tag for your picture)
          <uw:researchInterests>
          <uw:office> (use with caution if you are a TA!)
          <uw:sportsPlayed>
          <uw:birthday> (best to omit the year)
      The schema provides a complete list of tags. See the list of allowable tags inside a <uw:gradStudent> tag, or start from the valid top-level tags.
    5. Save the document and then publish it to make it available to applications. Use the full URL of your home page, e.g., http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/myusername
    6. If the "publish" output shows no errors, check out the Who's Who to see the results!
    7. The server will periodically revisit your file, so any changes you make will propagate to the Who's Who.

    Here is a completed example (to see annotations, look at the source).

    NOTES:

    Troubleshooting

  • Make sure you modified the initial <html> tag as specified above.
  • Make sure you publish your document.
  • The semantic parser is not currently very user friendly. If you get parsing errors, check to make sure that every semantic tag has a matching end tag and that the semantic tags are properly nested.
  • This is a research prototype, so we are happy to help if you have any problems. Send mail to lucasm@cs.washington.edu.