A Dynamic Schema Navigation using Formal Concept Analysis

This paper introduces a framework for relational schema navigation via a Web-based browser application that uses Formal Concept Analysis as the metaphor for analysis and interaction. Formal Concept Analysis is a rich framework for data analysis based on applied lattice and order theory. The application we develop, D-SIFT, is intended to provide users untrained in Formal Concept Analysis with practical and intuitive access to the core functionality of Formal Concept Analysis for the purpose of exploration of relational database schema. D-SIFT is an information systems architecture that supports natural search processes over a predefined database schema and its attribute values. This enables the user to build concept lattices interactively through the selection and refinement of dynamic definitions of search boundaries, (via interaction with an object “zoom” feature), and dynamic selection of search scales, (via interaction with an attribute “filter” feature), based on the attribute values contained within the database. In detail, the paper presents the architecture of the D-SIFT browser and illustrates the resulting D-SIFT-systems on example database. The two examples presented illustrate the generality of system integration outcomes from D-SIFT to schema browsing using Formal Concept Analysis. The Conceptual Information Systems that result from applying the D-SIFT architecture present a new workflow for building and interacting with Formal Concept Analysis-based information systems. This workflow more closely aligns with dynamic schema interaction an increasingly popular technique used in conceptual modeling and analysis.