Design and Implementation of a Web-based Personal Digital Library

This paper proposes a mechanism called Personal Digital Library (PDL) for networkbased personal computers. PDL provides a new Web service paradigm. The Memex (“memory extender”) device proposed by Vannevar Bush aimed at solving the problems of "locating relevant information in published records and recording how that information is intellectually connected". Proposed as a new information infrastructure based on the Web and personal computers, PDL is a Memex-like entity enhanced with the ability to connect and interact with each other. Information like bookmarks in a PDL can be made shareable with other PDLs. A web-based memex is formed by linking PDLs together. Bookmarks are organised with other shareable information, rather than placed into a separate file. External PDLs can serve as memex to overcome storage limitation in the local computer and avoid information duplication. PDL integrates current Web and file services such as browsing, retrieving, publishing, organising and searching information. PDL applies the bookshelf metaphor for users to organise their books and personal folders. PDL also provides intelligent support during navigation. For instance, users can know which books in the PDL related to a particular topic are frequently visited. PDL also has efficient notification and subscription mechanisms for its bookmarks. PDL proposes a new type of collaboration, users can know the "traces" left by another visitor. This paper gives the details on PDL design and prototyping. INTRODUCTION As early as 1945, Vannevar Bush proposed a personal information machine called Memex (memory extender) [1]. Memex later became an influential idea and by the 1980s it was hailed as the inspiration for hypertext and new ways to organise and retrieve information. To deal with the explosion of scientific information, Bush’s proposal for Memex focused on the problems of "locating relevant information in the published record and recording how that information was intellectually connected" [1]. Memex was never built. The expansion of information will be more serious as the Internet grows. Researchers have to consider the problems of "locating relevant published records in the published machines and recording how those records are intellectually connected". Today's personal computer has a huge storage and surprising speed, so it is available for use as a published machine, i.e. a server. In the near future, all computers will be network-based and server-based. This means that people can publish information and 1 Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260 Fax: (65)779 1103 email:[email protected] 2 School of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, La Trobe University, Vic. 3083, Australia Journal of The Institution of Engineers, Singapore Vol. 44 Issue 3 2004 60 allow other people to use their information resources. They can also visit any computer around the world, use the information resources inside and carry out online discussion. This paper proposes a new service paradigm for a network-based personal computer to publish, browse, search, retrieve, and organise information on the Web. To avoid duplications with file systems, this mechanism organises information collections including application programs, but adds new features to meet the needs arising from the integration with the Internet. Information in a machine can be made shareable with other machines, and other machines could be part of a machine's "memory extender". This proposed mechanism is called a Personal Digital Library (PDL). PDL will realise the selections of books, PDLs and related persons through intellectual associations. As a server, PDL can store information for easy retrieval and search, and provide intelligent support for users to browse and find information. As a client, PDL can concurrently retrieve information from different PDLs (servers), and find a related person to communicate with during browsing. Other PDLs can serve as memory extensions to overcome storage limitation in the local computer and avoid information duplication on the Web. PDL can be applied across platforms such as Macintosh, PC and Unix for personal use. PDL has potential uses in many areas such as personal use, education, commerce, finance and entertainment. Personal users can employ PDL with an Internet connection to manipulate their distributed information from anywhere around the world. They can also apply PDL to Internet shopping and real digital libraries. This paper introduces PDL design and prototyping. The prototype implemented shows that the PDL concept is feasible. Although PDL is designed to manage personal information collections in a network-based personal computer, it will be fruitful that if the ideas in this paper can stimulate further development in Digital Library research.