Agoric Architectural Styles for Decentralized Space Exploration (Presentation: Khare, R. and Taylor, R.N., IEEE, Space Mission Challenges in Information Technology Workshop on Deep Space Communications, July 17 – 18, 2006)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: A survey of how market-based approaches can affect space-mission planning, ranging from Information Markets to prioritize science goals at planning-time to Agoric Computing to trade computing resources during a mission. We also briefly introduce the challenges of Mechanism Design to outline the limits of market institutions, and its implications for new Architectural Styles that guide software development and integration based on these principles.
Hierarchy in Web Page Similarity Link Analysis (Technical Report: Schiffman, Allan M., May 2006)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Rather than using traditional text analysis to discover Web pages similar to a given page, we investigate applying link analysis. Since web pages exist in a link-rich environment, that has the potential to relate pages by any property imaginable — since links are not restricted to intrinsic properties of the page text or metadata. In particular, while Web page similarity link analysis has been explored, prior work has deliberately ignored the explicitly hierarchical host & pathname structure within URLs. To exploit this property, we generalize Kleinberg’s well-known “hubs and authorities” HITS algorithm; adapt this algorithm to accommodate hierarchical link structure; test some sample web queries; and argue that the results are potentially superior and that the algorithm itself is better motivated.
Zocalo and Prediction Market Design (Presentation: Hibbert, Chris, Prediction Market Summit, February 4, 2006)
Abstract, PDF, PPT
Abstract: This presentation recaps the status of the Zocalo project, presents a proposal that existing prediction markets would benefit from increasing their search engine visibility and providing price feeds, and shows how most of the existing prediction markets are missing an easy chance to offer more liquidity in their multi-outcome claims. The Zocalo Prediction Market toolkit is available as open source at SourceForge, and is being used in laboratory experiments at George Mason University. Those experiment are characterizing the effects of manipulators on Prediction Markets. We show a web-based replay of one session of those experiments. There are quite a few topics covered by the existing publicly visible prediction markets that are of widespread interest. The companies operating those markets could increase their visibility substantially by making their markets more searchable. If the descriptions of the claims were posted with stable web addresses, people insterested in the topics could refer to them more easily, and the search engines would be more likely to notice them when crawling the web, and more able to show them as results when they are relevant to a query. When prediction markets are based on claims with multiple exclusive outcomes, most of the current markets are not presenting traders with the best available prices. These markets maintain a separate double auction for each outcome, segmenting the available order volume into non-interacting submarkets. When outcomes are exclusive, bids on each outcome are bets against each of the others, and could add to the liquidity of all positions. Since most traders are price takers, this results in fewer trades taking place. Arbitrageurs are not a substitute for the market in offering these trading opportunities, since riskless arbitrage can’t take advantage of interest that never appears in the order book.
Microformats: The Next (Small) Thing on the Semantic Web? (Article: Khare, R., IEEE Internet Computing, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 68 – 75, January/February 2006)
Abstract, HTML
Abstract: Clever application of existing XHTML elements and class attributes can make it easier to describe people, places, events, and other semistructured information in human-readable form.
Microformats: A Pragmatic Path to the Semantic Web (Technical Report: Khare, Rohit and Çelik, Tantek, January 2006)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Microformats are a clever adaptation of semantic XHTML that makes it easier to publish, index, and extract semi-structured information such as tags, calendar entries, contact information, and reviews on the Web. This makes it a pragmatic path towards achieving the vision set forth for the Semantic Web. Even though it sidesteps the existing “technology stack” of RDF, ontologies, and Artificial Intelligence-inspired processing tools, various microformats have emerged that parallel the goals of several well-known Semantic Web projects. This position paper introduces the ideas behind microformats and gives examples; compares to similar efforts in the Semantic Web; and compares their prospects according to Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model.
AI Meets Web 2.0: Building The Web of Tomorrow Today (Technical Report: Tenenbaum, J. M., December 2005)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Imagine an Internet-scale Knowledge System where people and intelligent agents can collaborate on solving complex problems in business, engineering, science, medicine, and other endeavors. Its resources include semantically tagged Web sites, wikis, and blogs, as well as social networks, vertical search engines and a vast array of Web services from business processes to AI planners and domain models. Research prototypes of decentralized knowledge systems have been demonstrated for years, but now, thanks to the Web and Moore’s Law, they appear ready for prime time. Architectural concepts for incrementally growing an Internet-scale knowledge system are introduced, with descriptions of early commercial deployments in manufacturing and healthcare.
KudoRank: A Market Model for Mail Management (Technical Report: Khare, R., November 2005)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: This paper describes a novel approach to searching personal information archives: a market mechanism for ‘pricing’ the value of information from different authors. Traditional text indexing assumes all documents in a collection are equally important, so the ranking of search results is based on the frequency of term occurrence, age, or other endogenous properties of the result set itself. We investigated whether higher-quality results can be obtained by ranking documents based on analysis of the social network between correspondents. This approach appears particularly promising for personal information archives, where much of the data to be retrieved is private and little contextual metadata exists.
QuestionMarket: A Marketplace Mechanism for Tapping into the Value of Human Cognition (Technical Report: Hill, B., October 2005)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: A QuestionMarket enables the exchange of units of human-generated information. While many other distributed ‘grid’ systems create a marketplace for trading computational resources like processing, bandwidth, and storage, QuestionMarket deals in the acquisition and exchange of small units of human cognition. By focusing on puzzles that are difficult to solve with a computer but relatively easy for humans, so called AI-complete problems are resistant to Moore’s Law while encompassing a wide range of valuable human-only work, such as translation, tagging, and filtering.
Decentralizing Sponsored Web Advertising (Technical Report: Khare, R. and Sittler, B., April 2005)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Today, sponsored search auctions are purely centralized. A single, trusted agency controls who can advertise; acceptable advertising messages; the mapping of ads to pages; placement within pages; and, of course, the entire bidding process. We are interested in learning more about the challenges of building a peer-to-peer alternative; and to discuss our experiments with an alternative mechanism, Ross Mayfield’s “cost-per-influence.”
Business Services Networks: Delivering the Promises of B2B (Article and Presentation: Tenenbaum, J. M., and Khare, R., IEEE Workshop on Business Services Network, March 29, 2005, pp. 52 – 60)
Abstract, Article, Presentation
Abstract: The fundamental challenge of e-commerce is enabling companies to do business with one another across a network, despite different business processes and computer systems. Traditionally, these problems were overcome through custom point-to-point integration or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) networks. These expensive, time-consuming approaches make economic sense only when companies do a lot of business together. The promise of the Internet, by contrast, is an open e-business platform where companies can do business spontaneously with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Business Services Networks fulfill that vision. This vision paper also presents CommerceNet’s role in catalyzing industrial adoption.
Zocalo: An Open-Source Platform for Deploying Prediction Markets (Technical Report: Hibbert, C., February 2005)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: We propose developing an open-source toolkit for creating markets, called Zocalo, in order to catalyze broader adoption of markets in academia, industry, and throughout society. We are primarily interested in prediction markets, which allow traders to buy and sell securities that pay out based on the outcome of some future event, but Zocalo would also be useful for creating markets in other goods.
Business Services Networks: Delivering the Promises of B2B (Technical Report: Tenenbaum, J. M. and Khare, R., January 2005)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: The fundamental challenge of e-commerce is enabling companies to do business with one another across a network, despite different business processes and computer systems. Traditionally, these problems were overcome through custom point-to-point integration or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) networks. These expensive, time-consuming approaches make economic sense only when companies do a lot of business together. The promise of the Internet, by contrast, is an open e-business platform where companies can do business spontaneously with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Business Services Networks fulfill that vision. This vision paper also presents CommerceNet’s role in catalyzing industrial adoption.
Leveraging Product Codes for Internet Commerce (Technical Report: Stapleton-Gray, R., November 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: A Registry complementary to the Object Naming Service (ONS) planned for RFID – but specifically mapping the previous generation of product codes – would jump-start the use of product codes as unique identifiers in Internet commerce. In the long run, it would be subsumed by the ONS itself, but would play a valuable role now as a means to rapidly facilitate conversion of product codes to useful handles on the Internet. The white paper outlines the challenge of creating such a Registry and associated open-source product information-publishing tools, with estimates of the effort required.
Web Services After Five Years (Panel Discussion) (Technical Report: Khare, R., November 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Imagine an Internet-scale Knowledge System where people and intelligent agents can collaborate on solving complex problems in business, engineering, science, medicine, and other endeavors. Its resources include semantically tagged Web sites, wikis, and blogs, as well as social networks, vertical search engines and a vast array of Web services from business processes to AI planners and domain models. Research prototypes of decentralized knowledge systems have been demonstrated for years, but now, thanks to the Web and Moore’s Law, they appear ready for prime time. Architectural concepts for incrementally growing an Internet-scale knowledge system are introduced, with descriptions of early commercial deployments in manufacturing and healthcare.
Nutch: A Flexible and Scalable Open-Source Web Search Engine (Technical Report: Khare, R., Cutting, D., Sitaker, K., and Rifkin, A., November 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Nutch is an open-source Web search engine that can be used at global, local, and even personal scale. Its initial design goal was to enable a transparent alternative for global Web search in the public interest. It has also been used for intranets; by local communities with richer data models, such as the Creative Commons metadata-enabled search for licensed content; on a personal scale to index a user’s files, email, and web-surfing history. We also report on several other research projects built on Nutch and how Nutch’s architecture enables it to be more flexible and scalable than other comparable systems today.
Event-Driven Information: A Core Component of the Now Economy (Technical Report: Stapleton-Gray, R., November 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: The potential for applications that make use of networked, time-driven information is huge. Today’s portals have no concept of event personalization or collaboration. Today’s applications have only the most basic concept of integrating with or subscribing to time-driven data. And there are no providers of horizontal event-based services. The hosted calendar model deserves exploration and development it can make communities stronger and more vibrant, and organizations better informed. Software and the Internet has freed online music from its proprietary data and application jails, why not do the same with events? The traditional calendar interface deserves a overhaul.
Extending the Representational State Transfer (REST) Architectural Style for Decentralized Systems (Article: Khare, R. and Taylor, R. N., May 23 – 28, 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: Because it takes time and trust to establish agreement, traditional consensus-based architectural styles cannot safely accommodate resources that change faster than it takes to transmit notification of that change, nor resources that must be shared across independent agencies. The alternative is decentralization: permitting independent agencies to make their own decisions. Our definition contrasts with that of distribution, in which several agents share control of a single decision. Ultimately, the physical limits of network latency and the social limits of independent agency call for solutions that can accommodate multiple values for the same variable. Our approach to this challenge is architectural: proposing constraints on the configuration of com-ponents and connectors to induce particular desired properties of the whole application. Specifically, we present, implement, and evaluate variations of the World Wide Web’s Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style that support distributed and decentralized systems.
Business Service Networks (Presentation: Tenenbaum, J. M. IEEE Conference on Electronic Commerce 2004 and IEEE International Conference on Web Services 2004, July 6 – 9, 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: The fundamental challenge of e-commerce is enabling companies to do business with one another across a network, despite different business processes and computer systems. Traditionally, these problems were overcome through custom point-to-point integration or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) networks. These expensive, time-consuming approaches make economic sense only when companies do a lot of business together. The promise of the Internet, by contrast, is an open e-business platform where companies can do business spontaneously with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Business Services Networks fulfill that vision. This vision paper also presents CommerceNet’s role in catalyzing industrial adoption.
An Introduction to zLab (Technical Report: Khare, R., July 2004)
Abstract, PDF
Abstract: zLab is the first initiative from CommerceNet Labs, our new research initiative. This draft speech reviews the history and successes of the first decade of CommerceNet to put this strategy into perspective. zLab is an investment in our updated mission: Inspiring ideas to advance commerce in the Now Economy. In particular, we are investigating how to build software that can work the way society works, without any absolute center of power. This could lead to an entirely new generation of tools for decentralized commerce, in which individuals and firms can connect dynamically and in real-time. This is illustrated through experimental concepts such as zBay, zSearch, and zClassifieds.
