Making MathNet international: an IMU project

1
Making Math-Net international an IMU project

• Martin Grötschel
• Member of the
• Committee on Electronic Information and
  Communication
• of the International Mathematical Union (IMU),
• ZIB and TU Berlin

SINN01, Oldenburg December 7, 2001
2
Before I startMathematics and Key Technologies

• Key technologies become more complex
• Innovation cycles get shorter
• Flexible mathematical models open new
  possibilities to
• master complexity
• react quickly
• explore new smart options

3
Before I startMathematics and Key Technologies

• mathematics and key technologies - an
  interactive innovation process
• a necessary condition for this process - We
  need high quality information and communication
  on various levels
• Information and communication has to be
  understood in a more general sense
• not restricted to traditional forms of
  scientific communication (e.g., articles in
  scientific journals, monographs, ...)

4

• Contents and forms of mathematical information
• and communication are much broader
• preprints, software, visualization,
  testdata, discussion lists, contact
  adresses of experts, centers of
  excellence, ...
• We need information management of higher
  quality
• It must be possible to find the
  required
• information in an intuitive way and to
  get access to
• the full text of the document
• We have to develop a framework for the fair use
  of scientific information and communication
  in mathematics (and elsewhere as well)

5
(Adequate Digital)Information and Communication
in Mathematics - a challenge for the
mathematical community
What can the mathematical community do? The
mathemical community has to play an active role
in the process of digital transformation of
information and communication in mathematics.
6
What can the mathematical community do?

• provide and present mathematical results in a
  reasonable way
• more structured and better presentation of
  mathematics (TeX, MathML)
• participate in the standardization of digital
  information - XML, RDF, DC, ... -
  recommendations and development of tools
  for authors (e.g. metadata activities in
  Math-Net )

7
What can the mathematical community do?

• participate in the organization of the
  information and communciation process
• development of services provided by the
  mathematical community (Math-Net Services)
• cooperation with other scientific communities,
  e.g., physics
• fair cooperation with all providers of
  mathematical information libraries,
  publishing houses, providers of
• bibliographic databases, software companies,
  ...

8
Scientific Information and Communication in more
detail the layer model
Digital Public Domain Layer
Layer of Value-Added Services
Archive Layer
Technology Layer
9
Information Providers of the Mathematical
Community

• mathematical societies
• departments
• research institutes
• individual mathematicians (as authors,
  editors,...)
• persons interested in mathematics

10
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
11
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
8/1998 ICM 98 The IMU decides to increase its
engagement in the field
of electronic information
and communication CEIC
(Committee on Electronic Information
and Communication) is
established
12
CEICs Terms of Reference of 1998 (I)
The CEIC shall be a standing committee of the
Executive Committee (EC) of the IMU, to be
reviewed every four years by the EC at its
meeting preceding that of the GA. Members will be
appointed for four year terms by procedures
similar to those for Commissions of the IMU. The
Executive Committee will appoint one of its
members to serve on the CEIC. The CEIC may meet
as necessary in each four year period, review the
development of Electronic Information and
Communication as it impacts the international
mathematical community and submit a report to
the EC.
13
CEICs Terms of Reference (II)
The CEIC may organize or sponsor international
meetings or forums to bring together
representatives of all interested parties,
including societies, publishers, libraries, and
researchers, publish and otherwise disseminate
proceedings, reviews of recent developments, and
technical surveys for the use of the mathematical
community. d The CEIC may recommend
international standards on issues related to
electronic communication. Such recommendations
should be reviewed by the EC and, if approved,
may be published and promoted in the name of the
IMU.
14
CEICs Terms of Reference (III)
During its first 4 year term, the CEIC is
specifically asked to address the coordination of
world-wide efforts to establish web-based servers
for mathematical papers, preprints, journals, and
books. This includes issues of uniformizing
metadata, document identifiers and supported
formats, promoting mirroring and the development
of search engines for mathematical material and
coordination of existing servers. It should
publish its findings with the goal of making the
use of these servers universally understood and
usable by the whole mathematical community. It is
also asked to consider tranferring the World
Directory of Mathematicians to an electronic
freely accessible form.
15
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
8/1998 ICM 98 The IMU decides to increase its
engagement in the field
of electronic information
and communication CEIC
(Committee on Electronic Information
and Communication) is
established 11/1998 Kick-off of CEIC in Berlin
German Math-Net project
as a possible model for
an IMU activity 12/1999 Workshop in Berkeley
The Future of Mathematical
Communication CEIC
defines the guidlines of its work
16
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
8/1998 ICM 98 The IMU decides to increase its
engagement in the field
of electronic information
and communication CEIC
(Committee on Electronic Information
and Communication) is
established 11/1998 Kick-off of CEIC in Berlin
German Math-Net project
as a possible model for
an IMU activity 12/1999 Workshop in Berkeley
The Future of Mathematical
Communication CEIC
defines the guidlines of its work
17
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
11/1998 Kick-off of CEIC in Berlin
German Math-Net project as a
possible model for an IMU
activity 12/1999 Workshop in Berkeley
The Future of Mathematical
Communication CEIC
defines the guidlines of its work 5/2000
Declaration of the Math-Net Charter
http//www.math-net.org/charter
approved by the
Executive Comittee of the IMU
on May 16, 2000
18
Excerpts from the Math-Net Charter (I)

• Math-Net is intented to organize and enhance the
  free flow of information within mathematics
  worldwide.
• The objective of Math-Net is to provide efficient
  access to high quality mathematical information
  "at the fingertips" of the user.
• The use of Math-Net is free.
• Math-Net aims at making information and services
  freely available - whenever possible.

19
Excerpts from the Math-Net Charter (II)

• Math-Net is organized under the aegis of the
  International Mathematical Union (IMU).
• Math-Net is steered by the IMU Committee on
  Electronic Information and Communication
  (CEIC) via
• - a user-driven and not for profit activity,
• - open for all willing to provide mathematical
  information electronically.

20
Excerpts from the Math-Net Charter (III)

• Math-Net is a global electronic information and
  communication system for mathematics
• structured,
• distributed,
• interoperable,
• user-friendly,
• high-quality.

21
Excerpts from the Math-Net Charter (IV)

• Math-Net is based on structured mathematical
  information offered electronically by
  participating institutions,
• the Math-Net Members.
• Math-Net combines the available resources into
  services, provided by groups of volunteers,
  the Math-Net Service Providers.

22
Math-Net Charter Organization
23
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
12/1999 Workshop in Berkeley
The Future of Mathematical Communication
CEIC defines the guidlines
of its work 8/2000 CEIC Meeting in
Vienna Definition of core activities -
Math-Net Pages definit-ion, tools,
documentation - Preprints
metadata, further extension
(internationalisation) of MPRESS
- Professional homepages
metadata, World Directory of
Mathematicians
24
Math-Net Page - Concept and Tools (I)

• the concept
• idea A standardised portal for the core
  information of Math-Net Members and the
  Math-Net Services
• three parts
• controlled vocabulary
• structure
• layout

25
A standard Math-Net Page
26
A Math-Net Page with alternative labels
27
Math-Net Page - Concept and Tools(II)

• Special requirements
• visible labels of the Math-Net Page should be
  flexible (names for the groups and categories
  of the Math-Net Page can differ between
  regions)
• Math-Net Pages should be acceptable worlwide
  What do we have to invest for a multilingual
  extension?
• tools allowing to
• - generate a Math-Net Page and
• - change an existing Math-Net Page
• in an intuitive way

28
Math-Net Navigator - the entry page
29
Navigator
Navigator - an index of the Math-Net Pages,
browsing is possible, Navigator -
lists of all current Math-Net Members
including the local information
coordinators, and the Math-Net
regions, Navigator - is a MySQL database which is
updated
automatically Navigator is provided by ZIB
30
MPRESS - the entry page
31
MPRESS
MPRESS - search engine for mathematical
preprints MPRESS - provides information about
preprints only, does not store
the fulltexts MPRESS - gathers and updates the
local information automatically
MPRESS - provided by IWI Osnabrück
32
MPRESS - covers more than 50.000 preprints from
more than 100 servers
33
PERSONA MATHEMATICA - the entry page
34
PERSONA MATHEMATICA
PERSONA MATHEMATICA - a directory about persons
in
mathematics PERSONA MATHEMATICA - two levels for
the retrieval,
simple search,
advanced search PERSONA MATHEMATICA is
provided by the
University of Cologne

35
PERSONA MATHEMATICA covers more than 1000
metadata sets of persons the memberlist of the
DMV (3000) faculty/staff lists of mathematical
departments
36
Tools in Math-Net

• We need Tools to help the users to
  generate Math-Net Pages and metadata
  (metadata are the basis for an automatic
  processing of information by machines)
• The first generation of Tools produced Math-Net
  Pages and metadata in HTML format.
• Meanwhile, new RDF- and XML- based
  Math-Net Page Makers and MetaMakers
  have been developed.

37
An example The MetaMaker for Preprints
38
Activities of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU)
8/2000 CEIC Meeting in Vienna Definition of
core activities - Math-Net Pages
definit-ion, tools, documentation
- Preprints metadata, further extension
(internationalisation) of
MPRESS - Professional
homepages metadata,
World Directory of Mathematicians 5/2001
Workshop of CEIC and the Executive
Commitee of IMU (Princeton) -
Call to All Mathematicians - What do
you want from your publisher?
39
(No Transcript)
40
(No Transcript)
41
Outlook The show will go on!
42
Thanx for your patience!