Research Collection Master Thesis Exploiting Web 2.0 concepts for personal information management Author(s): Geel, Matthias Publication Date: 2009 Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-005899201 Rights / License: In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information please consult the Terms of use. ETH Library Exploiting Web 2.0 Concepts for Personal Information Management Master Thesis Matthias Geel <[email protected]> Prof. Dr. Moira C. Norrie Stefania Leone Global Information Systems Group Institute of Information Systems Department of Computer Science 1st April 2009 Copyright © 2009 Global Information Systems Group. iii “Theory is when you know everything but nothing works. Practice is when everything works but you don’t know why. Our aim is to join theory and practice: Nothing works and we don’t know why.” Unknown iv Abstract This thesis proposes an architecture that exploits concepts from Web 2.0 applications for personal information management. Sites such as Facebook provide an integrated portal-like solution to the management of all sorts of data through a very simple, intuitive style of in- terface. The interface is extensible and customisable in the sense that it is very simple for users to install other applications of interest and even to write their own applications. On the one hand, the architecture incorporates approaches that have already been proven useful in personal information management such as a uniform data model and semantic grouping. On the other hand, it introduces the concept of reusable database components to enable the development of a web-based, pluggable interface architecture for personal data management similar to that offered by many Web 2.0 applications. Such a pluggable interface architecture allows a user to use a set of different applications to manage the same data, or combinations of different data domains. A database component manages data of a specific domain and can be reused and extended by other components and applications. In order to tackle these chal- lenges, this thesis has been divided into two parts. In a first step, the proposed architecture has been implemented as an extension to the database management system Avon. The resulting extension is available to all application developers that build upon Avon. In a second step, MyApp Builder, a web-based PIM application, has been developed that allows users to create their own Personal Information Management applications. v vi Contents 1 Introduction1 1.1 Goals of this Thesis................................2 1.2 Requirements....................................3 1.3 Thesis Outline...................................3 2 Related Work5 2.1 Data management.................................5 2.1.1 Typing vs. Classification.........................5 2.1.2 Integration and Composition......................8 2.2 Personal Information Management.......................9 2.2.1 Hierarchical vs. Relational Data Organisation............ 10 2.2.2 Uniform data model........................... 11 2.2.3 Database usability............................ 12 2.2.4 Web 2.0 and Personal Information Management.......... 13 3 Background Information 15 3.1 OM Data Model.................................. 15 3.1.1 Types and Objects............................. 15 3.1.2 Collections................................. 16 3.1.3 Associations................................ 17 3.2 Avon......................................... 17 3.2.1 Avon Module Mechanism........................ 18 3.3 (R)Evolution of Web Technology......................... 19 3.3.1 Static Web................................. 19 3.3.2 Server-side scripting - Dynamic Web.................. 19 3.3.3 Client-side scripting and Ajax...................... 20 3.3.4 RIA Frameworks.............................. 21 4 Design and Architecture 23 4.1 Web 2.0 Principles for Personal Information Management......... 23 4.2 A Component Architecture for data management.............. 25 4.2.1 Information Components........................ 27 4.3 An extensible, web-based user interface.................... 29 5 Web Technology Evaluation 33 5.1 Requirements Analysis.............................. 33 5.2 Choice of RIA Framework............................. 34 vii viii CONTENTS 5.2.1 Plugin-based RIA Architecture..................... 36 5.2.2 Common Mechanisms.......................... 36 5.2.3 Flex..................................... 39 5.2.4 JavaFX.................................... 40 5.2.5 Silverlight................................. 41 5.2.6 OpenLaszlo................................. 41 5.2.7 Evaluation process and decision.................... 42 5.3 Choice of Web Service Architecture....................... 43 5.3.1 Java Servlets................................ 44 5.3.2 Struts.................................... 45 5.3.3 Enunciate.................................. 46 5.3.4 Evaluation process and decision.................... 47 6 Implementation 49 6.1 Information Components Module........................ 49 6.1.1 Meta Model Extension.......................... 50 6.1.2 CRUD Classes............................... 50 6.1.3 Application Programming Interface.................. 52 6.1.4 Reuse Semantic.............................. 52 6.1.5 Encapsulation............................... 53 6.2 Web Application.................................. 54 6.2.1 Database Tier / Resource Management................ 54 6.2.2 Service Tier / Application Logic..................... 55 6.2.3 Web Tier / Web Service.......................... 59 6.2.4 Client Tier / User Interface........................ 60 6.2.5 Libraries used in the web application................. 60 6.3 User Interface Generation............................ 62 6.3.1 Design of the User Interface....................... 63 6.3.2 Template Manager............................ 64 6.3.3 View Generator.............................. 64 6.3.4 View Generator Service.......................... 65 6.3.5 Customized Views............................ 66 7 Scenario 69 7.1 MyApp Builder................................... 69 7.2 The Dashboard................................... 72 7.3 Composition of the PictureTagging Application................ 72 8 Conclusions 75 8.1 Summary of Contributions............................ 76 8.2 Future Work..................................... 77 8.2.1 Information Components Module................... 77 8.2.2 MyApp Builder and Web Interface................... 78 A Framework Comparison 79 A.1 Flex.......................................... 79 A.2 JavaFX........................................ 80 CONTENTS ix A.3 Silverlight...................................... 81 A.3.1 XAML.................................... 81 A.3.2 C# Code.................................. 81 A.4 OpenLaszlo..................................... 82 B Graphic Resources 83 B.1 VistaICO Toolbar Icons............................... 83 B.2 Yuuyake Icons.................................... 83 B.3 Old School Icons.................................. 83 x CONTENTS 1 Introduction A brief history of (personal) information management Those who think personal information management did not start until recently are terribly mistaken. In the beginning, it was purely a task of the human mind due to lack of appropriate tools to record information. But very soon, people began to use dry to paint walls and chisels to scribble stone. Although these people surely did not think about information management, it was the first time ever information was preserved. The invention of parchment and paper, or rather their adoption in the western world during the Middle Ages, heralded a new era of information sharing but at that time it became evident that information management is neces- sary as well. Pages were bundled in folders, books were organised in bookshelves, and the most important source of personal information at the time, the classic mail, was locked up in escritoires. However, personal information management was still not a big issue because casual people could rarely read or write and hence there was still no other medium to trans- port information than one’s own mind. The predominant areas at that time where information management was necessary were libraries and of course governments because piles of paper is the embodiment of bureaucracy. But after the industrialization, management efforts grew steadily as companies increased in size and more and more paper was produced as a result of daily business. Files, folders and cabinets were omnipresent not only in enterprises but also at home for personal information management. There was already more than enough material to organize: Bills, receipts, letters, news papers, magazines, publications, notes and those numerous official documents required by the governance. Nevertheless, the amount of information was bound by physical constraints. In 1945, Vannevar Bush [3] came up with an ingenious vision of a future where literally everything can be recorded and retrieved again. About forty years later, IBM and Apple presented their home computers. The revolutionary aspect of the first home computers, namely the Personal Computer from IBM and the Macin- tosh from Apple was not their technology but the fact that they were the first truly personal computers for everyone. And then the technological evolution accelerated - more processing power, more storage, more data, Internet, E-mail, the Web, we know the story. The tempo- 1 2 1.1. GOALS OF THIS THESIS rarily last step in