Access Innovations, Inc. announces the Semantic Fingerprinting Web service extension as part of their Data Harmony Version 3.9 release. Semantic Fingerprinting is a managed Web service offered to scholarly publishers to disambiguate author names and affiliations by leveraging semantic metadata within an existing publishing pipeline.
The Semantic Fingerprinting Web service data mines a publisher’s document collection to build a database of named authors and affiliated institutions, and then expands the database over time with customization and administration services provided by Access Innovations during configuration. The author/affiliation database powers M.A.I.™ (Machine Aided Indexer) algorithms for matching names in new content received from contributors. During the configuration phase, an essential component is the graphical user interface (GUI) where users disambiguate unmatched names using clues that M.A.I. surfaces as a result of rigorous document analysis.
“Like a fingerprint, each author has a unique ‘semantic profile’ that captures the specific disciplines and topic areas in which they publish – reflecting subject areas covered in their body of research. Data Harmony generates subject keywords that describe the document’s content, to increase the number of author name matches a reviewer can find during editorial review of unresolved names,” explained Kirk Sanders, Access Innovations Taxonomist and Data Harmony Technical Editor.
“Semantic Fingerprinting is a versatile addition to the Data Harmony software lineup,” said Marjorie M. K. Hlava, President of Access Innovations, Inc. “Publishers can incorporate Semantic Fingerprinting to build each author’s profile, precisely reflecting that person’s research and publication achievements and institutional affiliations – all driven by information that’s already moving through the pipeline. It’s an elegant approach to data-mining a document stream for highly practical purposes, an approach presenting immediate benefits for the scholarly publisher.”
“Semantic Fingerprinting is driven by patented natural language processing algorithms,” responded Bob Kasenchak, Production Manager at Access Innovations, when asked to comment on the module’s inclusion in the Version 3.9 software update release. “The Web service enables a publisher to move far beyond adding subject metadata in their pipeline by supplementing it with the author’s research profile. This module and the process also offer a new way to improve precise document search and retrieval. Enhancements to document metadata also present opportunities to support other functions related to marketing or assigning appropriate peer reviewers.”
The Semantic Fingerprinting extension from Data Harmony 3.9 is a Web service (managed by Access Innovations) that relates terms from a publisher’s controlled vocabulary (a taxonomy or thesaurus) to the contributing authors, their affiliated institutions, and other relevant metadata information. Software components such as the user interfaces and entity-matching algorithms are adjustable, because every data set needs a targeted approach. As more data is processed by the matching algorithms and/or human editors, the name authority file and other processes require routine monitoring and adjustments. In many cases, suggestions for adjustments will come from human editors, based on questionable entities that they resolve by searching the name authority file in the Semantic Fingerprinting interface.
About Access Innovations, Inc. – www.accessinn.com, www.dataharmony.com, www.taxodiary.com
Founded in 1978, Access Innovations has extensive experience with Internet technology applications, master data management, database creation, thesaurus/taxonomy creation, and semantic integration. Access Innovations’ Data Harmony software includes machine aided indexing, thesaurus management, an XML Intranet System (XIS), and metadata extraction for content creation developed to meet production environment needs. Data Harmony is used by publishers, governments, and corporate clients throughout the world.
