U-INF OR-ME Univ ersal Information Matrix Engine Prop osal - PDF document

U-INF OR-ME Univ ersal Information Matrix Engine Prop osal Num b er: IST-2001-32011 P art C F ebruary 21, 2001 1

U-INF OR-ME F ebruary 21, 2001 Prop osal No: IST-2001-32011 Con ten ts 1 Description of the Consortium 3 2 Description of the participan ts 4 2

U-INF OR-ME F ebruary 21, 2001 Prop osal No: IST-2001-32011 1 Description of the Consortium The consortium consists of leading academic and industrial researc hers (see table 1). The com- plemen tary skills, exp eriences and geographical spread of the consortium will ensure that the pro ject has the necessary resources to successfully manage and deliv er �rst class results to the b ene�ts of the EU Comm unit y . F our partners in the pro ject are based in prestigious cen tres: GU (Glasgo w), UN P ADU I (P ado v a), FUB (Rome) and QM (London) are institutes of higher learning and researc h. KPMG (Amsterdam) and ED (A thens) are t w o activ e commercial companies. KPMG pro vides general services for electronic commerce and W eb applications, whereas ED pro vides p ersonalised In- ternet/ W eb solutions while building information adjusted to business requiremen ts and/ or customer needs. They ha v e b een c hosen b ecause of their pro v ed exp ertise in the required �elds and b ecause they complemen t nicely eac h other's comp etence. KPMG will bring to the consortium its extensiv e exp erience in the selection and implemen tation of soft w are to ols and W eb tec hnology as w ell as its exp erience in W eb-based electronic commerce solutions, a �eld that will b e also addressed b y the pro ject through a sp eci�c case study . KPMG also brings to the pro ject the necessary kno wledge and exp erience of the mark et that only a pure commercial partner can ha v e. ED will bring to the consortium its kno wledge in building p ersonalised p ortals on In ternet. KPMG and ED Will b e mainly resp onsible of the soft w are dev elopmen t part of our prop osal. On the other hand, GU, UN P ADU I, FUB and QM ha v e b een on the forefron t in dev eloping adv anced h yp ermedia retriev al systems, kno wledge managemen t systems and in the dev elopmen t of in telligen t agen ts and database searc hing. There will b e t w o imp ortan t lev els of managemen t in the consortium: one at the site lev el, and the other for the pro ject as a whole. The pro ject will b e managed b y the co-ordinating con tractor, P artner CO1 (Univ ersit y of Glasgo w), whic h will act as the pr oje ct le ader and co-ordinator for the tec hnical as w ell as for the �nancial managemen t of the pro ject. The Departmen t of Computing Science at the Univ ersit y of Glasgo w is one of the most exp erienced UK Departmen ts in terms of EU-funded pro ject supp ort and has b een activ e in that domain since 1984. Using this exp erience, plus the extensiv e exp erience of some of the other partners in EU-funded pro jects, w e will rep eat our successful form ula of managing and co-ordinating EU pro jects. The pro ject leader, Prof. Keith v an Rijsb ergen, will b e in c harge of assessing ho w the w ork is pro ceeding. The progress of the pro ject will b e measured against the sc hedule of deliv erables and milestones. Redirection of resources or other correctiv e actions will b e tak en when and where appropriate. In case of con�ict among the consortium mem b ers, the pro ject leader will in terv ene. Details ab out con�ict resolution will b e included in the consortium agreemen t to b e signed b y all partners. 3

U-INF OR-ME F ebruary 21, 2001 Prop osal No: IST-2001-32011 P articipan t P articipan t P articipan t name P articipan t Coun try Role Num b er short name CO 1 Univ ersit y of Glasgo w GU UK CR 2 Univ ersit y of P ado v a UN P ADU I I CR 3 F ondazione Ugo Bordoni FUB I CR 4 Queen Mary , Univ ersit y of London QM UK CR 5 KPMG Business Advisory Services KPMG NL CR 6 Europ ean Dynamics ED EL T able 1: List of P articipan ts in U-INF OR-ME 2 Description of the participan ts W e giv e here a brief description of the 7 consortium mem b ers as w ell as the k ey p ersons that will b e in v olv ed in the pro ject: 1. GU - Univ ersit y of Glasgo w The Computing Science Departmen t (CSD) at Glasgo w Univ ersit y is w orld class in its researc h, as demonstrated b y its ac hiev emen t of the highest grading (5*) in the last UK Researc h Assess- men t Exercise, and is also top rated in its teac hing. CSD brings to the pro ject its extensiv e exp erience in the areas of information retriev al mo delling, m ultilingual information retriev al, ev aluation of in teractiv e retriev al systems, computational linguistics and Human-comm unication in teraction. Indeed, the researc h activit y in the departmen t demonstrates particular strengths in the theory and mathematical underpinnings of Information Retriev al (IR). F or example, the w ork of V an Rijsb ergen in no v el approac hes to in teractiv e IR and in probabilistic-based retriev al approac hes, or the w orks of Ounis in theoretically-based m ultimedia retriev al. Moreo v er, Human-Computer In teraction is the cen tral topic of the Glasgo w In teractiv e Systems group (GIST). GIST has a particularly m ultidisciplinary mix and will strongly con tribute to the user-cen tred p ersp ectiv e of the pro ject. GIST has b een in v olv ed in the EC Mira pro ject, dealing with the design of user-friendly in teractiv e retriev al systems. As a training en vironmen t, Glasgo w CSD already supp orts a thriving comm unit y of 68 researc h studen ts. Our Graduate Sc ho ol's gro wth o v er recen t y ears cuts against the trend in Scottish univ ersities. Apart from the sta� listed b elo w, the IR group in v olv es nine other mem b ers, predominan tly p ostgraduate studen ts, and w e also ha v e strong links to other lo cal groups suc h as those in Strathclyde Univ ersit y's Information Science Departmen t. The collectiv e depth and breadth of exp ertise is just one con tributor to the qualit y of the en vironmen t. Glasgo w is one of the premier sites for the ev aluation of IR soft w are, esp ecially with resp ect to its utilit y and usabilit y for individual users. In addition, w e can dra w up on the administrativ e exp ertise built up through the departmen t's in v olv emen t in man y EC pro jects (Mira, MIR O, FERMI, PR OSPER, IADIV A, FIDE I & I I, IDOMENEUS, COMMANDOS I & I I, Shap e) o v er the past y ears, and also up on a univ ersit y unit dev oted to the supp ort of Europ ean pro jects. Key persons ergen , Professor C. J. \Keith" v an Rijsb � Prof. Keith v an Rijsb ergen is curren tly a Senate Assessor on the Court of Glasgo w Uni- v ersit y . 4