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A. Ekelhart, S. Fenz, G. Goluch, M. Klemen, E. Weippl:
"Architectural approach for handling semi-structured data in an user-centered working environment";
International Journal of Web Information Systems (IJWIS), 3 (2007), 3; 198 - 211.

Purpose of this paper
Today the amount of all kind of digital data (e.g., documents and e-mails), existing on every user´s computer, is continuously growing. Users are faced with huge difficulties when it comes to handling the existing data pool and finding specific information respectively. We aim to discover new ways of searching and finding semi-structured data by integrating semantic metadata.

Design/methodology/approach
The proposed architecture allows cross border searches spanning various applications and operating system activities (e.g., file access and network traffic) and improves the human working process by offering context specific, automatically generated links that are created using ontologies.

Findings
The proposed semantic enrichment of automated gathered data is a useful approach to reflect the human way of thinking which is accomplished by remembering relations rather than keywords or tags. The proposed architecture supports the goals of supporting the human working process by managing and enriching personal data, e.g. by providing a database model which supports the semantic storage idea through a generic and flexible structure or the modular structure and composition of data collectors.

Originality/value
Available programs to manage personal data usually offer searches either via keywords or full text search. Each of these existing search methodologies has its shortcomings and apart from that, people tend to forget names of specific objects. It is often easier to remember the context of a situation in which e.g. a file was created or a website was visited. By proposing our architectural approach for handling semi-structured data we are able to offer sophisticated and more applicable search mechanism regarding the way of human thinking.