System and method for determining connections between information aggregates

• US 20040088322A1
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Elder, Michael D., Schirmer, Andrew L., Rokosz, Vaughn T., Schultz, Matthew, Jho, Jason Y.
• Application Number:
  US10/286,212
• Publication Number:
  US 20040088322A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/103Y
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A system and method for evaluating an information aggregate. A metrics database stores document indicia including document attributes, associated persons and age of creation. A query engine is responsive to a user request and the metrics database for aggregating documents having same, unique attributes in an information aggregate; collects a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate and a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate. A visualization engine visualizes connections between the first and second information aggregates

Claims

1. Method for evaluating an information aggregate, comprising:

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

identifying and visualizing connections between said first and second information aggregates.

2. The method of claim 1, said connections being first degree connections.

3. The method of claim 1, said connections being second or higher degree connections.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining membership of an information aggregate as persons associated with said aggregate as initiators.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining membership of said information aggregate as including persons associated with said aggregate by virtue of opens, edits, responses or links.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining membership of said information aggregate as initiators during a first specified time period.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining an intersection of member sets between said first aggregate and said second aggregate;

calculating a first connection value from said first aggregate to said second aggregate as a count of activities performed in said second aggregate by members of said first aggregate;

calculating a second connection value from said second aggregate to said first aggregate as a count of activities performed in said first aggregate by members of said second aggregate; and

visualizing said first and second connection values.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating and visualizing balance metrics for persons common to said first and second aggregates.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating and visualizing an aggregate balance metric for said first and second aggregates.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

filtering and visualizing said counts based on content.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying connections between said first and second information aggregates for a second time period; and

visualizing said connections for said first and second time periods.

12. A system for evaluating an information aggregate, comprising:

means collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

means for collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

means for identifying and visualizing connections between said first and second information aggregates.

13. A system for evaluating an information aggregate, comprising:

a metrics database for storing document indicia including document attributes, associated persons and age of creation;

a query engine responsive to a user request and said metrics database for aggregating documents having same, unique attributes in an information aggregate;

said query engine further for

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

a visualization engine for visualizing connections between said first and second information aggregates.

14. The system of claim 13, said connections being first degree connections.

15. The system of claim 13, said connections being second or higher degree connections.

16. The system of claim 14, said query engine further determining membership of an information aggregate as persons associated with said aggregate as initiators.

17. The system of claim 16, said query engine further determining membership of said information aggregate as including persons associated with said aggregate by virtue of opens, edits, responses or links.

18. The system of claim 16, said query engine further determining membership of said information aggregate as initiators during a first specified time period.

19. The system of claim 16, said query engine further:

determining an intersection of member sets between said first aggregate and said second aggregate;

calculating a first connection value from said first aggregate to said second aggregate as a count of activities performed in said second aggregate by members of said first aggregate;

calculating a second connection value from said second aggregate to said first aggregate as a count of activities performed in said first aggregate by members of said second aggregate; and

visualizing said first and second connection values.

20. The system of claim 19,

said query engine further calculating balance metrics for persons common to said first and second aggregates;

and

said visualization engine further visualizing said balance metrics.

21. The system of claim 19,

said query engine further calculating an aggregate balance metric for said first and second aggregates;

and

said visualization engine further visualizing said aggregate balance metric.

22. The system of claim 19,

said query engine further filtering said counts based on content;

and

said visualization engine further visualizing said counts.

23. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

said query engine further identifying connections between said first and second information aggregates for a second time period; and

said visualization engine further visualizing said connections for said first and second time periods.

24. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for evaluating an information aggregate, said method comprising:

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

identifying and visualizing connections between said first and second information aggregates.

25. The program storage device of claim 24, said method further comprising:

determining an intersection of member sets between said first aggregate and said second aggregate;

calculating a first connection value from said first aggregate to said second aggregate as a count of activities performed in said second aggregate by members of said first aggregate;

calculating a second connection value from said second aggregate to said first aggregate as a count of activities performed in said first aggregate by members of said second aggregate; and

visualizing said first and second connection values.

26. The program storage device of claim 24, said method further comprising:

determining membership of said information aggregates as initiators during a first specified time period;

determining membership of said information aggregates as initiators during a second specified time period;

identifying connections between said first and second information aggregates for said first and second specified time periods; and

visualizing said connections for said first and second time periods.

27. A computer program product for evaluating an information aggregate according to the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

identifying and visualizing connections between said first and second information aggregates.