Demo

Brief Overview

Trellis is an interactive environment that will allow users to add their observations, viewpoints, and conclusions as they analyze information by making semantic annotations to documents and other on-line resources. We view this as a knowledge acquisition problem, where users are adding new knowledge to the system based on their expertise as they analyze information.

Trellis can be accessed from the main project page at http://trellis.semanticweb.org, or from http://www.isi.edu/expect/projects/trellis.

Each analysis that the user performs has a purpose that is used to describe the issue analyzed. Trellis asks the user to specify a purpose, which is a short sentence that summarizes the issue or hypothesis in question.

Each piece of information or data that is used in the analysis is called a statement. A statement can be linked to a Web resource, it could be a manual or authoritative source. Trellis allows the user to access a Web search engine and use the results of the search to create new statements. Users can also enter statements that are not Web pages but instead have text such as an email message, or a note about a conversation, or any other text. The user can specify a URL but it is not necessary. In addition to input information and data, the user can add statements that indicate intermediate conclusions or hypothesis. Statements can also be used to indicate the sources of some information. Sources can be qualified according to the user's view on their reliability and credibility. The user can define new statements or modify existing ones at any time.

The overall analysis is composed of units, which are composed in turn of sub-units. Each unit relates individual statements using a construct from the Trellis vocabulary. All the statements within a unit are linked to some Web source or user-provided text. Users can provide reasons ("because") or not, depending on the amount of detail that they wish to capture in each part of the analysis. Only some portions of a given unit are part of the Trellis language. The rest of the components of the unit (i.e., the statements) are treated as strings and Trellis will not process them further. At any time, users can compose their analysis from the statements that they have selected and created. The analysis of a purpose is made of units, which may have sub-units in turn. Users can collapse or expand any portions of the analysis and manipulate units and sub-units to refine their interdependencies. Users can also rearrange the units in the analysis by dragging and dropping them in the analysis window. This is useful in cases where the analysis is done bottom-up and the users wants to relate units that were created previously separately.

Sometimes a user does not know yet how to use a statement in an analysis but would like to have that statement included in the analysis frame. Users can select statements and include them in the analysis under a 'Notes and other information' category. This facility is also useful to drag and drop statements into the analysis.

Users can also import statements and units from other users if they are relevant to your purpose. The user can do keyword search in either purpose names or statement titles entered by other users.

Trellis can be used offline if you cache Web pages before disconnecting from the network. Statements can be selected and a cached copy of their corresponding Web pages is created and used until otherwise indicated.

Users can view the results of their analysis annotated in several markup languages: XML, RDF, and DAML, corresponding to the Schemas and ontologies that define the Trellis vocabulary.

Screen Walkthrough of an Example

Start with the Login Screen.

Each analysis that the user performs has a "purpose" that is used to describe the issue analyzed.
After logging in, you are presented with the purposes which you have (or a person with your login ID has) made so far. By default, there are 3 purposes which are added for each new user.

You can make a new purpose by the "New Purpose" button, which prompts for the name of the new purpose

After creating a new purpose OR when editing an existing purpose, you end up with the purpose editor window as shown below. The left side of the screen is used to find, select, and edit the statements used in analyzing the purpose.
The right side of the screen is used to construct and view the details of the analysis.

A query frame is in the top left hand side, in which you can fire off queries to a search engine (in this version of Trellis the search engine is Google), and get the results in the results frame below.
There is nothing in the current selections here, since this is a new purpose. Nor is there anything in the statements frame, which is the frame shown in the lower left of the screen

The results from the search engine that you find relevant can be selected by clicking their icon and clicking on 'Add Selections'.
The Web pages selected are added to the statements frame at the bottom left.

The selected pages can be renamed to reflect the salient fact that they contain that needs to be brought up in the analysis of the overall purpose.
You can rename something by selecting it and pressing Ren (one of the buttons for editing of current selections).
A selected page can also be deleted (selecting it and then clicking on the Delete button).
Anything in the statements frame can also be moved to the analysis frame on the right hand side to start building the analysis (by selecting it and clicking the "Move ->" button).

Not all statements come from Web pages.
You can also add new statements manually, for example an email message, or a note about a conversation, or any other text.
This is done by clicking on "Add user data".
You can specify a URL if you wish, but it is not necessary.

Any new statements entered manually also have to be selected in order to be added to the statements frame and ultimately to the analysis.

Some statements denote a source (e.g., CNN) that you want to cite in your analysis.
You can describe a source in detail using the 'Desc' button as shown. This description will be shown whenever you click on this source statement.

You can also view user-entered statements by clicking on them.

To modify a user-entered statement, select it and click on the Edit button, then enter the new information.

At any time, you can compose your analysis from the statements that you have selected and created.
The analysis of a purpose is made of units, which may have sub-units in turn.
Click the "Add Unit" button, where you can select statements and constructs from the Trellis language in order to create an expression.
You can also annotate the source of the analysis and qualify the source for its reliability and credibility.

You can build a unit using the default Trellis constructs, but you can also define your own by selecting "New".

Units are normally shown as a collapsible list that the user can select and expand. If any sub-units are added after selecting a statement, they will be added under this statement in the collapsible tree.

You can also use statements and units from other users if they are relevant to your purpose.
To do this, click on the "Import" button and you will be prompted for a keyword to search (here 'Iraq') in either Purpose names or Statement titles entered by other users.

From the results obtained, you can select a purpose.
The system will show an uneditable version of the analysis frame. You can select any unit and import it.
Notice that if you select the top unit the entire analysis is imported.

After importing, the selected units and sub-units (along with the statements used in them) as well as the sources are added to your own set.

You can also rearrange the units in the analysis by dragging and dropping them in the analysis frame.
This is useful if you do your analysis bottom-up and want to relate units that you created previously separately.

To move a unit, select it first by moving the mouse to the left side of the triangle widget and clicking on it.
Hold down the mouse and move it to the place where you want the unit to be.
A black line shows the position where the unit would be dropped.
A transparent box shows its future parent unit. (So you can either drag to, or into).

There are 2 modes of dragging : Left-click and drag drags the whole tree (as shown), and right click and drag just drags the particular unit.

After the unit has been moved:

Trellis can be used offline if you cache Web pages before disconnecting from the network. Select a statement and click 'Toggle'. This link now points to a cached copy. A link pointing to a cached copy is highlighted in a darker green color.

Sometimes you do not know yet how you want to use a statement in an analysis but you want to include it in the analysis frame. You can select statements and move them to the analysis frame with the 'Move->' button. These selections go under a 'Notes and other information' category.

This facility is useful to drag and drop statements into the analysis.

You can modify units in the analysis frame by clicking on the "Edit" button.

The "Remove" button deletes the selected unit and all of its sub-units.

The "Restore" button is used as a single-step undo.

The "Extract" button is used after selecting a statement. Then all the sources that it finds inside the statement are added to the current selections.

You can also view the results of your analysis annotated in several markup languages. To view this, go back to the Main Screen where you can see the marked up versions of the purposes that were just edited, by clicking on the 'XML' button for the XML markup, 'RDF' button for RDF markup and 'DAML' button for the DAML version.

In this example, the XML version of the 'Use of chemical weapons by Iraq' purpose is shown:

You can also see the Schemas (DTD, XML Schema) for the XML data, the RDF Schema for the RDF data, and the DAML ontology by clicking the respective buttons on top of the screen.

The 'Save' Button is used to take a single backup of all your purposes. If at a later time, the 'Restore' button is clicked, all the purposes from the time that 'Save' was clicked are restored.

The 'Help' Button brings up a User Guide.

The 'Logout' Button brings you back to the Login page.