Abstract

Information sources over the WWW contain a large amount of data organized according to different interests and values. Thus, it is important that facilities are there to enable users to extract information of interests in a simple and effective manner. To do this, information from the Web sources need to be extracted automatically according to users' interests. However, the extraction of information requires in-depth knowledge of relevant technologies and the extraction process is slow, tedious and difficult for ordinary users. We propose the Wiccap Data Model, an XML data model that maps Web information sources into commonly perceived logical models. Based on this data model, ordinary users are able to extract information easily and efficiently. To accelerate the creation of data models, we also define a formal process for creating such data model and have implemented a software tool to facilitate and automate the process of producing Wiccap Data Models.

Citations