Open Information Pools

On the WWW it is not possible to supplement existing web pages of other people with new information or a link to that information, because the WWW does not have a standard method for write access. With write access, information can be added in the right context, which eases searching. We therefore define Open Information Pools: a collection of WWW based databases with public write access. By using databases we add structure to the information. Each database deals with a specific topic. We developed an architecture to support Open Information Pools. Important elements in the architecture are the rating and moderation tools. With these tools the user group is able to maintain and update the database and also to prevent errors and abuse.

We conducted measurements on operational rating and moderation tools to show the validity of our idea. The study of Slashdot.org's rating and moderation tools shows that insightful information is recognised after only 37 minutes. We implemented a prototype of a true Open Information Pool containing music information. This database contains biographies, audio CD descriptions, audio CD cover pictures, lyrics of the songs with timing information, and MIDI files. We developed several tools to create, insert and search this database.