The TMShare application shows that the interchange of topic maps need not be restricted to the transfer of large XTM syntax files, but that the application of a simple algorithm can be used to enable the incremental discovery of information by a process of repeated queries. Although presented here in the form of a peer-to-peer application, the process is essentially that of request and response and so would be equally suited to a more traditional client-server architecture, for example by implementation as a web service.
The fragment construction algorithm is currently based purely upon the number of hops between a topic and the root topic or topics of the fragment. It has been proposed by Barnell
The peer-to-peer approach used by TMShare leads to some interesting possible application areas. As peers discover each other through the JXTA protocols, a new peer providing new information can be added to the network without the need for existing peers to be updated in any way to take advantage of the new information source. If information resources such as databases, content management systems and personal information management systems could be mapped to topics and associations in a topic map and if such a mapping could be performed on the fly by an agent acting as a peer in a TMShare network, then that information could be made available to all other peers on the same network, enabling integration of diverse information resources without the administrative overhead of integrating those resources on each client.
It is realised that the current TMShare application is far from perfect. Principle failings include the current lack of any form of trust metrics, however the principle of topic map fragment enrichment by peers may provide a solution at least to the interchange of trust metrics.
| Up: TMShare - Topic Map Fragment Exchange In a Peer-To-Peer Application | |
| Previous: Topic Map Fragment Exchange | |