Resolving authorization conflicts by ontology views for controlled access to a digital library

Abstract

Purpose – This paper provides a new Digital Library architecture that supports polyhierarchic ontology structure where a child concept representing an interdisciplinary subject area can have multiple parent concepts. The paper further proposes an access control mechanism for controlled access to different concepts by different users depending on the authorizations available to each such user. The proposed model thus provides a better knowledge representation and faster searching possibility of documents for modern Digital Libraries with controlled access to the system. Design/methodology/approach – Since the proposed Digital Library Architecture considers polyhierarchy, the underlying hierarchical structure becomes a Directed Acyclic Graph instead of a tree. A new access control model has been developed for such a polyhierarchic ontology structure. It has been shown that such model may give rise to undecidability problem. A client specific view generation mechanism has been developed to solve the problem. Findings – The paper has three major contributions. First, it provides better knowledge representation for present-day digital libraries, as new interdisciplinary subject areas are getting introduced. Concepts representing interdisciplinary subject areas will have multiple parents, and consequently, the library ontology introduces a new set of nodes representing document classes. This concept also provides faster search mechanism. Secondly, a new access control model has been introduced for the ontology structure where a user gets authorizations to access a concept node only if its credential supports it. Lastly, a client-based view generation algorithm has been developed so that a client’s access remains limited to its view and avoids any possibility of undecidability in authorization specification. Research limitations/implications – The proposed model, in its present form, supports only read and browse facilities. It would later be extended for addition and update of documents. Moreover, the paper explains the model in a single user environment. It will be augmented later to consider simultaneous access from multiple users. Practical implications – The paper emphasizes the need for changing the present digital library ontology to a polyhierarchic structure to provide proper representation of knowledge related to the concepts covering interdisciplinary subject areas. Possible implementation strategies have also been mentioned. This design method can also be extended for other semantic web applications. Originality/value – This paper offers a new knowledge management strategy to cover the gradual proliferation of interdisciplinary subject areas along with a suitable access control model for a digital library ontology. This methodology can also be extended for other semantic web applications.

Factors affecting the adoption of integrated semantic digital libraries (SDLs): a systematic review

“…Skilled human resources and financial resources should be available for the efficient functioning of the integrated semantic digital library system. These findings are in consonance with the research results conducted by Mayr et al (2008), Burke (2009), He et al (2010), Lee (2011), Kao and Wu (2012), Morato et al (2013), Pattuelli and Miller (2015), Dasgupta et al (2015), Solomou and Koutsomitropoulos (2015), Yan et al (2016), Cole et al (2017), Gul and Bano (2019), Warraich and Rorissa (2020), Ali et al (2021), Mehta (2021), Su (2021.…”

“…SDLs provided controlled access to clients according to their credentials (Dasgupta et al. , 2015); information access tools are provided to the end-users (Mehta, 2021); documents are preserved efficiently (Lee, 2011); the interaction is done with a larger set of users (Morato et al.…”

“…Development of repositories, storage of educational materials, smart library services, digital resource sharing, and rapid location of resources within a taxonomic structure provided perceived usefulness to the library professionals to revamp library services through the adoption of semantic technologies (Garcia et al, 2017;Fox, 2006;Khan et al, 2022). SDLs provided controlled access to clients according to their credentials (Dasgupta et al, 2015); information access tools are provided to the end-users (Mehta, 2021); documents are preserved efficiently (Lee, 2011); the interaction is done with a larger set of users (Morato et al, 2013). Factors of low cost, high performance, scalability (Hsu et al, 2014); value-added services, user-centric interface (Solomou and Koutsomitropoulos, 2015); efficient retrieval, high precision, intelligent platform (Su, 2021) enhanced peer communication and sharing knowledge.…”

“…An in-depth comprehension of information or knowledge modeling based on the preference of users in general, and their needs and wants, in particular, was required (Kao and Wu, 2012). A dynamic mechanism for increasing the user-based customized demands should be implemented (Pattuelli and Miller, 2015;Dasgupta et al, 2015;and Gul and Bano, 2019). Metadata must be enriched with additional uniform resource identifiers and the workflow upgrades required to normalize and transform existing emblem metadata were substantial and still to be fully worked out (Cole et al, 2017).…”

Creation of knowledge-added concept maps: time augmention via pairwise temporal analysis

“…Cunningham et al (2005) provide a high-level introduction to IE and descriptions of application scenarios for KM tools that exploit IE. Dasgupta et al (2015) Their co-word occurrence analysis for mapping KM research topics showed that the structure of fundamental subject areas within the KM field has changed and expanded dynamically in 2004-2010. However, they use a single source to construct the corpus, as opposed to various source types (news, Web, blogs and discussion group sites) used in the current research.…”