Julius: An Open-Source System for Collective Intelligence Management
One of the side effects of the current globalization process, is the loss of cultural and natural diversity throughout the planet. Many communities' cultural heritages, such as native languages, local cuisine, and traditions, are disappearing at the same time that a depredation of the natural resources is threatening with the extinction of many species, including humans. The project that we present in this paper, codenamed Julius, proposes the use of open-source information technology (e.g., Semantic Web, Web Content Management, and Social Networking Communities) to link the members of a community in an effort to preserve and encourage diversity, both cultural and natural.
The current stage of the project targets minority communities that, due to various factors, lag behind in the general welfare offered by the society that they reside in. The main challenge of this work is to create technological and cultural islands, connected via the Semantic Web technologies implemented in Julius, that respect the local culture and without imposing external values. We address this challenge by keeping the project in the Free Open-Source Software spirit, allowing us to adapt the software to local, and even individual, cultural conditions. Each community is responsible for their own information, and the intellectual property is protected by using Creative Commons licenses.
Julius_Rosales_Dominguez_IIAS.pdf
—
PDF document,
110 kB (113463 bytes)
