Open source information collection, processing and applications

Abstract

Much has been said about open-source information and its potential in various application areas. One thing is sure: the use of open-source information is not a new activity. Indeed, one can argue that libraries have been collecting open-source information for many centuries. Libraries, since their origin, have been always linked to the documentation, preservation and, till some extent, dissemination of knowledge. It is no wonder that libraries have been always associated to Universities or institutions for which the preservation of knowledge was important, e.g., religious organisations, including convents. Many governments made mandatory the registration of publications, e.g., France in 1537. Specific organisations, e.g., professional guilds, also played an important role in documenting their activities. The type of media used has always played a decisive role in how knowledge was documented, preserved, organised and transmitted. These two latter aspects determine the people, who could access knowledge, digest it and eventually increase it. The role of monks in meticulously preserving and copying, and hence transmitting, old documents and manuscripts illustrates the whole process of maintaining and disseminating knowledge. Today, we associate the type of media to specific technologies. It is possible to state that much of the interest about open-source is directly related to how easy it is to produce a document - please note that we are not considering the validity of its contents, to store it, to create exact replicas (or not!) and transmit them to the other side of the world. Another factor that is also important for the increased visibility of open-source information is the level of sophistication of our societies, including our governments, professional bodies and work organisations. The constant need for an increased efficiency of our societies requires rules and legislation covering many facets of our organisations (not to mention our lives!). Each organisation is thus extremely well documented from a multi-variable perspective. Examples of such variables are: • identification; • financial situation - including major stakeholders and description of financial flow; • suppliers; • clients; • activities and/or products; • environmental status, i.e., how does it interact with environmental rules; • employees - including personal files, CVs, health records, social security obligations, reports, appreciations, etc. © 2006 Springer Berlin · Heidelberg.