George Mason University

Department of Information and Software Engineering

INFS 797: Advanced Topics in Information Systems
IT 803: Doctoral Tutorial in Information Technology

Information Integration and Interoperation

Prof. Ami Motro


With the increased availability of information resources, arguably the most challenging issue in information systems today is information integration and interoperation. Yet, the issue has persisted, in different flavors, for more than three decades.

In this course we shall examine issues of information integration and interoperation. Among other topics, this course will cover:

  1. Historical perspective: Early definitions of the problem and early solutions from the 1980s.
  2. Revisiting the issues in the 1990s: mediation.
  3. The problem that won't go away: semantic integration in this decade.
  4. Integration of Web information, semi-structured databases and XML.
  5. Inconsistency resolution, data fusion.
  6. Data quality.
Prerequisites
INFS-614: Database Management, or permission of instructor.

Requirements
Each student is required to define a project, present its finding to the class, and write a final paper on the work. The presentations and papers need not be excessively long, but should be of high quality. Students will be evaluated on a combination of (1) quality of work, (2) presentation, (3) paper, and (4) contributions to discussions.

The scope and topic of the project will be negotiated between the student and the instructor. Students may select topics that relate to their current work or research interest. Projects may involve a survey of a specific topic, an investigation of a new idea, experimentation with a software system directly related to the course, etc. Projects of larger magnitude can involve groups of 2-3 students.

Textbook
There is no textbook for this course. A list of papers will be given to the students as required reading.

Instructor
Dr. Ami Motro
Office: S&T2-455, Telephone: 993-1665
Email: ami@gmu.edu, http://www.ise.gmu.edu/~ami
Office hours: Monday and Thursday 3:00-4:00

Time and Place
Wednesday 7:20-10:00, R-A106