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EDCMS: A content management system for engineering documents

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Abstract

Engineers often need to look for the right pieces of information by sifting through long engineering documents. It is a very tiring and time-consuming job. To address this issue, researchers are increasingly devoting their attention to new ways to help information users, including engineers, to access and retrieve document content. The research reported in this paper explores how to use the key technologies of document decomposition (study of document structure), document mark-up (with EXtensible Mark-up Language (XML), HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML), and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)), and a facetted classification mechanism. Document content extraction is implemented via computer programming (with Java). An Engineering Document Content Management System (EDCMS) developed in this research demonstrates that as information providers we can make document content in a more accessible manner for information users including engineers.

The main features of the EDCMS system are

1) EDCMS is a system that enables users, especially engineers, to access and retrieve information at content rather than document level. In other words, it provides the right pieces of information that answer specific questions so that engineers don’t need to waste time sifting through the whole document to obtain the required piece of information.

2) Users can use the EDCMS via both the data and metadata of a document to access engineering document content.

3) Users can use the EDCMS to access and retrieve content objects, i.e. text, images and graphics (including engineering drawings) via multiple views and at different granularities based on decomposition schemes.

Experiments with the EDCMS have been conducted on semi-structured documents, a textbook of CADCAM, and a set of project posters in the Engineering Design domain. Experimental results show that the system provides information users with a powerful solution to access document content.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

    Shaofeng Liu, Chris McMahon, Mansur Darlington, Steve Culley & Peter Wild

Authors
  1. Shaofeng Liu
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  2. Chris McMahon
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  3. Mansur Darlington
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  4. Steve Culley
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  5. Peter Wild
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shaofeng Liu.

Additional information

This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (No. GR/R67507/01).

Shaofeng Liu received her B.Sc and M.Sc degrees from Hunan University, China and Ph.D. degree from Loughborough University, UK. She is currently a research officer of Engineering Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) at the University of Bath, UK.

Her current research interests include study of information and knowledge structures, Web technology, information and knowledge system, and mark-up technology application in engineering (design and manufacture) domain.

Chris McMahon is a professor of and the director of Engineering IMRC at the University of Bath, UK. He has carried out research in the information requirements of engineering designers, in information and knowledge management systems for design, in risk and uncertainty management in design, in component durability and reliability, especially in the presence of residual stresses, and in design for remanufacturing, largely in conjunction with industry.

He has published his work widely, including over 150 refereed papers, a number of edited volumes and a textbook on computer-aided design and manufacture. His research interests include engineering design, especially concerning the application of computers to the management of information and uncertainty in design, and to design automation.

Mansur Darlington is a research officer in the Design Information & Knowledge Group of Engineering IMRC at the University of Bath, UK. For the last decade he has been involved in research associated with the capture and codification of engineers’ design knowledge and the development of methods for supporting engineers’ information needs, first in the University of Bath’s Engineering Design Centre, latterly in the IMRC.

His research interests include the capture and representation of design information and knowledge for reasoning about conceptual design, the development of reasoning techniques associated with engineering document and document content retrieval, and the development of methods for controlled document origination to support standardization for reuse and for information minimization.

Steve Culley is a professor of Engineering Design and head of Design in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath, UK. He has researched in the engineering design field for many years. In particular this has included the provision of information and knowledge to support engineering designers. He pioneered work into the introduction and use of the electronic catalogue for standard engineering components and has extended this work to deal with systems and assemblies.

He has over 150 publications and has recently co-authored a book on design and changeover.

Prof. Culley is a member of the EPSRC funded IMRC at the University of Bath, UK and is part of the ‘Grand Challenge’—Immortal Information and Through-life Knowledge Management. He is a fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Peter Wild graduated from Bournemouth University in psychology and computing, and received his M.Sc degree from the University of London, (Queen Mary) in human computer interaction. He is a research officer in IMRC at the University of Bath, UK.

His interests include documents, empirical studies of engineers, design, task analysis, and user interface design.

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Liu, S., McMahon, C., Darlington, M. et al. EDCMS: A content management system for engineering documents. Int J Automat Comput 4, 56–70 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-007-0056-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-007-0056-x

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