PATHS

PATHS, "Personalised Access To cultural Heritage Spaces", is a STREP funded under the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, which starts on 1st January 2011.

The PATHS project will create a system that acts as an interactive personalised tour guide through digital library collections. Its objective is to provide users with innovative ways to access and use the contents of digital libraries, and enrich their experiences of these resources. This will be achieved by extending the state-of-the-art in user-driven information access and by applying language technologies to analyse and enrich online content. The project will take a user-centred approach to development to accommodate the needs, interests and preferences of different types of users. The PATHS system will offer users suggestions about items to look at and assist in their interpretation with navigation based around the metaphor of a path through the collection. Users will be able to construct their own paths or follow pre-defined ones.The PATHS consortium contains six partners. Two academic institutions, Sheffield University and Universidad del Pais Vasco, and two SMEs, i-sieve technologies Ltd. and Asplan Viak Internet Ltd., bring experience in several technical areas (the presentation and processing digital content; understanding user profiles and requirements; search and language processing technologies) which is complemented with expertise in the cultural heritage domain provided by MDR Partners and Alinari 24 Ore Spa. The PATHS project will make use of content from the European Digital Library, Europeana.