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Twine (website)
Encyclopedia
Twine is an online, social web
service for information storage, authoring and discovery. Created by Radar Networks
, the service was announced on October 19, 2007 and made open to the public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, Radar Networks was acquired by Evri
Inc. along with Twine.com and since May 14, Twine.com has not been supported (Twine.com visits are re-directed to Evri.com).
Twine combines features of forum
s, wiki
s, online database
s and newsgroup
s and employs intelligent software
to automatically mine and store data relationships expressed using RDF
statements.
categorization and keyword-association (tagging)
. The system employs natural language processing
and machine learning
to extract concepts
from written text in user data and express it using RDF triples
tied to a semantic taxonomy based on concepts mined from Wikipedia. This makes it easier for machines to process the data. The extracted data is useful to search on the website where, in comparison to a non-semantic keyword categorization scheme, a user can additionally select a type of thing he wants to find such as person or location.
Twine is a social network
and its users can add contacts, send private messages and share information. Users can collaborate on collecting data through private or public twines; data collections focused on a certain topic, such as politics.
Data can be imported to Twine's website through conventional uploading of files, writing text with a WYSIWYG editor or using a bookmarking tool for webpages. The tool works in a similar manner as other social bookmarking
websites. Users can manually write summaries, specify keywords (tags) and select an image to include in the bookmark that appears on Twine's website. Certain types of media in bookmarks, such as YouTube
videos, are automatically embedded in Twine's pages when bookmarked. Twine also offers limited wiki
capabilities to collaboratively edit documents.
Information discovery is mostly done through a user's main page where items appear, organized by the twine they belong to. Twine also uses machine learning
technologies that, over time, use semantic metadata
to learn and generate more relevant, automatic information recommendations of possible interest to the user.
led by Velocity Interactive Group, Vulcan Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The service became visible to the public and search engines in July 2008. Approximately 50,000 people had signed up during Twine's beta-phase and 34,000 were active at that time. Twine went public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, the search engine Evri
Inc. announced the acquisition of Radar Networks and Twine.com.
Social Web
The social Web is a set of social relations that link people through the World Wide Web. The Social web encompasses how websites and software are designed and developed in order to support and foster social interaction. These online social interactions form the basis of much online activity...
service for information storage, authoring and discovery. Created by Radar Networks
Radar Networks
Radar Networks is a San Francisco based company developing semantic web applications for the general public. The company was founded in 2003 by Nova Spivack and Kristinn R. Thórisson .- History :...
, the service was announced on October 19, 2007 and made open to the public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, Radar Networks was acquired by Evri
Evri
Evri is a mobile content discovery engine. It focuses on topic-based news aggregation. It has offices in Seattle and San Francisco. The technology specializes in returning results for breaking news, regularly followed topics, new topic searches, and friends' recommendation...
Inc. along with Twine.com and since May 14, Twine.com has not been supported (Twine.com visits are re-directed to Evri.com).
Twine combines features of forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s, wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
s, online database
Online database
An online database is a database accessible from a network, including from the Internet.It differs from a local database, held in an individual computer or its attached storage, such as a CD....
s and newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
s and employs intelligent software
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
to automatically mine and store data relationships expressed using RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
statements.
Site description
Twine services information storage, authoring and discovery through its website and browser-based tools. The service, intended for regular web users, attempts to automate certain processes related to dataData
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
categorization and keyword-association (tagging)
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
. The system employs natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
and machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
to extract concepts
Text mining
Text mining, sometimes alternately referred to as text data mining, roughly equivalent to text analytics, refers to the process of deriving high-quality information from text. High-quality information is typically derived through the devising of patterns and trends through means such as...
from written text in user data and express it using RDF triples
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
tied to a semantic taxonomy based on concepts mined from Wikipedia. This makes it easier for machines to process the data. The extracted data is useful to search on the website where, in comparison to a non-semantic keyword categorization scheme, a user can additionally select a type of thing he wants to find such as person or location.
Twine is a social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
and its users can add contacts, send private messages and share information. Users can collaborate on collecting data through private or public twines; data collections focused on a certain topic, such as politics.
Data can be imported to Twine's website through conventional uploading of files, writing text with a WYSIWYG editor or using a bookmarking tool for webpages. The tool works in a similar manner as other social bookmarking
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
websites. Users can manually write summaries, specify keywords (tags) and select an image to include in the bookmark that appears on Twine's website. Certain types of media in bookmarks, such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
videos, are automatically embedded in Twine's pages when bookmarked. Twine also offers limited wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
capabilities to collaboratively edit documents.
Information discovery is mostly done through a user's main page where items appear, organized by the twine they belong to. Twine also uses machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
technologies that, over time, use semantic metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
to learn and generate more relevant, automatic information recommendations of possible interest to the user.
History
The company remained in stealth mode until October 19, 2007 when Twine was announced and limited invitations were handed out for beta testing. In February 2008 it was announced that Radar Networks raised a Series B venture roundVenture round
A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the primary stimuli for the development of new companies...
led by Velocity Interactive Group, Vulcan Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The service became visible to the public and search engines in July 2008. Approximately 50,000 people had signed up during Twine's beta-phase and 34,000 were active at that time. Twine went public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, the search engine Evri
Evri
Evri is a mobile content discovery engine. It focuses on topic-based news aggregation. It has offices in Seattle and San Francisco. The technology specializes in returning results for breaking news, regularly followed topics, new topic searches, and friends' recommendation...
Inc. announced the acquisition of Radar Networks and Twine.com.
See also
- Freebase (database)Freebase (database)Freebase is a large collaborative knowledge base consisting of metadata composed mainly by its community members. It is an online collection of structured data harvested from many sources, including individual 'wiki' contributions. Freebase aims to create a global resource which allows people to...
— Online semantic database - Resource Description FrameworkResource Description FrameworkThe Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
(RDF) - Semantic WebSemantic WebThe Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
- Web 2.0Web 2.0The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
- Web Ontology LanguageWeb Ontology LanguageThe Web Ontology Language is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies.The languages are characterised by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web...
(OWL)