Similink

Here you can get the Similink extension.

Install now (Note: after installing, press Alt+c to start Similink).

Last version : 0.14

Similink is a direct application of Julien Pauty's researches. You can go to his web page to get more details about them. You can also read this paper, which describes Similink.

What is it ?

Similink is a Firefox extension, which enables you to navigate the Web according to the thematic dimension. This navigation scheme is useful to explore a thematic area of the Web and find Web pages on a precise domain, like : "find all the FTP clients"; "find all the conferences on distributed systems". When you are on a Web page, Similink proposes you thematic links, which represent links to pages that are thematically close to your current page. If you click on one of these links, Similink opens a new tab and loads the corresponding page, in the the background. If you select this new tab, Similink updates the thematic links that it proposes. Using this mechanism you can quickly explore a thematic area. The set of thematic links that Similinks continuously proposes is your thematic context.

To illustrate how Similink can be used to thematically navigate the Web, you can read the following little scenario. This scenario shows how Similink can be used to explore a thematic area. The images on the right are screenshots of Similink at each step of the scenario, the links proposed represent the thematic context of the user:

Jane uses CuteFTP client. However she would like a free FTP client. To find new FTP client she starts Similink and goes on the CuteFTP site. There, Similink proposes several links to other FTP clients. Jane decides to move to the SmartFTP site, by clicking on the SmartFTP link.	cuteftp.com
On the SmartFTP page, Similink proposes new links to FTP client. In fact Jane's context contains almost only links to FTP clients. Janes selects and tries several clients and finally discovers that Filezilla is free. Thus, she decides that Filezilla will be her new FTP client.	cuteftp.com

Similar browsing scenarios work for every kind of site. The main idea behind this browsing scheme is that you combine browsing and searching. You use a site as a starting point and you explore the thematic area surrounding this site by following the thematic links proposed by Similink.

Using Similink you can control the thematic direction your are taking. For example, consider a user located on the Web site of the French National Art Museum, her context contains links to other museums and other buildings located in Paris, like the Eiffel tower. If the user selects a museum from her context, she knows that she takes the "museum direction" and that her context will probably contain other museums. However, if she chooses the "touristic direction" by selecting the Eiffel tower, she knows that her context will probably contain links to other buildings and touristic attractions in Paris. The next scenario illustrate how Similink can be used to thematically navigate on the Web and control your thematic direction.

Jane starts on the slashdot.org web site. There, her context contains links to Linux sites, links to open source softwares sites and links to news sites. After reading some news on slashdot, Jane decides to move to a Linux site, using the links present in her context.	slashdot.org
Jane choses to move to linux.com. Here, her context contains links about the Linux OS. She can access to the website of Redhat and other related sites like the web site of Apache or Sourceforge. Jane decides she will take the Redhat direction, because she wants to learn a bit more about this compagny. Moreover, Jane knows that Redhat distributes a Linux distribution and she expects Similink to propose her some links to other Linux distributions.	linux.com
Jane arrives on the Redhat web site. There, Similink effectively proposes links to the major Linux distributions, like Debian, SuSE, Slackware or Mandrake.	redhat.com

Similink represents the user's context as the set of Web pages that are close to the current page, according to the thematic dimension. In fact, context is a general notion that can be applied to any information system where it is possible to find the documents that are close to a reference document. For example, consider a digital photo collection where each photo is tagged with the geographic location where it was taken. The context of the user is the set of photos taken near him. In this case, we evaluate the proximity of a photo according to the physical dimension. As the user moves in the environment, the application dynamically updates his context, continuously presenting him close photos. We call such navigation scheme physical navigation. Then, by selecting a photo present in his context the user virtually moves to the location of this photo. At this new virtual location, the application updates the user's context according to his new virtual location. Using this mechanism, the user can jump from one photo to another, virtually navigating the photo collection. Such a virtual navigation can be used, for example, to explore the surrounding area and choose a route to take. The next image presents a photo of a Pocket PC equipped with a GPS receiver, running this application. More information on this application and our researches on context can be found on this page.

Install

First you need to have Firefox 1.0 to be installed. Then you can click on the install link to install the extension.

Install

To open the extension press ALT+C. You can also customize the tool bar to add the Similink button.

You will also need a Google API licence key to be able to use Similink. To get a licence key, simply go to this page and follow the instructions. If you don't receive your licence key after having registered, simply try to create an account with the same e-mail and you will be sent back your licence key. Enter your licence key in the option dialog box.

Warning: if you want to uninstall Similink, close the side panel before uninstalling. Otherwise you will get an empty panel that is unremovable. This is a Firefox bug. If you have uninstalled Similink, or an other extension with a side panel, before closing the panel, you have to reinstall the extension, close the panel and uninstall the extension to make the panel disappear.

What's new ?

0.14 UI improvements.
0.13 Added a cache mechanism to save Google API requests and to improve speed.
0.12 Added the icons beside the links.
0.11 Added French support.
0.10 First functionnal version.

More information about Similink

Similink has been created by Julien Pauty as part of the ACES research project. You can access the author's Web page here. Similink is part of the ubiquitous computing activity inside ACES.

You can contribute by sending bugs, comments, wishes or remarks to jpauty #? irisa {$ fr . Thanks !

Julien Pauty