Uses of Ontologies in Open Source Blog Mining

Abstract

The blogosphere provides a novel window into an important segment of public opinion, but its dynamic nature makes it an elusive medium to analyze and interpret in the aggregate, where it is most informative. We are developing a new open-source blog mining technology that employs ontologies to solve this problem by fusing the signals of the blogosphere and zeroing in on issues that are most likely to migrate offline. This technology is designed to enable analysts to anticipate the threats or opportunities these issues represent in a timely and efficient fashion.