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Date November 2020 Marks available 4 Reference code 20N.2.HL.TZ0.12
Level HL Paper 2 Time zone no time zone
Command term Explain Question number 12 Adapted from N/A

Question

The World Wide Web can be represented as a web graph.

The World Wide Web has expanded significantly over the last 10 years. In June 2018, there were an estimated 1600 million websites and 4100 million users. This is approximately twice the figures of January 2014.

The World Wide Web can be divided into the text web and the semantic web.

The development of technologies that underpin the World Wide Web has led to the growth of ambient intelligence and collective intelligence.

Describe how a web graph can be used to represent the connectivity of the World Wide Web.

[4]
a.

Explain why a user can still navigate from one web page to another web page in the same amount of time as previously, even though the number of web pages is significantly larger.

[4]
b.

Outline two reasons why there needs to be a balance between expressivity and usability on the semantic web.

[4]
c.

Identify two features of ambient intelligence.

[2]
d.

Evaluate the role of collective intelligence in the advancement of human knowledge.

[6]
e.

Markscheme

Award [4 max].
In graph theory, a graph is a set of nodes (also called vertices) that can be connected through edges;
In a web graph each web page is represented by a vertex;
In a web graph each hyperlink is represented by a directed edge;
Therefore, the web graph provides a representation / model of the connectivity of the World Wide Web;
The direction of the edge is from the page with the hyperlink to the page that is the target of the hyperlink;

a.

Award [4 max].
Although the growth in the number of web-pages on the World Wide Web has increased exponentially, the diameter of the World Wide Web increases linearly;
The increase in routing hubs may lead to a more efficient routing algorithm being used;
And in combination with the increasing speed of web-pages loading;
Means that despite the significant increase in the number of web-pages, despite there being an increase in the number of hops required to navigate from one web-page, there may be no discernable increase in time for this process to occur;

b.

Award [4 max].
The semantic web is based on data and enables computer systems to understand the meaning of information and its relation to other pieces of information;
this increased usability is dependent on the ability of the different computers to process the intended meaning of content better;
however, giving information more expressive power may come at an expense of usability;
for example, a language such as RDF can be highly expressive power, but requires the user to specify relations of information to other information;
in some cases, it may be beneficial to create shared databases (i.e. increase the usability);
but, there may be other cases where the increased expressivity leads to a decrease in usability;

c.

Award [2 max].
embedded, devices are integrated into their environment;
context aware, these technologies can adapt to the needs of the user;
machine learning, these technologies can learn from previous behaviors;

d.

Award [6 max].
Collective intelligence is the intellectual by product of a group of people working together;
This ability to harness the benefits of collective intelligence have been made possible by the development of the internet;
Collective intelligence can be used for a variety of purposes, for example linked to social media (Facebook and Twitter), gaming sites (Online Multi-player games), Scientific research (Large hadron Collider and Wikipedia;
Collective intelligence benefits from the open sharing of resources and may allow for a more rapid evolution of ideas than ‘traditional’ methods;
Collective intelligence may not have a central authority, so the user created information may be considered to be factual when it is not;
Collective intelligence may lead to a disruption in the way that knowledge is stored or classified, i.e. the development of folksonomies in place of ontologies;
The lack of a formal organizational structure may lead to the acquisition of the collective intelligence being potentially piecemeal or haphazard;
There may be no owner of this additional knowledge, so it may not be stored or maintained in the most efficient manner;

e.

Examiners report

Many answers identified the fundamental elements nodes, vertices, edges, and some also made references to the identification of the SCC.

a.

Two reasons, the advance in technology leading to increase in the speed of operations and the linear increase of the web's diameter showed that some schools had investigated this aspect of the developing web.

b.
[N/A]
c.

There were few full marks with most students failing to make reference to the ability of devices to adapt.

d.

This was reasonable well-answered, with references both to positive and negative aspects.

e.

Syllabus sections

Option C: Web science » C.5 Analysing the web
Option C: Web science

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