Elevating Semantic Exploration: A Novel Approach Utilizing Distributed Repositories
Valerio Bellandi
TL;DR
This work tackles the challenge of scalable, privacy-preserving semantic exploration of legal documents across distributed jurisdictions. It proposes a distributed repository architecture with edge repositories and a top-level Entity Registry (EReg), underpinned by a formal data model for Documents, Annotations, and Entities and by a privacy-permission framework. The system integrates NLP pipelines (NER/NEL) and anonymization, using Elasticsearch for text indexing and Neo4j for graph-based entity management to enable cross-district, entity-centric queries. The approach improves scalability, fault tolerance, and data governance in a real-world MOJ setting, offering a practical pathway for secure, semantic-rich access to legal documents across districts.
Abstract
Centralized and distributed systems are two main approaches to organizing ICT infrastructure, each with its pros and cons. Centralized systems concentrate resources in one location, making management easier but creating single points of failure. Distributed systems, on the other hand, spread resources across multiple nodes, offering better scalability and fault tolerance, but requiring more complex management. The choice between them depends on factors like application needs, scalability, and data sensitivity. Centralized systems suit applications with limited scalability and centralized control, while distributed systems excel in large-scale environments requiring high availability and performance. This paper explores a distributed document repository system developed for the Italian Ministry of Justice, using edge repositories to analyze textual data and metadata, enhancing semantic exploration capabilities.