Methods and Systems for Social Networking

1 . A method for disambiguation, comprising:

receiving an identifier shared by a plurality of entities;

determining a plurality of items associated with the identifier, wherein each of the plurality of items comprises a plurality of attributes;

constructing a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is based on at least one of the plurality of attributes of each item;

associating each of the plurality of clusters with a different one of the plurality of entities; and

outputting one of the plurality of clusters and the identifier.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifier is a name and the plurality of entities are people.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of items are publications.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of attributes comprises two or more of the following, name, co-authorship, institution, location, concept, and journal.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein constructing a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is based on at least one of the plurality of attributes of each item comprises:

comparing a first of the plurality of items to the remaining plurality of items;

determining if a similarity is above a predetermined threshold; and

clustering the items having a similarity above the predetermined threshold.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

comparing a first of the plurality of clusters to the remaining plurality of clusters;

determining if a similarity is above a predetermined threshold; and

clustering the clusters having a similarity above the predetermined threshold.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a plurality of items associated with the identifier, wherein each of the plurality of items comprises a plurality of attributes comprises searching a third party publication database.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein search the third party database comprises searching with a plurality of combinations of the identifier.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of attributes is co-author and the co-author has been previously disambiguated.

10 . A method for social networking, comprising:

determining a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is associated with a unique entity;

determining one or more connections between the pluralities of clusters;

constructing a profile for a first unique entity, wherein the profile comprises a first of the plurality of clusters associated with the first unique entity and the one or more connections between the first of the plurality of clusters and the remaining clusters of the plurality of clusters; and

outputting the profile.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is associated with a unique entity comprises:

receiving an identifier shared by a plurality of entities;

determining a plurality of items associated with the identifier, wherein each of the plurality of items comprises a plurality of attributes;

constructing a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is based on at least one of the plurality of attributes of each item;

associating each of the plurality of clusters with a different one of the plurality of entities; and

outputting one of the plurality of clusters and the identifier.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the identifier is a name and the plurality of entities are people.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of items are publications.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of attributes comprises two or more of the following, name, co-authorship, institution, location, concept, and journal.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein determining one or more connections between the pluralities of clusters comprises:

determining a commonality between clusters; and

storing the commonality as a connection between clusters.

16 . A method for social networking, comprising:

accepting a user registration associated with a unique user;

displaying one or more profiles potentially associated with the unique user, wherein each profile was previously constructed;

receiving a user selection of the one or more potential profiles;

associating the user selected profile with the user; and

outputting the selected profile.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein accepting the user registration is performed over a website.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein each of the one or more profiles was previously constructed by performing steps comprising:

determining a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is associated with a unique entity;

determining one or more connections between the pluralities of clusters;

constructing a profile for a first unique entity, wherein the profile comprises a first of the plurality of clusters associated with the first unique entity and the one or more connections between the first of the plurality of clusters and the remaining clusters of the plurality of clusters; and

outputting the profile.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein determining a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is associated with a unique entity comprises:

receiving an identifier shared by a plurality of entities;

determining a plurality of items associated with the identifier, wherein each of the plurality of items comprises a plurality of attributes;

constructing a plurality of clusters of items, wherein each cluster is based on at least one of the plurality of attributes of each item;

associating each of the plurality of clusters with a different one of the plurality of entities; and

outputting one of the plurality of clusters and the identifier.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the identifier is a name and the plurality of entities are people.

21 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of items are publications.

22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of attributes comprises two or more of the following, name, co-authorship, institution, location, concept, and journal.

23 . The method of claim 19 , wherein determining one or more connections between the pluralities of clusters comprises:

determining a commonality between clusters; and

storing the commonality as a connection between clusters.