1. How Controlled English can
Improve Semantic Wikis
Tobias Kuhn
University of Zurich
Fourth Workshop on Semantic Wikis (SemWiki) 2009
Heraklion, Greece
1 June 2009
2. Tobias Kuhn, SemWiki 2009, Heraklion, Greece 2
Introduction
Idea: Using controlled natural language as a general
interface language for semantic wikis
Attempto Controlled English (ACE) is a controlled natural
language, concretely a subset of English
Can be translated automatically and unambiguously into
various logical notations, e.g. frst-order logic, OWL, SWRL
AceWiki is a semantic wiki engine that uses the controlled
natural language ACE.
Because the articles in AceWiki are written in ACE, they
are formal and human readable at the same time.
3. Tobias Kuhn, SemWiki 2009, Heraklion, Greece 3
Complexity
ACE scales very well in respect to complexity:
C
O
M
P
L
E
X
I
T
Y
...
...
6. Tobias Kuhn, SemWiki 2009, Heraklion, Greece 6
Usability Experiments
Two small usability experiments that test AceWiki
20 subjects / 6 subjects
Task: Collaborative creation of a knowledge base using
AceWiki
Results:
78%–81% of the sentences were correct and sensible
61%–70% of them were complex (containing negations,
implications, disjunctions, or number restrictions)
Creation of a correct sentence every 5–6 minutes
Defnition of a new word every 5–7 minutes
8. Tobias Kuhn, SemWiki 2009, Heraklion, Greece 8
Evaluation: ACE versus MLL
ACE was understood better, within shorter time, and was
liked better by the subjects than MLL!
p-values obtained by
Wilcoxon singed rank test:
0.003421
1.493e-10
3.24e-07
9. Tobias Kuhn, SemWiki 2009, Heraklion, Greece 9
Conclusions
Controlled English can give semantic wikis a very natural
interface.
Controlled English can support a high degree of expressivity.
AceWiki is usable by untrained persons.
Controlled natural languages like ACE are more
understandable than comparable common formal languages.
10. Tobias Kuhn, SemWiki 2009, Heraklion, Greece 10
Thank you for your attention!
Questions/Discussion