UMBEL: Subject Concepts Layer for the Web

July 2008 Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer UMBEL: A Subject Concepts Reference Layer for the Web

UMBEL is . . .
. . . a lightweight reference structure for placing Web content and data in context with other data.
. . . is comprised of about 20,000 subject concepts and their relationships — with one another and with external vocabularies and named entities .
. . . free , non-commercial and open source under a Creative Commons Share Alike ver. 3.0 license.

Subject Concepts
20,000 defined reference points in information space
Means to assert what a given chunk of content is about
Enable similar content to be aggregated
Place content in context with other content
Aggregation points for tying in named entities
Totally derived and a subset of OpenCyc, the open source version of the Cyc knowledge base
http://www.opencyc.com http ://www.cycorp.com

Derived from OpenCyc . . . 90% reduction

Named Entities
The places , events , people , objects , and specific things of the real world
Literally millions of notable instances
Each belongs to one or more subject concept(s)
Currently, the predominate basis for Linked Data
Important sources include Wikipedia (Yago) and other public sources
Can be readily mixed-and-matched with private entities

UMBEL is a Meta Layer for Metadata
Provides a standard set of subjects for tieing in content and datasets

UMBEL is Middleware
UMBEL ontology is based on RDF
RDF Schema vocabulary of SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System)
OWL Full to aid class, domain and range relationships with external ontologies
Provides excellent interoperability
Any external content (ontologies + named entities) Any external content (ontologies + named entities)   UMBEL  OpenCyc (inferencing, structure and other tools)

UMBEL is a Roadmap
A set of roadsigns to help find related content
A contextual way to get from one concept space to another
More detailed maps used for specific domains

UMBEL is a Backbone
The backbone to UMBEL is the relationships amongst its subject concepts
The backbone provides the contextual graph for inter-relating content
The backbone is a reference structure for more specific domains or ontologies
The backbone is contextual , and relatively stable and constant

UMBEL is an Ontology
The UMBEL ontology is based on RDFS, SKOS and OWL-Full 1
The UMBEL ontology is a binding vocabulary and relationships for tieing Web datasets together
The UMBEL ontology introduces:
3 new classes
9 new properties (predicates)
The UMBEL ontology is available at:
1 RDFS – Resource Description Framework Schema; SKOS – Simple Knowledge Organization System; OWL – Web Ontology Language

‘ Exploding the Domain’
Each subject concept is an individual of the skos:Concept class, which are themselves OWL classes
Since subject concepts are classes, can relate to external ontology classes using rdfs:subClassOf and owl:equivalentClass
Under right circumstances, can also inherit properties
Through inferencing, silo data now can inherit open world understanding, therefore:
 exploding the domain

A Deep Dive into the Backbone . . . . . . all 20,000 nodes

A Deep Dive into the Backbone . . . . . . top 750 nodes

A Deep Dive into the Backbone . . . . . . top 350 nodes

A Deep Dive into the Backbone . . . . . . zeroing in on ‘automobiles’

A Deep Dive into the Backbone . . . . . . zeroing in on ‘Saabs’

The UMBEL Ontology

Re-use of Existing Ontologies
Properties of the Dublin Core ontology:
dcterms:language
Properties of the SKOS ontology:
skos:prefLabel
skos:altLabel
skos:definition
skos:broader
skos:narrower
skos:related
skos:broaderTransitive
skos:narrowerTransitive
seven other minor ones
Properties of the RDFS ontology:
rdfs:subClassOf
Properties of the OWL ontology:
owl:equivalentClass

New UMBEL Classes
umbel:SubjectConcept – concrete, subject-related, and non-abstract “things” with members or instances that are part of the real world
umbel:AbstractConcept – astract or ephemeral notions often used solely for organization or categorization; used only internally for graph interconnectivity
umbel:Semset – sematically close terms or phrases synonymous or nearly so with subject concepts or named entities; may embrace jargon and contemporary tags

New UMBEL Predicates
umbel:isAligned – associative class to subject concept link
umbel:isAbout – associative named entity to subject concept link
umbel:isLike – associative link between individuals where similar, but exact sameness uncertain
umbel:hasSemset – links a subject concept to its semset
umbel:linksConcept – inverse property of isAligned
umbel:linksEntity – inverse property of isAbout
umbel:superClassOf – inverse to rdfs:subClassOf
umbel:withAlignment – degree of alignment estimate for isAligned
umbel:withLikelihood – degree of alignment estimate for isAbout

Sample Specification

Linkage to External Ontologies
FOAF (Friend-of-a-Friend Ontology)
FOAF Yandex (Friend-of-a-Friend Yandex extension Ontology)
RSS 1.0 (Really Simple Syndicate Ontology)
SIOC (Socially Interlinked Online Communities Ontology)
DOAP (Description of a Project Ontology)
GEO WGS84 (Geo wgs84 Ontology)
GEONAMES (Geonames Ontology)
CC (Creative Commons Ontology)
EVENT (Event Ontology)
PO (Programme Ontology)
MO (Music Ontology)
FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records)

UMBEL Ontology
The UMBEL ontology is available at:
http://umbel.org/ontology/umbel.n3

The First Dozen Web Services

UMBEL’s Dozen
Find Subject Concepts
Subject Concept Report
Subject Concept Detailed Report
List Sub-Concepts & Sub-Classes
List Super-Concepts & Super-Classes
List Equivalent External Classes
Discover Subject Concepts
Verify Sub-Class Relationship
Verify Super-Class Relationship
Verify Equivalent Class Relationship
Subject Concepts Explorer
Yago Ontology

Demos, Docs & APIs

Find Subject Concept

Subject Concept Detailed Report

Subject Concept Explorer

YAGO Ontology

Play for Yourself
Access the UMBEL Web services at:
http://umbel.zitgist.com

Conclusion and Further Information

Why Important to the Semantic Web?
Context, Context, CONTEXT
For Linked Data
Context !
For Web Search:
Infinite facets
Disambiguation
Cleaner navigation
For Legacy Data Stovepipes:
Making the connections
Closed World schemas become Open World information
Context !

For Further Information
Main Web site:
http ://www.umbel.org
Documentation:
http ://www.umbel.org/documentation.html
Wiki:
http ://wiki.umbel.org/
Google group:
http ://groups.google.com/group/umbel-ontology
Slide presentations:
http://www.slideshare.net/mkbergman

Contributions and Thanks
The Cyc Foundation – design assistance and Web services
YAGO – named entities from Wikipedia
Cycorp – OpenCyc and revisions and tailoring
OpenLink Software – infrastructure, financing and software
Zitgist LLC – staff time and hosting services

Contact Information
Mike Bergman, editor
Zitgist LLC
[email_address]
Fred Giasson, editor
Zitgist LLC
[email_address]

Thanks to for hosting us !

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UMBEL: Subject Concepts Layer for the Web

by Mike Bergman

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