Presentation to the 2008 International Metadata Open Forum (Sydney). Exploiting social capital to createrichly interlinked knowledge spaces.

1. Structure
• Context
• n2Mate
• M3 Alliance
• CI-KISS

2. • Particular problem for governments
• Considerable loss of efficiency
• Many existing attempts at machine-level solutions

4. • Does anyone have a wheel like mine?
“Who’s doing what” is the central question
Obvious failures: lack of interlinkage
If you can’t find the right standard when
you need it, you’re probably going to
make a new one.

5. For the semantic web to take off, it needs:
• Manageable number of ontologies
• Vocabularies for tagging open data
• Highly re-used
• Densely interlinked
Otherwise
• we get killed by the n-squared mapping
problem....
• we get a very large, very sparse network with
minimal interoperability.

6. •Metadata about metadata
• Who?
o owns it, created it, maintains, uses it, endorses it?
• What?
o domain, context, process - how is it intended to be
used? Does this suit my use case?
• Quality of Service?
o is it accurate? reliable? verifiable? up-to-date? going
to be available when I need it?

7. Why don't ontologies get reused more often?
Too hard to find one
Swoogle Ontorank and
Termrank
We would like a rank
based on frequency of
use as a Semantic Web
document, and we
would like to be able to
assess suitability for our
intended use case!

8. Some angles on the problem…
Foundational Angle:
Create foundational techniques for concept
definition, so you get interoperability for free
Automated Matching Angle:
Improve automated matching techniques
Social Angle:
Encourage more people to use the same ontologies
to describe their data, not create new ones.

9. Structure
• Context
• n2Mate
• M3 Alliance
• CI-KISS

10. sented by
Renato Iannella
n2Mate
Exploiting social capital to create a
standards-rich semantic network

11. David Peterson
BoaB interactive
david@boabinteractive.com.au
Anne Cregan
National ICT Australia
anne.cregan@nicta.com.au
Rob Atkinson
CSIRO Land & Water
rob.atkinson@csiro.au
John Brisbin
BoaB interactive
john@boabinteractive.com.au

12. •Use-case: new researcher
A researcher is
preparing her
research plan on a
section of the Great
Barrier Reef.
Although she is an
experienced marine
scientist, she is new
to the GBR and to her
host research facility.

13. •Use-case: new researcher
1. standard naming conventions for the GBR regions;
2. standard identifications for the particular reefs;
3. standard data sampling techniques appropriate to the Australian tropics;
4. standard data formats, enumerators, and vocabularies in her datasets;
5. standard citations of agencies, programmes, and people referenced in her work;
6. standard metadata fields and vocabularies to describe her research output;
7. standard project management practice in reporting on her project’s progress.

14. • Semantic project depends on interlinkage of
ontologies, vocabularies, and standards.
• Humans are central to that effort.
• How to get humans involved effectively?

15. •Socially-sensitive metadata
Create a useful context or else humans find it
impossible to express knowledge

16. • Recognise existing registers and metadata
collections
• Use existing protocols to construct a register of
registers network
• Construct facility with social networking devices

17. • Popularity Rankings: number of times a standards artefact is
referenced (implemented).
• Authority Badges: mechanism to advertise an authority claim over a
standards artefact.
• Related to (“Friends of a Standard (FOAS)” ): linkages from
standards artefacts to their cohort of implementers.
• Trust ratings: showing satisfaction with the custodian of a standards
artefact.
• Hero worship: most interlinked, most trusted, most useful

18. A model for n2Mate relationships

19. •3: Implementation options
Re-use and leverage existing tools and standards
(self-similarity, fractal integrity)

20. •Key Components
Account and session manager Drupal
Bookmarking and annotation tool gnizr
Storage of instance data Sesame
Semantic interpretation MOAT
Policy layer PLING
Trust & Governance POWDER

21. Bootstrap: Test with existing resources
Watson
Talis
Swoogle
Sindice
Falcons
Ping the Semantic Web

22. Sample interface

23. Structure
• Context
• n2Mate
• M3 Alliance
• CI-KISS

24. M3A: Fitzroy Floods Pilot
Monitoring Modeling & Management

25. M3A: Fitzroy Floods Pilot
Stabilise and visualise shared
knowledge
21 Agencies with complex
juisdictional interlinkages
and cultures
Community of Practice
“Professional Privilege”?

26. 3 steps to grouping behaviour
I want to belong to a group
I want to contribute to my group
I want my group to live

27. Social tools (again)
Exploit social platform techniques:
• Popularity Rankings
o How many SWDs reference this ontology/artefact?
• Authority Badges
o a way to assert an authority claim over an artefact
• Related to
o Who uses this ontology? Which ontologies do my friends or
respected cohorts use?
• Trust & Satisfaction rankings
o how do users feel about this ontology? Do they trust it? Are they
satisfied with its QoS parameters?

28. Automated parsing (Open Calais > Drupal)

29. Rich visualisation (ThinkMap + Freebase)

30. Structure
• Context
• n2Mate
• M3 Alliance
• CI-KISS

31. Concept pilot (excel)

32. Intention to act as social change
platform
• Knowledge
• Integration
• Synthesis
• Service
Keep it Sweet and Simple

33. Researchers, community groups,
conservation agencies

34. Cultural leaders
and keepers
of tradition

35. Visitors and students: the next
generation of Reef Guardians

36. Allow many angles to intersect...
Encourage insights

37. • Over
Grow organically
Connect with new challenges

38. Internal dynamics

39. Needs analysis

40. Needs analysis

41. Thank you!
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