The Semantic Web -  a useful, usable technology? Liddy Nevile La Trobe University
The  Semantic Web  provides a common  framework that allows  data  to be shared  and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with  participation from a large number of researchers and  industrial partners. It is based on the Resource Description Framework (  RDF  ), which integrates a variety of applications using XML for syntax  and URIs for naming. - W3C
WWW2004 Semantic Web Track and Devday Presentations Online 2004-05-26 ,The W3C  Track on the Semantic Web and the Semantic Web Developers Day presentations are now online. These presentations provide a status update on the Semantic Web  Activity at the W3C and highlight examples of industry adoption and novel applications using Semantic Web technologies. See  http://www.w3.org/2001/ sw /
"The Semantic Web is an extension of  the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in  cooperation. ” -- Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, Ora Lassila,  The Semantic Web  , Scientific American, May 2001
A use case DCMI has elements, terms, schemata, as well as growing sets of documents. All these need to be managed. What happens when new terms are created, when new documents are generated?  Can the semantic web technology being developed make this nightmare of human management an automated task?
A better question … Can metadata become operational so it does some of the things that we have had to do to it in the past? Instead of having to develop applications to sort and shift information about, can we get the information to do that work for us?
General Public  (on the Web) Users (with middle wear/ AT / Browsers) Website Your Current Website Semantic Annotations,  Automatic Fixes, Database views  Engine Layer of  Meaning Presentational Layer Alternative versions Untouched original
Before…. As see on the Web Navigation Bar made with images-only. Completely inaccessible to assistive technology. Relationship between text and form elements  inaccessible to assistive technology.
After…(1) Meaning behind images is known Relationship between text and form elements is  known Enhanced Navigation for screen readers, PDA’s and orientation As see on the Web
Middleware Architecture (taken from SWAP) Original HTML SWAP ML Translation rules Semantic annotations   Data Base XHTML Scenario-specific   transformations XHTML XHTML XHTML Original presentation Extract presentation Scenario-specific CSS Rules and transformations
Semantic web Additional layers of information Provide  meanings  of terms Provide  relationship  information Links to   relevant information Links to relevant people Allow  software agents  to manipulate this information Ontology defines terms
Resource Description Framework  (RDF) Language for semantic web Not just  machine readable  information Also  machine understandable  information eg: <? xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; ?> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf=&quot; http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# &quot; xmlns:s=&quot; http://description.org/schema/ &quot;> <rdf:Description about=&quot; http://www.w3.org/Home/Lassila &quot; bagID=&quot; D_001 &quot;> <s:Creator> Ora Lassila </s:Creator> <s:Title> Ora's Home Page </s:Title> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF>
Ontology System of concepts and relations between them: Table  [is piece of]  furniture Arm  [is part of]  body Japan  [is located in]  East Asia A method for storing and representing knowledge
EGs of types of annotations Meaning behind text gaps –  text equivalents Relationship to applications –  no frames / functional equivalents Relationship between text nodes and form elements -  accessible forms and labels Structural identification of page elements  - orientation Role information –  this is a data, types of content Concepts –  implied content Resolving ambiguities and relative importance –  simplifications Plus interpretation = communication of knowledge
Relationships and meanings This picture  has meaning  of welcome This picture  is a link to  the home page This color code  implies  feminine relevance This list of links  is similar to  a main menu This format  is similar to  a title This paragraph  is less important  for this user group The word ‘it’  refers to  the table
Components an  ontology  for accessibility a  authoring tool  for creating RDF using this ontology for specific pages  a  user agent  that renders accessible pages based on our ontology a flexible  testing   tool
Roles and rel’ships (predicates) IsBlock  - point to a block of links (is included in V1 of SWAP) and associates a content type BelongsToBlock  - associates link or section of content with a block (IsBlock) (is included in V1 of SWAP)  ContentType  - associates a section of content or link with a content type  Header  - points to link block header, Can also associate a block of links (sub-menu) with a parent menu, etc SubmenuOf  - associates a sub-menu with main  menu Association  – Implied meaning behind the content and  presentation
Properties Advertisement  Warning (less safe)  Off-site  Important  Less important
Annotation Based Accessibility Provide conditional alternate content Address traditionally problematic areas in accessibility Interfaces  for cognitive / age related disabilities  Summaries, clarifications and illustrations for these disabilities can be hidden.. Address emerging accessibility issues Inaccessible languages Schemas can be annotated Elements can be marked as “similar”..
What else can it do? Allow anyone to annotate any document with alternatives Attach a user profile to alterative content Concept mapping / sign and symbols  Remove ambiguity in language Device independence Knowledge systems integration Support for internationalization / localization and translation ….
Quinkan Example 1 Translation .. service  Tommy George inspecting red rock ochre.  &quot;A lot of paintings are made in red.&quot;
Quinkan Example 2 Objects without explanation How is it done? “ A hand stencil”
SVG images <?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;iso-8859-1&quot;?> <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC &quot;-//W3C//DTD SVG 20000303 Stylable//EN&quot; &quot;http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/03/WD-SVG-20000303/DTD/svg-20000303-stylable.dtd&quot; [ <!ENTITY st0 &quot;fill-rule:nonzero;clip-rule:nonzero;stroke:#000000;stroke-miterlimit:4;&quot;> <!ENTITY font1 'font-family:&quot;Verdana&quot;;'><!ENTITY size1 &quot;font-size:24;&quot;>]> <svg  width=&quot;690&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; viewBox=&quot;130 10 550 220&quot; xml:space=&quot;preserve&quot;> <g id=&quot;Ebene_x0020_1&quot; style=&quot;&st0;&quot;> <image width=&quot;690&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; xlink:href=&quot;data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/2wBDAAgGBgcGBQgHBwcJCQgKDBQNDAsLDBkSEw8UHRofHh0aHBwgJC4nICIsIxwcKDcpLDAxNDQ0Hyc5PTgyPC4zNDL/2wBDAQkJCQwLDBgNDRgyIRwhMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjL/wAARCAC2ArIDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAHwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQFBgcICQoL/ …… … </g> … ..
Quinkan Example 3 When Aboriginal people meet, they greet each other with lengthy descriptions of their identity and family connections. Tom adds his photo. Mary adds her photo. The relationship between them is in the metadata (dc:subject and dc:description) but it is not operational.
How do we represent families? Traditional western ‘family tree’ has-mother, has-father -> has-grandmother, has-grandfather, has-sibling,...
How do we represent families? Traditional western ‘family tree’ has-mother, has-father -> has-grandmother, has-grandfather, has-sibling,... Start with Friend-of-a-friend (FOAF)?
Graphical cataloguing <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf='http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#' xmlns:NS0='http://quinkan.org/index.html#'> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#red'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#colour'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#A0'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#person'/> <NS0:has-name rdf:resource='#TommyGeorge'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#AADXEVJJKH'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#Getty-colour'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#TommyGeorge'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#name'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#r23g67b98i'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#Q-colour-code'/> <NS0:is-same-as rdf:resource='#098734827'/> <NS0:is-same-as rdf:resource='#AADXEVJJKH'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#098734827'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#CIMIcolour'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#pfgjner25243'> and lots more…..
So how do we  understand  the semantic web?
The drawers method
The filing cabinet
Metadata labels
RDF Labels
RDF labels for labels Has father Fred Has mother Mary Has father Fred Has mother not-Mary Has sister Jean Has half-sister Jean
RDF Labels
The Yolngu Language Project
Metaphors The intelligent links ... The patchwork quilt … We can find not only what we want but about what interests us …
Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group (see   http://www.w3.org/2001/ sw / BestPractices /
SWeb Task Forces The following task forces are in progress:  OEP - Ontology Engineering and Patterns Coordinator: Deb McGuinness  PORT - Porting Thesaurii to RDF and OWL description  Coordinator: Dan Brickley  WordNET description, notes toward revised description  Coordinator: Aldo Gangemi  WRLD - World View description  Coordinator: Jim Hendler
SWeb Task Forces   The following task forces are under discussion to start:  VM - Vocabulary Management description Coordinator: Tom Baker  XSCH - XML Schema Datatypes description Coordinator: Jeremy Carroll & (open - XML Schema WG)  HTML - Embedding RDF in HTML  ADTF - Applications and Demos description Coordinators: Libby Miller, Brian McBride
SWeb Task Forces Other task forces that have expressions of interest from WG members include:  Coping with evolving ontologies  Links to MPEG  Style conventions (naming, namespaces, uri, rdf:label usage)  Tools index  Ontology Design Issues  Units and measures
Semantic Web Tools W3C Co-ordinated activity - see  http://www.w3.org/RDF/#developers ( local )
Thank you.

Introduction to the Semantic Web

  • 1.
    The Semantic Web- a useful, usable technology? Liddy Nevile La Trobe University
  • 2.
    The SemanticWeb provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners. It is based on the Resource Description Framework ( RDF ), which integrates a variety of applications using XML for syntax and URIs for naming. - W3C
  • 3.
    WWW2004 Semantic WebTrack and Devday Presentations Online 2004-05-26 ,The W3C Track on the Semantic Web and the Semantic Web Developers Day presentations are now online. These presentations provide a status update on the Semantic Web Activity at the W3C and highlight examples of industry adoption and novel applications using Semantic Web technologies. See http://www.w3.org/2001/ sw /
  • 4.
    &quot;The Semantic Webis an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. ” -- Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, Ora Lassila, The Semantic Web , Scientific American, May 2001
  • 5.
    A use caseDCMI has elements, terms, schemata, as well as growing sets of documents. All these need to be managed. What happens when new terms are created, when new documents are generated? Can the semantic web technology being developed make this nightmare of human management an automated task?
  • 6.
    A better question… Can metadata become operational so it does some of the things that we have had to do to it in the past? Instead of having to develop applications to sort and shift information about, can we get the information to do that work for us?
  • 7.
    General Public (on the Web) Users (with middle wear/ AT / Browsers) Website Your Current Website Semantic Annotations, Automatic Fixes, Database views Engine Layer of Meaning Presentational Layer Alternative versions Untouched original
  • 8.
    Before…. As seeon the Web Navigation Bar made with images-only. Completely inaccessible to assistive technology. Relationship between text and form elements inaccessible to assistive technology.
  • 9.
    After…(1) Meaning behindimages is known Relationship between text and form elements is known Enhanced Navigation for screen readers, PDA’s and orientation As see on the Web
  • 10.
    Middleware Architecture (takenfrom SWAP) Original HTML SWAP ML Translation rules Semantic annotations Data Base XHTML Scenario-specific transformations XHTML XHTML XHTML Original presentation Extract presentation Scenario-specific CSS Rules and transformations
  • 11.
    Semantic web Additionallayers of information Provide meanings of terms Provide relationship information Links to relevant information Links to relevant people Allow software agents to manipulate this information Ontology defines terms
  • 12.
    Resource Description Framework (RDF) Language for semantic web Not just machine readable information Also machine understandable information eg: <? xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; ?> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf=&quot; http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# &quot; xmlns:s=&quot; http://description.org/schema/ &quot;> <rdf:Description about=&quot; http://www.w3.org/Home/Lassila &quot; bagID=&quot; D_001 &quot;> <s:Creator> Ora Lassila </s:Creator> <s:Title> Ora's Home Page </s:Title> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF>
  • 13.
    Ontology System ofconcepts and relations between them: Table [is piece of] furniture Arm [is part of] body Japan [is located in] East Asia A method for storing and representing knowledge
  • 14.
    EGs of typesof annotations Meaning behind text gaps – text equivalents Relationship to applications – no frames / functional equivalents Relationship between text nodes and form elements - accessible forms and labels Structural identification of page elements - orientation Role information – this is a data, types of content Concepts – implied content Resolving ambiguities and relative importance – simplifications Plus interpretation = communication of knowledge
  • 15.
    Relationships and meaningsThis picture has meaning of welcome This picture is a link to the home page This color code implies feminine relevance This list of links is similar to a main menu This format is similar to a title This paragraph is less important for this user group The word ‘it’ refers to the table
  • 16.
    Components an ontology for accessibility a authoring tool for creating RDF using this ontology for specific pages a user agent that renders accessible pages based on our ontology a flexible testing tool
  • 17.
    Roles and rel’ships(predicates) IsBlock - point to a block of links (is included in V1 of SWAP) and associates a content type BelongsToBlock - associates link or section of content with a block (IsBlock) (is included in V1 of SWAP) ContentType - associates a section of content or link with a content type Header - points to link block header, Can also associate a block of links (sub-menu) with a parent menu, etc SubmenuOf - associates a sub-menu with main menu Association – Implied meaning behind the content and presentation
  • 18.
    Properties Advertisement Warning (less safe) Off-site Important Less important
  • 19.
    Annotation Based AccessibilityProvide conditional alternate content Address traditionally problematic areas in accessibility Interfaces for cognitive / age related disabilities Summaries, clarifications and illustrations for these disabilities can be hidden.. Address emerging accessibility issues Inaccessible languages Schemas can be annotated Elements can be marked as “similar”..
  • 20.
    What else canit do? Allow anyone to annotate any document with alternatives Attach a user profile to alterative content Concept mapping / sign and symbols Remove ambiguity in language Device independence Knowledge systems integration Support for internationalization / localization and translation ….
  • 21.
    Quinkan Example 1Translation .. service Tommy George inspecting red rock ochre. &quot;A lot of paintings are made in red.&quot;
  • 22.
    Quinkan Example 2Objects without explanation How is it done? “ A hand stencil”
  • 23.
    SVG images <?xmlversion=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;iso-8859-1&quot;?> <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC &quot;-//W3C//DTD SVG 20000303 Stylable//EN&quot; &quot;http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/03/WD-SVG-20000303/DTD/svg-20000303-stylable.dtd&quot; [ <!ENTITY st0 &quot;fill-rule:nonzero;clip-rule:nonzero;stroke:#000000;stroke-miterlimit:4;&quot;> <!ENTITY font1 'font-family:&quot;Verdana&quot;;'><!ENTITY size1 &quot;font-size:24;&quot;>]> <svg width=&quot;690&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; viewBox=&quot;130 10 550 220&quot; xml:space=&quot;preserve&quot;> <g id=&quot;Ebene_x0020_1&quot; style=&quot;&st0;&quot;> <image width=&quot;690&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; xlink:href=&quot;data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/2wBDAAgGBgcGBQgHBwcJCQgKDBQNDAsLDBkSEw8UHRofHh0aHBwgJC4nICIsIxwcKDcpLDAxNDQ0Hyc5PTgyPC4zNDL/2wBDAQkJCQwLDBgNDRgyIRwhMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjL/wAARCAC2ArIDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAHwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQFBgcICQoL/ …… … </g> … ..
  • 24.
    Quinkan Example 3When Aboriginal people meet, they greet each other with lengthy descriptions of their identity and family connections. Tom adds his photo. Mary adds her photo. The relationship between them is in the metadata (dc:subject and dc:description) but it is not operational.
  • 25.
    How do werepresent families? Traditional western ‘family tree’ has-mother, has-father -> has-grandmother, has-grandfather, has-sibling,...
  • 26.
    How do werepresent families? Traditional western ‘family tree’ has-mother, has-father -> has-grandmother, has-grandfather, has-sibling,... Start with Friend-of-a-friend (FOAF)?
  • 27.
    Graphical cataloguing <rdf:RDFxmlns:rdf='http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#' xmlns:NS0='http://quinkan.org/index.html#'> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#red'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#colour'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#A0'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#person'/> <NS0:has-name rdf:resource='#TommyGeorge'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#AADXEVJJKH'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#Getty-colour'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#TommyGeorge'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#name'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#r23g67b98i'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#Q-colour-code'/> <NS0:is-same-as rdf:resource='#098734827'/> <NS0:is-same-as rdf:resource='#AADXEVJJKH'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#098734827'> <rdf:type rdf:resource='http://quinkan.org/index.html#CIMIcolour'/> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:about='#pfgjner25243'> and lots more…..
  • 28.
    So how dowe understand the semantic web?
  • 29.
  • 30.
  • 31.
  • 32.
  • 33.
    RDF labels forlabels Has father Fred Has mother Mary Has father Fred Has mother not-Mary Has sister Jean Has half-sister Jean
  • 34.
  • 35.
  • 36.
    Metaphors The intelligentlinks ... The patchwork quilt … We can find not only what we want but about what interests us …
  • 37.
    Semantic Web BestPractices and Deployment Working Group (see http://www.w3.org/2001/ sw / BestPractices /
  • 38.
    SWeb Task ForcesThe following task forces are in progress: OEP - Ontology Engineering and Patterns Coordinator: Deb McGuinness PORT - Porting Thesaurii to RDF and OWL description Coordinator: Dan Brickley WordNET description, notes toward revised description Coordinator: Aldo Gangemi WRLD - World View description Coordinator: Jim Hendler
  • 39.
    SWeb Task Forces The following task forces are under discussion to start: VM - Vocabulary Management description Coordinator: Tom Baker XSCH - XML Schema Datatypes description Coordinator: Jeremy Carroll & (open - XML Schema WG) HTML - Embedding RDF in HTML ADTF - Applications and Demos description Coordinators: Libby Miller, Brian McBride
  • 40.
    SWeb Task ForcesOther task forces that have expressions of interest from WG members include: Coping with evolving ontologies Links to MPEG Style conventions (naming, namespaces, uri, rdf:label usage) Tools index Ontology Design Issues Units and measures
  • 41.
    Semantic Web ToolsW3C Co-ordinated activity - see http://www.w3.org/RDF/#developers ( local )
  • 42.