The document discusses the problems of information overload and data silos on personal computers. It proposes using semantic web technologies to create a semantic desktop that represents all files, emails, and other resources as linked data. This would allow for centralized storage, data sharing between applications, and easier discovery and filtering of information. The benefits would include time savings for users and increased data interoperability.

1. Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
The Semantic Desktop
© Copyright 2007 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved.

2. The Problem (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Information overload
 Thousands of files in my home folder
 Thousands of emails in my inbox
 Hard to manage

3. The Problem (2)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Data encapsulation
 Proprietary formats
 Proprietary storage
 Data duplication
 Same data in several applications
 Islands of information
 Data not linked
 Lacks context, provenance
 Relevant information overlooked

4. Objectives
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Data interoperability
 Structured and linked data based on Semantic
Web technologies
 Make the desktop manageable

5. Semantic Web technologies
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Enabling standards
and technologies
(the SW Layer Cake)

6. Key Ingredients
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 RDF – Resource Description Framework
 W3C Standard
 Ontologies
 Means to define vocabularies of terms

7. Statements
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Basic unit of information
 <subject> <predicate> <object>
 Examples
 <John> <age> “40”
 <John> <likes> <Mary>

8. Nepomuk Ontologies
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Representational Layer
RDF
RDFS
NRL
Upper-Level Layer
NAO
NIE PIMO
Foundational
Lower-Level Layer
Group-level
Personal-Level
All Concepts a User of the Semantic Desktop deals with
All Concepts an Application Programmer of the Semantic Desktop deals with

9. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

10. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

11. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

12. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

13. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

14. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

15. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

16. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

17. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

18. Approach (1)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Everything is a resource
 Files, Emails, People, Tags
 Projects, Hobbies
 Linked via relations
 Extracted automatically (eg. provenance)
 Created manually

19. Approach (2)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Central storage
 Accessible to all the applications
 Standard format
 Enables portability
 Data is application independent
 Data is shareable

20. Approach (2)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Central storage
 Accessible to all the applications
 Standard format
 Enables portability
 Data is application independent
 Data is shareable

21. Approach (2)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Central storage
 Accessible to all the applications
 Standard format
 Enables portability
 Data is application independent
 Data is shareable

22. Approach (2)
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Central storage
 Accessible to all the applications
 Standard format
 Enables portability
 Data is application independent
 Data is shareable

23. Standardized View of
Resources
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Person
Email Event
Topic
Person
Website Document
Image

24. Standardized View of
Resources
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Outcomes
 Data can be shared, connected
Person
Email Event friend
Topic
Person
Website Document
Image

25. Standardized View of
Resources
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Outcomes
 Data can be shared, connected
Person
Email Event friend
Topic
Person
Website Document
colleague
Image
12 / 200

26. Standardized View of
Resources
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Outcomes
 Data can be shared, connected
Person
Email Event friend
Topic
acquaintance
Person
Website Document
colleague
Image
12 / 200

27. User Benefits
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Important time savings
 Easy data filtering
 Faceted browsing
 Information discovery
17 / 200

28. Conclusion
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Solves the information overload problem
 Solves the data silos problem
 SW technologies and standards on the desktop
 Increased data interoperability
18 / 200