Uwe Stoll presented on using web information extraction to bootstrap semantic e-commerce by automatically generating GoodRelations metadata for online shops. Currently only around 10,000 of 500,000 online shops use GoodRelations, likely due to the manual effort required. Web information extraction could help automate this process by building extractors tailored to specific shop software and using existing markup as a training set. This could significantly increase market coverage for semantic e-commerce while reducing the computing power and incentive needed compared to shop-by-shop deployment.

1. Semantic Web Meetup Munich
10 / 12 - Google Munich
PhD Topic: Web Information Extraction
to bootstrap Semantic E-commerce
Uwe Stoll

2. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
Motivation & Problem
2
✴ GoodRelations web vocabulary for e-
commerce is great!
✴ Rich snippets on SERPs
✴ Browser plugins
✴ Applications on Dataspaces
✴ already, ~10k shops use it
✴ but there are ~500k shops
98%
2%
GR :) no GR :(

3. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
Why is it still low?
✴ Deployment shop by shop, no centralized switching on
✴ some expertise needed
✴ Incentive limited mostly on SEO benefits
3

4. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
What can we do?
✴ Automate the problem
✴ Web information
extraction (WIE) FTW!
✴ Web information
extraction is a way to
get structured data
automatically out of
web sites
4
image: coursera

5. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
Pros & Cons of shop deployment and WIE for Semantic
E-commerce
5
Shop deployment
Web Information
Extraction
main need incentive computing power
market coverage rel. low pot. high
granularity high pot. low
publishing SW data decentralized basically centralized

6. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
How to imrove granularity
✴ build specific extractors that recognize shop software
systems
✴ use existing markup as a learning set for WIE
6

7. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
7
✴ build an API for shops to request structured markup for
their pages
ShopCache
Semantic E-
Commerce Web
Information
Extraction API
structured markup
How to improve publishing

8. Uwe Stoll, Universität der Bundeswehr München
Take-away
✴ Exploit Web Information
Extraction to grow the
GoodRelations piece of cake!
✴ Let machines work for men
again and not the other way
round!
8
94%
4%
2%
shop deployment WIE no GR :(

9. Thank you
Uwe Stoll
http://www.semantium.de
twitter: ustoll
stoll@semantium.de