1. Semantics in Norway
-status and challenges
- presentation to the Semic.eu Advisory Group
Meeting in Brussels, 15.10.2009
- Svein Ølnes, Vestlandsforsking

2. Resource network for eGovernment
www.rnef.no
Funded by the Norwegian Research Council
Researchers
Public sector agencies
ICT industry
www.vestforsk.no

3. Naming things!
The drawing (cartoon) by Gary Larson showing the man who has just painted ’house’,
’tree’, ’door’, ’cat’, ’dog’ ++ on the thing itself and says: ”Now, that should
clear up a few things around here”
This cartoon says more about how to deal with semantic challenges than most models
around!
It is a brilliant illustration of the important first step in working with semantics: naming
things (concepts)
The cartoon is also good for what it does not show: relations
-it does not say anything about who owns the house, the cat, and the dog (though it
probably is the man on the drawing)
-it does not say anything about the relation between the cat and the dog (it is
probably bad, but it’s still a relation!)
www.vestforsk.no

4. Outline
Semantics in Norway: Status
Special for Norway: Semantic web/Topic Maps
Current semantic activities
Two cases:
Los – a Navigator for Public Sector Services (Front office)
SERES – Semantic Back Office Solution
www.vestforsk.no

5. Technology waves
Model driven
Focus: Semantic
Data: Ontologi & Data
Component based
Focus: Services
Data: XML
Object oriented
Focus: Structure
Data: Relational
Procedure oriented
Focus: Syntacs
Data: Hierarchical
1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015
Stian Danenbarger, Bouvet.no
www.vestforsk.no

6. Semantics in Norway
2007: White paper on a common architecture for public
sector
focus on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
little said about the semantic challenges
2009: Work started on describing standards and tools for
definition of terms
Marks the start of a more ambitious effort in the work with
semantic interoperability
www.vestforsk.no

7. Special for Norway: SemWeb and Topic Maps
Contrary to most other European countries Norway has a relatively
huge installed base of Topic Maps solutions (ISO 13250:2003)
Topic Maps a common semantic platform for public sector portals
Active and knowledgeable ICT consultancy
active in standards development (ISO)
established products supporting the standard
active in implementing Topic Maps based solutions to customers
Some tension and competitions between the two communities
which after all is good – competition provides for better solutions
www.vestforsk.no

8. Los: A navigator to public sector services
www.vestforsk.no

9. Los: Small pieces loosely joined
Navigator to public services
A controlled vocabulary (thesaurus) describing public services
expressions used by the citizens mapped to agencies’ own terms
Used by almost 100 Norwegian municipalities
Metadata expressed in Dublin Core
Example: The term ’kindergarten’ will link resources from
various public organisations
Core system implemented in Topic Maps
www.vestforsk.no

10. Los: Ontologi on a general level
Notice the distinction between services and resources that
describe services (Los is about the latter)
Los ontology
Public service
(e.g. Kindergarten) Net resource Keyword
Theme
(Category)
www.vestforsk.no

11. SERES: Serious semantic back office standardization
Agreement on terms (mostly used in electronic forms)
formal terms used by public sector organisations
Support for the new Altinn II
Altinn is Norway’s main channel for electronic reporting (by 2009 29
public service providers use this channel for their online forms)
Central repository
to be maintained by the agencies themselves
www.vestforsk.no

12. Ultimate goal: My metadata is
Europ
eana
your data (and vice versa)
Yr.no
SERES
Volv
en
SSB
LOS KS
Smil Kart-
no verket Lov
data
SKD
www.vestforsk.no

13. Thank you for your attention!
Contact information:
Svein Ølnes – sol@vestforsk.no
www.vestforsk.no