future of web 2.0 & the semantic web
DESCRIPTION
lecture slides from Week 11 of IS20090 Web 2.0 and Social Media: An IntroductionTRANSCRIPT
Semantic Web/ Future Developments
Caleb Derven,
UCD Systems Librarian
IS 20090
Web 2.0 & Social Media: An Introduction
18 November 2009
What Will Be Covered
• Possible Future Directions of the Web
• The Semantic Web
• Role of Metadata and Ontologies
• Role of Semantic Modelling
• Data Models – RDF, OWL
• Issues under debate
Web 1.0
• Read Web
• Static Content
• Links
• Email/ Forms
Source: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/articles/ora_web20_architectures.html
Development of Web 2.0
• Source: http://www.frepa.org/wp/go.php?http://www.scill.de/content/2006/09/21/web-20-buzz-zeitstrahl/
What is Web 2.0
Source: http://oreilly.com/lpt/a/6228
What is Web 2.0, continued
• User-produced content
• Peer-production– Crowd-sourcing, tagging, open source
software
• Flickr, Social Software – many of the technologies and services covered in this class…
Drawbacks
• Mash-ups & Data Re-use - Recreating the Wheel?
• APIs vs. Data Models• Data Re-Usability
• Portability
• Data Migration
• Web pages/ Web services generally designed for human, not machine, consumption
Web 3.0 Characteristics
• Infrastructure for integrating (sometimes disparate) web data resources
• Use of languages developed by WC3 Semantic Activity group
• Linked & Open Data
• Formalises mashups/ joined up data
• Metadata, Metadata, Metadata
What is the Semantic Web?
• Adding machine processable meaning to World Wide Web documents
• Semantic web doesn’t replace, but extends, current web to a web of data
• Formalises what is done everyday by web users, but makes it possible for machines to do the work
What is the Semantic Web?, cont.
• “Most of the Web's content today is designed for humans to read, not for computer programs to manipulate meaningfully. Computers can adeptly parse Web pages for layout and routine processing-here a header, there a link to another page-but in general, computers have no reliable way to process the semantics”
• “The Semantic Web will bring structure to the meaningful content of Web pages, creating an environment where software agents roaming from page to page can readily carry out sophisticated tasks for users.”
• “The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.”
Source: Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J., & Lassila, O. (2001). THE SEMANTIC WEB. Scientific American, 284(5), 34.
Features of a Semantic Web
• Key Technologies include:• Explicit Metadata• Ontologies• Logic• Inference (rules-based systems)• Intelligent Agents
• Development of Semantic Web proceeds in layers or a stack
Semantic Web Stack
Source: http://www.w3.org/2005/Talks/1122-orf-sw/
Semantic Web – Long-Term Adoption
• Adoption of Technologies requires changes to current web
• Network Effect: Value of a service to a user arises from number of people using the service.
• Metcalfe’s Law: As the number of people in a network grows & connectivity increases, the value of the network grows; expressed as n(n-1) = O(n2)
Semantic Web – Long-Term Adoption. Cont.
Source: http://blogs.oracle.com/reynolds/2006/07/real_world_composite_services.html
Metadata and Ontologies
• Metadata refers to data about data
• Captures meaning about data
• Current Web content formulated for human rather than machine consumption– Keyword searching not great for retrieving
information– No way to distinguish between things and
between relationships in web documents
Metadata
• Knowledge Continuum
• Metadata enriches data
• Examples: tagging, library records, student records
Source: Pollock, J. T. (2009). Semantic Web For Dummies. For Dummies, 432.
Metadata and Ontologies, cont.
• Some definitions of ontologies– “An ontology is an explicit and formal
specification of a conceptualization”– “Ontologies define the concepts and
relationships used to describe and represent an area of knowledge”
Sources: Antoniou, G., & Van Harmelen, F. (2004). A semantic web primer. The MIT Press. ; Introduction to the Semantic Web. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.w3.org/2009/Talks/0829-Nanjing-IH/
Ontologies
Source: McGuinness, D. L. (2005). Ontologies come of age. Spinning the semantic web: bringing the World Wide Web to its full potential, 171.
Ontologies
• Controlled vocabulary – catalogues
• Glossaries
• Thesauri: synonyms, narrower/ broader term relationships
• MESH: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html
Semantic Modelling
• Hendler – Models assist in 3 essential ways:1. Models Help People Communicate
2. Models Explain and Make Predictions
3. Models Mediate Among Multiple View Points
Source: Allemang, D., & Hendler, J. (2008). Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Effective Modeling in RDFS and OWL. p. 27 Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. San Francisco, CA, USA.
Semantic Modelling
• Layers of Expressivity in Semantic Modelling
• Languages in the Semantic Web range from least expressive to most expressive: RDF, RDFS, RDFS-PLUS, OWL
Source: Allemang, D., & Hendler, J. (2008). Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Effective Modeling in RDFS and OWL. p. 27 Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. San Francisco, CA, USA.
Data Models for the Semantic Web - RDF
• RDF: Resource Description Framework
• Simple data model for linking and relating heterogeneous data
• Describes how object A relates to object B
• If the web is a web of data then RDF is the data format for the database
RDF
• Typical Database
• Rows represent things
• Columns represent properties
ISBN Title Author PublisherID
Pages
1439138311
Brooklyn Toibin, Colm
6543 262
1905785682
Ireland's Economic Crash: A Radical Agenda for Change
Allen, Kieran
8723 220
Source for slides 24 -31: http://www.slideshare.net/iandavis/30-minute-guide-to-rdf-and-linked-data
RDF, cont.
• The “triple” statement– basis/ building block of RDF model
• Triple consists of• Thing or subject statement describes• Properties of the thing described in the
statement• Values of the properties
Subject Value Property
RDF, cont.
• Possible to model and represent triples statements through a graph
Book Brooklyn Title
RDF, cont.
• Multiple Values
• Multiple Triples
Book Brooklyn Title
1439138311
ISBN
Author
Colm Toibin
RDF – Linked Data - URI
• URIs provide unique names in RDF
• Used to provide unique name
• Identify global address for things
• May, but aren’t required to be, addressable like URLs
• Same URI indicates identical thing
• RDF provides a model for merging data/ graphs based on URI
• Name & Identify Relations
http://example.comthing/BOOK
Brooklyn http://example.com/property/Title
1439138311
http://example.com/property/ISBN
http://example.com/property/Author
Colm Toibin
RDF – Merged Data
• Merge Data
http://example.comthing/BOOK
Brooklyn http://example.com/property/Title
1439138311 http://example.com/property/ISBN
http://example.comthing/PERSON
Colm Toibin http://example.com/property/Name
http://example.com/property/Wrote
http://example.comthing/BOOK
Ireland http://example.com/property/authored
2008 http://example.com/property/Date
http://example.comthing/BOOK
Brooklyn http://example.com/property/Title
1439138311 http://example.com/property/ISBN
http://example.comthing/PERSON
Colm Toibin http://example.com/property/Name
Ireland http://example.com/property/authored
2008
http://example.com/property/Date
RDF – Merge Data - XML<rdf: Description
rdf: about="http://example.com/thing/person">
<prop:author>Toibin, Colm</prop:name>
<prop:wrote
rdf:resource="http://example.com/thing/BOOK" />
</rdf:Resource>
<rdf: Description
rdf: about="http://example.com/thing/BOOK">
<prop:title>Brooklyn</prop:title>
<prop:date>2008</prop:date>
<prop:authored
rdf:resource="http://example.com/thing/Ireland" />
</rdf:Resource>
</rdf: Description>
RDF – Merged Data
• Retrieve data via URIs
• Query via SPARQL• SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language
• Merge additional data through links
Linking Open Data
• Link to Other Open Data Sets:
Source: http://linkeddata.org/images-and-posters
Linked Data – Some Examples• DBPedia: Converts Wikipedia to RDF • Creates query interfaces, ontologies,
services• http://wiki.dbpedia.org/Applications
Linked Data – Some Examples - GeoNames
• Links place names to unique URIs• http://www.geonames.org/
Data Models - OWL
• OWL – Web Ontology Language
• Builds on and extends RDF
• OWL combines European (OIL – Ontology Inference Layer) and American (DAML – DARPA Agent Markup Language) data models
OWL Encoding
• Like RDF, OWL is encoded in XML
Key OWL Functionality
• Key OWL functionality is the ability to model restrictions
• Football player playsFor specific team
• Assists in complex modelling and automated processing of data
OWL Example
• FOAF (Friend of a Friend)
• Vocabulary describing persons using RDF and OWL
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LabCylbapuM&feature=player_embedded#
Current Issues
• Scale of changes required for implementation and adoption– Network effect, Metacalfe’s Law
• Trust/ Authority Layers– Verifying information, identities, etc.– Rating trustworthiness of data
• Linked/ Open Data– Who owns the data?
Semantic Web in the World
Linked Data: http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bizer/pub/lod-datasets_2009-03-05.html
Semantic Web Examples, cont.
• Pub Med: http://www.gopubmed.org/web/gopubmed/
Semantic Web Examples, cont.
• Talis Aspire: http://lists.lib.plymouth.ac.uk/lists/5F641268-358C-9C54-ABEB-EF372716CB6C.html
Summary
• Semantic Web is a $20 Billion Industry
• Significant uptake by industry: Oracle, IBM, SAP, Microsoft
• Significant Government Investment world-wide
Summary, Cont.
• Search Technologies (Yahoo SearchMonkey)
• Travel (TripIT)
• Social Networking (Twine) – connecting people to people vs. people to interests
Conclusions
• Semantic Web extends current web to a web of data
• This is achieved, in part, by Explicit Metadata, Ontologies, Logic, Inference (rules-based systems), Intelligent Agents
• RDF and OWL are two building blocks on the Semantic Web
Questions
Sources
• 30 Minute Guide to RDF and Linked Data. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.slideshare.net/iandavis/30-minute-guide-to-rdf-and-linked-data
• Allemang, D., & Hendler, J. (2008). Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Effective Modeling in RDFS and OWL. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. San Francisco, CA, USA.
• Antoniou, G., & Van Harmelen, F. (2004). A semantic web primer. The MIT Press. • BBC - Music - Jimi Hendrix. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.bbc.co
.uk/music/artists/06fb1c8b-566e-4cb2-985b-b467c90781d4• Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J., & Lassila, O. (2001). THE SEMANTIC WEB. Scientific American, 284(5), 34. doi:
Article • Case Study: A Linked Open Data Resource List Management Tool for Undergraduate Students. (n.d.). .
Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/sweo/public/UseCases/Talis/• Case Study: Improving Web Search Using Metadata. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.w3
.org/2001/sw/sweo/public/UseCases/yahoo/• Data-gov Wiki. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://data-gov.tw.rpi.edu/wiki/The_Data-gov_Wiki• Did You Know 4.0. (2009). . Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6ILQrUrEWe8&feature=youtube_gdata• Freebase - A wealth of free data. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.freebase.com/• GoPubMed®. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.gopubmed.org/web/gopubmed/• van Harmelen, F. (2006). Semantic Web Research Anno 2006: Main Streams, Popular Fallacies, Current Status
and Future Challenges. In Cooperative Information Agents X (pp. 1-7). Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/11839354_1
• Hendler, J. (2008). Web 3.0: Chicken Farms on the Semantic Web. Computer, 41(1), 106-108. • Hendler, J. (2009). Web 3.0 Emerging. Computer, 42(1), 111-113. • wiki.dbpedia.org : About. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://wiki.dbpedia.org/About
Sources
• Hendler, J., & Golbeck, J. (2008). Metcalfe's law, Web 2.0, and the Semantic Web. Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web, 6(1), 14–20.
• Horrocks, I., Parsia, B., Patel-Schneider, P., & Hendler, J. (2005). Semantic Web Architecture: Stack or Two Towers? In Principles and Practice of Semantic Web Reasoning (pp. 37-41). Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/11552222_4
• Intro to the Semantic Web. (2007). . Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGg8A2zfWKg&feature=youtube_gdata
• Introduction to the Semantic Web. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.w3.org/2009/Talks/0829-Nanjing-IH/
• Lassila, O., & Hendler, J. (2007). Embracing "Web 3.0". Internet Computing, IEEE, 11(3), 90-93. • Linked Data | Linked Data - Connect Distributed Data across the Web. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 2, 2009, from
http://linkeddata.org/• Linked Data | Linked Data - Connect Distributed Data across the Web. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 2, 2009, from
http://linkeddata.org/• McGuinness, D. L. (2005). Ontologies come of age. Spinning the semantic web: bringing the World Wide Web to
its full potential, 171. • OReilly, T. (n.d.). What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. • OWL Web Ontology Language Guide. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-
guide/• Pollock, J. T. (2009). Semantic Web For Dummies. For Dummies, 432. • RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised). (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/• RPI Map - RPI Map. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://map.rpi.edu/index.php/RPI_Map• semanticweb.org. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 9, 2009, from http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Main_Page
Sources
• Shirky, Clay. (n.d.). Shirky: Ontology is Overrated -- Categories, Links, and Tags. Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.shirky.com/writings/ontology_overrated.html
• The Ubiquitous Web (1). (n.d.). . Retrieved November 9, 2009, from http://www.w3.org/2005/Talks/0621-dsr-ubiweb/#(1)
• Thomas Gruber. (n.d.). Ontology of Folksonomy: A mash-up of apples and oranges. International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems, 3(2). Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://tomgruber.org/writing/ontology-of-folksonomy.htm
• TSO (The Stationery Office). (2007, May 16). Data Re-use. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/reuse
• Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On - by Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle. (n.d.). . Retrieved November 15, 2009, from http://www.web2summit.com/web2009/public/schedule/detail/10194