Introducing Semantic Web Technologies: Harnessing the Power of Information Semantics An Executive Briefing for SICoP White Paper Series Module 1 Jie-hong Morrison Takeaway: Readers will gain a better understanding of semantic technologies, gain exposure to some of the promises of the next generation of the World Wide Web, and see how new approaches to dealing with digital information can be used to solve difficult information-sharing problems.

About SICoP SICoP - Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice Sponsored by KM.Gov, Knowledge Management Working Group of the Federal CIO Council http://KM.Gov Upcoming events Join the list http://listserv.gsa.gov/archives/km-list.html

About Module 1 The first publication of SICoP's white paper series Community collaboration For agency executives, IT management, and enterprise architects interested in a high level overview of the Semantic Web and its related technologies

Why Semantic Web Technologies: Making a Case for the Government Challenges Goals Semantic Interoperability and Better Information Sharing More Effective Information Management More Intelligent Search Smarter Decision-Making President’s Management Agenda E-Government Federal Architecture … Interdependencies Complexity Size of Data Stores

Why Semantic Web Technologies: A Story From EPA “Is my child safe from environmental toxins?” http://www.epa.gov/kids/)

What Is the Semantic Web Semantics is “a branch of linguistics that deals with the study of meaning, changes in meaning, and the principles that govern the relationship between sentences or words and their meanings .” --- Denise Bedford, World Bank, Co-Chair of Taxonomy and Semantics SIG, 2004 Information Semantics “is the semantic representation (meaning) for our systems, our data, our documents, or our agents.” --- Leo Obrst, MITRE Corporation, 2004 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, Jim,Hendler and Ora Lassila, 2001 (Adapted from Daconta, Obrst and Smith’s Ontology Spectrum)

Vision of the Semantic Web Key Components Described In Module 1 XML RDF OWL Semantic models Machine Reasoning

Semantic Web Technologies, Semantic Interoperability and Semantic Technologies are the enabling technologies but can be applied in a non-Web environment Semantic Web a delivery platform Semantic Interoperability Represents a subset of the goals of the Semantic Web and Semantic Technologies

Harness the Power of Information Semantics Defining features of the Semantic Web: Machine processing and human consumptions More explicit semantics Applications connected by concepts Network effects and Mass Intelligence (Semantic Web Subway Map, Berners-Lee, 2003, see Executive Brief for explanation)

Next Steps Module 2: Exploring the Business Value of Semantic Interoperability Provide new insights into assembling scenarios and business use cases for the use of semantic technologies Module 3: Implementing the Semantic Web Provides the steps and implementation recommendations, based on which an agency can gauge its progress and schedule future projects to that take advantage of this new technology.

How to Join SICoP Brand Niemann, EPA (niemann.brand@epa.gov) Rick Morris, Army G6/CIO (Rick.Morris@us.army.mil) Request account http://12.158.152.7/ev_en.php?ID=1002_201&ID2=DO_COMMUNITY