Introducing Semantic Web Technologies: Harnessing the Power of Information Semantics An Executive Briefing for SICoP White Paper Series Module 1 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. September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) SICoP 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 September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) Business Cases for Federal Government Information Sharing implies Interoperability Inference possible if you connect the d….o….t….s Institutionalize Federal Enterprise Architecture Implement President’s Management Agenda We must address the justifications and business cases for why the federal government should even think about the Semantic Web and the technologies. If we examine the business of government, we would certainly understand the need to share information. If you don’t have the top of the puzzle box to see what it is you’re making, it’s hard to put a puzzle together. To put that puzzle together, the pieces have to fit, they have to be “Interoperable”. The more pieces you can fit together, the more inferences can be drawn. And if we’re ever going to build an across government architecture, and make citizen centered government a reality, we’ll have to employ semantic technologies. September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Challenges for Federal Government Complexity of government Size of its data stores Interdependency on other government or non-government entities Demands for Better Information Sharing, More Effective Information Management, More Intelligent Search and Smarter Decision-Making September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Challenges for EPA Public Health and Environmental data are in disparate sources Harmonizing data is time consuming and error-prone Lack of tools to make intelligent queries or reasonable inferences across data sources complete the content, then cut have done the heavy lifting architecture, furnishing A Pilot is underway which will apply Semantic Web technologies September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) A Story From EPA “Is my child safe from environmental toxins?” Available in Tomoye be aware of the challenges: multi author, time commitment http://www.epa.gov/kids/) September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) Key Components XML RDF OWL Semantic models Machine Reasoning September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Information Semantics “Information semantics is the semantic representation (meaning) for our systems, our data, our documents, or our agents.” ---Denise Bedford 2004 September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Applications connected by concepts Figure 3. Semantic Web Subway Map (Berners-Lee, 2003) (See Pages 12-13 of Executive Brief for explanation) September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Harness the Power of Information Semantics IF THEN Better information sharing More effective information management More intelligent search Smarter decision-making through reasoning Explicit semantic definitions Meaning embedded in data Accessible to high speed processing Network effects September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Semantic Web Technologies 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.”* Semantic Web technologies can considerably improve the information sharing process, overcoming the problems found in current Web communities to search, access, extract, interpret and process information. ** * Berners-Lee, Tim; Hendler, James; Lassila, Ora. "The Semantic Web". Scientific American 284(5), pp. 34-43. May 2001 **Hewlitt Packard Development Company, L.P. “HP Labs Semantic Web Research” viewed August 12, 2004 http://www.hpl.hp.com/semweb/sw-technology.htm September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) Brand Niemann, EPA Rick Morris, Army G6/CIO Request account http://12.158.152.7/ev_en.php?ID=1002_201&ID2=DO_COMMUNITY September 2004 Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)