Confidential 111 Semantics Repository Case Study, Findings, Wider implications Mike Bennett, Head of Semantics and Standards, EDM Council July 21-22, 2010

Confidential 2 Summary Semantics for Business Review Aligning Upper Ontology Concepts What to do with Instance Data Where this Leads for Visualization and Application Development

Confidential 3 Semantics Repository Context Semantics Repository Industry Content XLS Boxes & Lines User Commitments Content ISO FpML XBRL Semantic Web principles OWL ODM UML Tool MDDL With enhancements for readability Theory of meaning creates

Confidential 4 What we Did Business Commitments Modeling Formats Content Alignment Commitments

Confidential 5 Business Commitments No “Language” –Spreadsheets and/or “boxes and lines” –Explainable in logic not tech Business must own / review / validate –This is a business level, “conceptual” artifact (Zachman etc.) Thereby: –We created an industry resource that subject matter experts could validate

Confidential 6 Modeling Formats Web Ontology Language (OWL) –Tools weren’t up to our user commitments –Ontology Metamodel standard (ODM) from OMG, layered onto OWL to make use of better UML tooling In Order to Achieve –Recast the OWL terms in English –Extend the visual format Graphic rendition of various features Colored “Archetypes” for semantic primitives (corresponding to industry terms)

Confidential 7 Content Alignment Commitments Defined all Concepts via Primitives (Archetypes) Look for existing terms –Commitment: Industry experts not ontology experts –XBRL, UN-FAO, REA Commitment: –Replace the ad hoc primitive terms with terms from industry –Terms must be “semantic” enough to import (e.g. XBRL which is semantic but inscrutable)

Confidential 8 Content Alignment Open Ontology Repository (OOR) Sharing and Integrating Ontologies (SIO initiative) –Includes theory for management of the inevitable mismatches between ontologies –Does not require a single overarching “theory of everything” but deals with real world messiness Lattice of Theories (John F Sowa) –Relate concepts to one another via common philosophical concepts –Possible to relate terms from any ontology Caveat: –It is possible to create something in SemWeb syntax which is anything but semantic! Techies with new tools!! –Need to ensure that there is some “theory of meaning” behind any ontology that is to be shared and from which we would derive localized meanings

Confidential 9 Deployment Scenarios Semantics Repository Existing TechSemantic Web UML Tool Semantic Data Model Logical Data Model Physical Data Model MDR XLS Mapping Model Driven Development OWL Model OWL Individuals RDF Linked Data

Confidential 10 Deployment Scenarios Existing Stakeholders –Mapping –Model driven development –Messaging hub –Metadata repositories Semantic Web –This defines additional things which can be done beyond the reason for the repository –Working with vendor (Sandpiper) to get OWL format version of Semantics Repository

Confidential 11 Instance / Individual Data Either: –Instance data in databases –Semantic Web Individuals Makes no sense to have both (except for master/slave relationships)

Confidential 12 Semantics Framework Ontologies of Industry Driven Concepts Shared Upper Ontologies See ontolog forum OOR, SIO etc. Linked Data (RDF etc.) Informal tagging (MOAT etc.) Eventually meet in the middle

Confidential 13 Semantics Framework Top Down Ontology –Meets… Bottom Up Linked Data What Ontologies to use as Reference –Requires that industry bodies have sorted out the ontology sharing –Currently we see just a few (DC, SIOC, FOAF etc.)

Confidential 14 Tools Wider Operational Framework Curation Theory of Meaning Bottom up knowledge discovery Ontology Partitioning / Lattice User Interface Tools Refer to Operate on Output to Operational Framework What about SQL / legacy instance data?

Confidential 15 Instance and Individual Data Ontology Existing TechSemantic Web UML Tool Semantic Data Model Logical Data Model Physical Data Model MDR OWL Model RDF Linked Data ODM ? Physical Data Bridge at semantics level Tagging?

Confidential 16 Copernican Revolution Final thought: –Think in terms not of programs manipulating different kinds of data, But of –An information-centric environment in which tools can be found and used Limited only by the nature of that information (type and semantics)

Confidential 17 Information Ecosystem An information ecosystem is one in which information, identified in terms both of meaning and simple types, can be operated on by tools, presented to users, and interchanged among tools. Development is via applications that understand and consume ontologies, operate on linked data and present information to users in an information-centric set of common metaphors

Confidential 18 Copyright © 2010 EDM Council Inc. Contact Details Mike Bennett Head of Semantics and Standards EDM Council (o) (m) web: Semantics: