1. 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)

2. Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)
SICoP sponsored by KM.Gov, Knowledge Management Working Group of the Federal CIO Council
Upcoming events
Join the list
September 2004
Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

3. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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)

6. 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
September 2004
Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

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

8. 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)

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

10. 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)

11. 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 May 2001
**Hewlitt Packard Development Company, L.P. “HP Labs Semantic Web Research” viewed August 12,
September 2004
Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)

12. Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)
Brand Niemann, EPA
Rick Morris, Army G6/CIO
Request account
September 2004
Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)