Semantic Web - Volume 1, issue 1-2

Authors: Raubal, Martin | Adams, Benjamin

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: One of the key deficiencies of the Semantic Web is its lack of cognitive plausibility. We argue that by accounting for people's reasoning mechanisms and cognitive representations, the usefulness of information coming from the Semantic Web will be enhanced. More specifically, the utilization and integration of conceptual spaces is proposed as a knowledge representation that affords two important human cognitive mechanisms, i.e., semantic similarity and concept combination. Formal conceptual space algebra serves as the basis for the Conceptual Space Markup Language (CSML), which facilitates the engineering of ontologies using a geometric framework. We demonstrate the usefulness of the approach through …a concrete example and suggest directions for future work, especially the need for combining geometric representations and reasoning mechanisms with existing Semantic Web structures. Show more

Keywords: Conceptual space, Conceptual Space Markup Language, CSML, cognition, representation, markup language

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0002

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 69-74, 2010

Authors: Heath, Tom

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The modalities of search and browse dominate current thinking about interaction with the Web. Given the Web's origins as a global hypertext system, it is understandable that these document-centric interaction patterns prevail. However, these modalities alone are inadequate as a conceptual model of interaction with the global Linked Data space that is the Semantic Web. Realising the full potential of the Semantic Web requires a fundamental reconsideration of Web interaction patterns in the light of Linked Data, and this renewed conceptualisation must drive the research agenda related to user interaction and the Semantic Web. This paper argues that a fundamental …understanding of user goals and tasks is the appropriate perspective from which to approach the research and development of Semantic Web applications. However, the Web in Semantic Web should not detract from the potential for cross-platform data interoperability enabled by the Semantic Web technology stack. In this context we propose a taskonomy of data- and object-centric user tasks derived from an analytical abstraction of existing research, not simply in the fields of Web search and browse but also email and Instant Messaging, that can help shape the direction of research and application development in the Semantic Web field. Show more

Keywords: Semantic Web, Linked Data, email, Instant Messaging, user interaction, taskonomy, activity-centred design

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0003

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 75-81, 2010

Authors: Cimiano, Philipp | Kopp, Stefan

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The amount of data published on the Semantic Web has witnessed a tremendous growth in the last years to which the Linked Open Data (LOD) project has contributed significantly. While the Semantic Web was originally conceived of as an extension to the Web by addition of machine-readable data allowing automatic processing by machines, the question how humans can benefit from all the data published on the Web is becoming an important one. In the light of this question it seems crucial to make accessing the data on the Web as easy and intuitive as possible by adapting to the cognitive …and information processing capabilities of humans. In this short position paper, we argue that one interesting and promising approach in this direction is to allow people to access semantic data on the Web through multimodal interaction with embodied virtual characters. Show more

Keywords: Semantic web, interaction, multimodal access, virtual characters

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0008

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 83-88, 2010

Authors: Fazzinga, Bettina | Lukasiewicz, Thomas

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Web search is a key technology of the Web, since it is the primary way to access content on the Web. Current standard Web search is essentially based on a combination of textual keyword search with an importance ranking of the documents depending on the link structure of the Web. For this reason, it has many limitations, and there are a plethora of research activities towards more intelligent forms of search on the Web, called semantic search on the Web, or also Semantic Web search. In this paper, we give a brief overview of existing such approaches, including own ones, …and sketch some possible future directions of research. Show more

Keywords: Semantic search on the Web, Semantic Web search, Web search, Semantic Web, ontologies

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0023

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 89-96, 2010

Authors: Auer, Sören | Lehmann, Jens

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Over the past 3 years, the Semantic Web activity has gained momentum with the widespread publishing of structured data as RDF. The Linked Data paradigm has therefore evolved from a practical research idea into a very promising candidate for addressing one of the biggest challenges in the area of the Semantic Web vision: the exploitation of the Web as a platform for data and information integration. To translate this initial success into a world-scale reality, a number of research challenges need to be addressed: the performance gap between relational and RDF data management has to be closed, coherence and quality …of data published on the Web have to be improved, provenance and trust on the Linked Data Web must be established and generally the entrance barrier for data publishers and users has to be lowered. In this vision statement we discuss these challenges and argue, that research approaches tackling these challenges should be integrated into a mutual refinement cycle. We also present two crucial use-cases for the widespread adoption of Linked Data. Show more

Keywords: Linked Data, Semantic Web

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0019

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 97-104, 2010

Authors: Aroyo, Lora | Houben, Geert-Jan

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Historically, personalization and adaptation have been important factors for the success of the Web and therefore they have been important topics in Web research. Many research efforts in the field of adaptive hypermedia and adaptive Web-based systems have resulted in solutions for user-adapted access to Web content, often in terms of systems that provide an adaptive hypermedia structure of content pages and hyperlinks. With pages and links that depend on the user, it is feasible to offer a high degree of personalization. Next to research into engineering and realizing adaptation, research into user modeling has been crucial for the success …of adaptation. To apply the right adaptation it is necessary to know the user and her relevant properties and the research field of user modeling has focused on theories and techniques for eliciting knowledge about the user. Naturally, the research fields of adaptive Web-based systems and user modeling have always lived in close harmony. In order to create a similar success with personalization and adaptation in relation to the Semantic Web, adaptation and user modeling have to be redefined, with consequences for the research into these topics. In particular, the nature of user modeling changes significantly with the extended distribution and openness that we encounter on the Web of Data, with implications from problems studied in Web science. Promising research shows how Semantic Web-based solutions can aid in the representation of user properties for sharing and linking of user models. In this vision paper we outline the evolution of user modeling and adaptation in connection to the Semantic Web and list research questions and challenges for the relevant research fields. Show more

Keywords: User modeling, adaptation, personalization, linked open data, Web science

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0006

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 105-110, 2010

Authors: Hoekstra, Rinke

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Knowledge engineering upholds a longstanding tradition that emphasises methodological issues associated with the acquisition and representation of knowledge in some (formal) language. This focus on methodology implies an ex ante approach: “think before you act”. The rapid increase of linked data poses new challenges for knowledge engineering, and the Semantic Web project as a whole. Although the dream of unhindered “knowledge reuse” is a technical reality, it has come at the cost of control. Semantic web content can no longer be assumed to have been produced in a controlled task-independent environment. When reused, Semantic Web content needs to be remoulded, …refiltered and recurated for a new task. Traditional ex ante methodologies do not provide any guidelines for this ex post knowledge reengineering; forcing developers to resort to ad hoc measures and manual labour: the knowledge reengineering bottleneck. Show more

Keywords: Knowledge engineering, ontology reuse, design patterns, linked data, dirty data, data reuse, provenance

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0004

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 111-115, 2010

Authors: Hotho, Andreas | Stumme, Gerd

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Today, we observe the amalgamation of the Social Web and the Mobile Web, which will ultimately lead to a Ubiquitous Web. The integration and aggregation of the different kinds of available data, and the extraction of useful knowledge and its representation has become an important challenge for researchers from the Semantic Web, Web 2.0, social network analysis and machine learning communities. We discuss the Ubiquitous Web vision, by addressing the challenge of bridging the gap between Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web, before widening the scope to mobile applications.

Keywords: Ubiquitous Web, Semantic Web, Web 2.0, data mining, machine learning, social network analysis

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0024

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 117-119, 2010

Authors: Corcho, Oscar | García-Castro, Raúl

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The combination of sensor networks with the Web, web services and database technologies, was named some years ago as the Sensor Web or the Sensor Internet. Most efforts in this area focused on the provision of platforms that could be used to build sensor-based applications more efficiently, considering some of the most important challenges in sensor-based data management and sensor network configuration. The introduction of semantics into these platforms provides the opportunity of going a step forward into the understanding, management and use of sensor-based data sources, and this is a topic being explored by ongoing initiatives. In this paper …we go through some of the most relevant challenges of the current Sensor Web, and describe some ongoing work and open opportunities for the introduction of semantics in this context. Show more

Keywords: Sensor, ontology, query language

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0005

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 121-125, 2010

Authors: Sabou, Marta

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The increased availability and robustness of sensors, the wide-spread use of the internet as a communication environment and the intensified adoption of semantic technologies foster the vision of embedding intelligence in physical objects. The race of realizing this vision is pervasive to a variety of research fields, most notably ambient intelligence and semantic web, and leads to the proliferation of several overlapping definitions and terminologies: smart products, semantic devices, semantic gadgets - to which we collectively refer to as smart objects. What exactly are smart objects? And what are the research challenges in realizing them? We hereby explore the answers …to these questions. Show more

Keywords: Smart objects, Semantic Web, ambient intelligence, challenges

DOI: 10.3233/SW-2010-0011

Citation: Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 127-130, 2010