RE: [regrep] Semantic Web Collaborations

Rex,
This is very interesting work - thank you for sharing your presentation,
etc. with us.  I can see where the ebXML Registry fits into your overall
framework, and would be interested in hearing more about your proposals.
 
Kathryn Breininger
OASIS ebXML Registry TC Chair.
425-965-0182
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rex Brooks [mailto:rexb@starbourne.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 8:38 AM
To: huml@lists.oasis-open.org; emergency@lists.oasis-open.org;
wsrp@oasis-open.org; cam@lists.oasis-open.org;
regrep@lists.oasis-open.org; egov@lists.oasis-open.org;
wsbpel@lists.oasis-open.org; Susan.Turnbull@gsa.gov; Owen_Ambur@fws.gov;
bnieman@cox.net
Cc: public-ws-chor@w3.org; www-vrml@web3d.org; geovrml@AI.SRI.COM;
protege-discussion@SMI.Stanford.EDU
Subject: [regrep] Semantic Web Collaborations


Dear Colleagues:


I was recently asked to write a brief description of a rationale to
begin establishing regular liaison connections between entities or
bodies working on standards or pilot programs by which the emerging
framework of the Semantic Web as envisioned in the W3C can be advanced.
In other words, 'It's time to start making the semantic web work in
practical, pragmatic terms with concrete examples by connecting
previously unconnected resources."

I am sending this message out to the specific resources, bodies and
entities that I personally want to connect, so please understand that
this message is request for help to make this happen.

If you want to skip the rest of the preamble and get to the nuts, bolts,
who, what and how of this message, you can skip to the horizontal rule.

First, let me narrow this request by saying that it is aimed at the
leadership of the lists to which this message is being sent but that is
not meant to preclude anyone who reads this from participating,
especially those whose suggestion prompted this message. Any of us can
act as informal liaisons or contribute in any number of ways, but I do
want to move toward some more formal relationships to enable a regular
exchange of information at the least, and, at best, active participation
in new and existing projects and pilot programs as well.

That said, there are several facts I want to note. This effort to
describe the interconnections that are now ready to be made in liaisons
and collaborations that will benefit and advance the work of all parties
revolves first around my own participation in the OASIS Emergency
Management Technical Committee, then the Web Services for Remote
Portlets, WSRP, and HumanMarkup TCs, and then my potential participation
in the E-Gov TC.

As co-chair of the HumanMarkup TC, I can say that we identified our own
requirement for a liaison with the E-Gov TC from its inception, but have
not had success in finding someone capable of following through with
such a commitment, and so I have decided to do this myself, and curtail
other commitments to enable this, perhaps by serving as liaison to both
the Emergency Management and HumanMarkup TCs.

I also envision working with both the ebXML Registry TC and the Content
Assembly Mechanism TC. The ebXML Registry TC has a Semantic Content
Management Subcommittee which may be of specific interest and use in
connecting with E-Gov TC, which has identified a requirement to address
the need for a Semantic Content Management Mechanism of some sort.

A note on my personal history may help put this into a more complete
context. I co-founded the Content Development Working Group of the Web3D
Consortium in 1998, when it was named The VRML Consortium. I joined
HumanMarkup work as it was forming in order to develop a high level
authoring language capable of being used to provide standard behaviors
for real-time representation of 3D humans on the web, and this remains
my long term goal. I recently became involved with Emergency Management
because it is a natural extension of my work to provide geospatially
accurate 3D depictions of  emergency environments in real time. These
are, of course, longer term goals as opposed to what we can provide more
immediately in the next few years. So, this is a consistent thread in my
own work since I first began working on standards for my own work.

As an example of the kind of work I envision, I offer the 60-slide
presentation accompanied by a 27-page paper, I made on behalf of the
OASIS HumanMarkup TC, and Humanmarkup.org, Inc., the 501(c)(3)
Non-Profit Corporation to educate and foster development of the Human
Markup Language, of which I am the volunteer Executive Director. The
ultimate product of the collaboration described was a (WSRP 1.0/JSR 168
conformant) Web Services-based Public Healthcare Preparedness Portal
using the Common Alerting Protocol, CAP, developed by the Emergency
Management TC, shown in slide 59:

Slides:

http://ua-exp.gov/QuickPlace/ua-exp/Main.nsf/h_12CDF5C6107594FD85256DEF0
073C0BA/B6211857396EBE3485256DF6007B83A8/?OpenDocument

Paper:

http://ua-exp.gov/QuickPlace/ua-exp/Main.nsf/h_12CDF5C6107594FD85256DEF0
073C0BA/E2D6A4734FFFA14585256DF80053D03F/?OpenDocument

  _____  


Realizing the Semantic Web:

The W3C released the most current RDF and OWL specifications December
15, 2003. OWL is the Web Ontology Language and RDF is the Resource
Descritpion Framework, and together they comprise the fundamental
specifications which specifically enable inference engines and,
therefore, allow the Semantic Web to begin developing in earnest.

OWL Overview:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-owl-features-20031215/

OWL Guide:
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-guide/

OWL Reference:
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/

OWL Semantics and Abstract Syntax:
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-semantics/

OWL Web Ontology Language Test Cases:
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-test/

OWL Use Cases and Requirements:
http://www.w3.org/TR/webont-req/

RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised)
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/

RDF Vocabulary Description Language 1.0: RDF Schema
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/

RDF Primer:
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/

Resource Description Framework (RDF): Concepts and Abstract Syntax
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-concepts/

RDF Semantics
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/

RDF Test Cases
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-testcases/

The Stanford Medical Informatics Groups recently released Protege 2.0, a
working Knowledge Base and Ontology Building open source application
project, which has both an OWL Plugin and an RDF Plugin.

http://protege.stanford.edu

This gives us a set of languages and a toolkit to use to build
applications realizing practical, working applications of the Semantic
Web.

Disclaimer: all of these components are recent, though they have been in
development for several years, but should not be expected to display
error-free or mature reliability.

My personal short term goal at this point in time is to develop an
extension of the Portal developed in the presentation given to the EA
Collaboration Expedition Workshop #30 cited above, perhaps including, or
being included within an extended format with the presentation given by
ebXML Registry Services to XML 2003 in December in Philadelphia, PA.

http://ebxmlrr.sourceforge.net/presentations/oasis-demo-xml2003.sxi
http://ebxmlrr.sourceforge.net/presentations/oasis-demo-xml2003.ppt

The very extensive collaborations represented in the presentations given
at the EA Workshop and XML 2003 illustrate the breadth of standards and
organizations which can interoperate using the principles on which the
Semantic Web is based. Moving this further can be facilitated by adding
a few more components such as the the Web Services Business Process
Execution Language, WSBPEL, and the Web Services Choreography Language
which is under development by W3C.

To be specific about the entities which I would like to see involved in
active liaisons, I offer this list:

OASIS Content Assembly Mechanism TC
OASIS ebXML Registry TC
      ebXML Registry Semantic Content Management SC
OASIS e-Government TC
OASIS Emergency Management TC
EM GIS SC
       EM Infrastructure Framework SC
  EM Messages and Notification SC
OASIS HumanMarkup
OASIS Web Services Business Process Execution Language TC
OASIS Web Services for Remote Portlets TC

My wish list for extra-OASIS participants:

W3C Web Services Choreography Working Group
Stanford Medical Informatics--Protege
Web3D Consortium Geovrml Working Group

This does not mean that I do not think other groups ought to be
included, but I am somewhat more focused on the emergency management
application area in order to deliver immediately understandable, and
global/pan-human benefits in any demonstration projects that might be
developed.

-- 
Rex Brooks
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA, 94702 USA, Earth
W3Address: http://www.starbourne.com
Email: rexb@starbourne.com
Tel: 510-849-2309
Fax: By Request