Re: Semantic Bridge Project

Chris,

We are familiar with the Linking Open Data community project and we 
applaud your efforts.

The Semantic Knowledge Repository will not be a store for RDF triples, 
it will be a store for OWL ontologies.  We want to create tools that 
will enable web designers and software engineers to link into 
standardized ontologies so that RDF triples can be created in a 
standardized way.

As a point of clarification, we are going to rename the "Semantic 
Knowledge Repository" to the "Semantic Ontology Repository".

We are definitely not advocating centralized control or a "single point 
of failure".  The Semantic Bridge Project will identify existing 
ontologies and create a framework that will enable a collaborative 
endeavor in managing the ontologies. This management system will be 
modeled on a widespread organic process and not a hierarchical 
bureaucratic process.

We will develop standards for the fair and objective management of the 
repository and dynamic interactions with the repository. We intend to 
create a management system that will enable the organic development of 
ontologies. This is an incredibly grandiose vision - nothing less than 
managing the organization, structure and growth of all knowledge. This 
will most likely be the greatest collaborative endeavor in human history.

While existing lists of ontologies may seem overwhelming, the basic 
ontologies for e-commerce applications and most Internet sites will be 
quite manageable.  It will be interesting to see how the statistics 
evolve, but our initial guess is that less than five per cent of the 
ontologies will be applied to more than ninety-five percent of semantic 
classifications on the Internet.

We recognize that, "..central control is stifling, and increasing the 
size and scope of such a system rapidly becomes unmanageable."  We 
believe a non-bureaucratic approach that pushes control down to the 
level of the virtual ontology groups will result in an organic 
self-regulating system.

We also recognize that some organizations may wish to manage their own 
ontologies.  For example, the ontology for molecular bio-chemistry might 
be maintained by a leading research university; specific ontologies for 
Business Process Management Systems (BPM) might be maintained by the 
system provider; organizations may wish to maintain their own private 
internal ontologies; etc.  One of the most significant aspects of the 
Semantic Bridge Project will be the creation of an open-source ontology 
management framework that can be utilized by any organization.  Where 
applicable, there will be a mapping of independently created ontologies 
to the Semantic Ontology Repository.

Also, our goals are very different from Freebase 
(http://www.freebase.com).  We are not attempting to create an, "open, 
shared database of the world's knowledge."  Our initial goal is to 
transform Internet search by bringing semantic classifications to 
Internet information and establish the foundation for searching by 
intelligent agents.

Granted, any system that grows organically is going to be messy and 
inefficient to some degree.  Our goal is to make things less messy and 
more efficient.

Sincerely,

Mike




Chris Bizer wrote:
> Hi Mike,
>
>   
>> One of the key aspects of the Semantic Bridge Project is the 
>> creation of
>> the “Semantic Knowledge Repository”. This repository will be the 
>> nexus
>> for managing ontologies (including microformats). It will be the
>> official “hall of records” for the collaborative efforts made by 
>> virtual
>> ontology groups.
>>     
>
> did you notice the W3C Linking Open Data community project? Within the 
> project, many "ontology groups" (if you like to use the term) are 
> cooperating in order to massively publish and interlink RDF on the 
> Web.
>
> We currently have about one billion triples online (covering domains 
> like music, books, publications, geographic locations and wikipedia) 
> which are interlinked by around 120 000 RDF links.
>
> Maybe you want to crawl this data to bootstrap your "Semantic 
> Knowledge Repository"?
>
> An overview about the datasets is given in our ESWC poster 
> http://linkeddata.org/documents/eswc2007-poster-linking-open-data.pdf 
> and 
> http://sites.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/suhl/bizer/pub/LinkingOpenData.pdf
> as well as on the project's wikipage 
> http://esw.w3.org/topic/SweoIG/TaskForces/CommunityProjects/LinkingOpenData
>
>   
>> In essence, this repository will be the source for the
>> organization and structure of knowledge, goods and services. The
>> “Semantic Knowledge Repository” will be established as a vendor 
>> neutral
>> non-profit corporation.
>>     
>
> Please note that Metaweb does something similar with Freebase 
> http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/freebase_will_p_1.html
> Also not to forget Google with Google Base, but which clearly does not 
> qualifies as vendor neutral I guess ;-)
>
> Are there any arguments why your store is more open and vendor-neutral 
> than Freebase?
>
>   
>> This will most likely be the greatest collaborative endeavor in 
>> human history.
>>     
>
> Nice goal. A question which pops up in my mind is why does the 
> greatest collaborative endeavor in human history need a single point 
> of failure?
>
> Therefore, I clearly favour decentral, webby solutions like the one we 
> are aiming at in the Linking Open Data project. Meaning, lots of 
> independent publishers which publish under open licenses and different 
> search engines like Zitgist, SWSE and Swoogle (and maybe a search 
> engine from your repository) that crawl the data and provide nice 
> search interfaces on top of it.
>
>   
>> We think we have patent rights that will enable us to enforce some
>> degree of discipline amongst the major players.
>>     
>
> Please note that people talking about patent rights don't have a very 
> high standing in the open data and web comunnities.
>
> Cheers
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Chris Bizer
> Freie Universität Berlin
> Phone: +49 30 838 54057
> Mail: chris@bizer.de
> Web: www.bizer.de
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Duffy" <mduffy@austin.rr.com>
> To: <karger@mit.edu>; <em@csail.mit.edu>; <kenzie@mit.edu>; 
> <general@simile.mit.edu>
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 9:24 AM
> Subject: Semantic Bridge Project
>
>
> We share many of the goals of the SIMILE project. We would like to
> explore the possibility for collaboration.
>
> Semantic Bridge Technologies (located in Austin, TX) is creating a 
> tool
> set and the supporting infrastructure for the implementation of the
> Semantic Web. We are taking a very pragmatic approach. Our target
> audience is comprised of web designers and software engineers who 
> build
> Internet applications not theorists who study semantic structures. We
> are building a bridge, not an ivory tower.
>
> One of the key aspects of the Semantic Bridge Project is the creation 
> of
> the “Semantic Knowledge Repository”. This repository will be the nexus
> for managing ontologies (including microformats). It will be the
> official “hall of records” for the collaborative efforts made by 
> virtual
> ontology groups. In essence, this repository will be the source for 
> the
> organization and structure of knowledge, goods and services. The
> “Semantic Knowledge Repository” will be established as a vendor 
> neutral
> non-profit corporation.
>
> In its simplest implementation, a web author or web designer will be
> able to use tools to Interact with the "Semantic Knowledge Repository"
> and bring semantic structure to the information he or she is creating.
> In its eventual application, the “Semantic Knowledge Repository” will
> transform enterprise management systems.
>
> We will develop standards for the fair and objective management of the
> repository and dynamic interactions with the repository. We intend to
> create a management system that will enable the organic development of
> ontologies. This is an incredibly grandiose vision - nothing less than
> managing the organization, structure and growth of all knowledge. This
> will most likely be the greatest collaborative endeavor in human 
> history.
>
> While existing lists of ontologies may seem overwhelming, the basic
> ontologies for e-commerce applications and most Internet sites will be
> quite manageable. It will be interesting to see how the statistics
> evolve, but our initial guess is that less than five per cent of the
> ontologies will be applied to more than ninety-five percent of 
> semantic
> classifications on the Internet.
>
> We recognize that, "..central control is stifling, and increasing the
> size and scope of such a system rapidly becomes unmanageable." We
> believe a non-bureaucratic approach that pushes control down to the
> level of the virtual ontology groups will result in an organic
> self-regulating system.
>
> We also recognize that some organizations may wish to manage their own
> ontologies. For example, the ontology for molecular bio-chemistry 
> might
> be maintained by a leading research university; specific ontologies 
> for
> Business Process Management Systems (BPM) might be maintained by the
> system provider; organizations may wish to maintain their own private
> internal ontologies; etc. One of the most significant aspects of the
> Semantic Bridge Project will be the creation of an open-source 
> ontology
> management framework that can be utilized by any organization. Where
> applicable, there will be a mapping of independently created 
> ontologies
> to the Semantic Knowledge Repository.
>
> We are very aware that a collaborative approach and the implementation
> of fair practices are essential to the realization of this vision. We
> wish to avoid the possibility of fragmentation (e.g., "The Google
> Semantic Repository", "The Microsoft Semantic Repository", etc.) as is
> seen with several competing Linux distributions. Our goal is to create 
> a
> consortium where all members participate equitably.
>
> We think we have patent rights that will enable us to enforce some
> degree of discipline amongst the major players.
>
> The creation of a dynamic and interactive, “Semantic Knowledge
> Repository”, along with the tools that will allow web designers and
> software engineers to easily interact with this repository will have a
> profound impact on the rapid deployment of the Semantic Web.
>
> Similar to “Piggy Bank” we are creating an Internet browser plug-in 
> that
> will enable users to specify RDFa attributes in a web page and 
> classify
> the web page and/or parts of the web page within a given ontology by
> dynamically interacting with the “Semantic Knowledge Repository”.
>
> Unlike “piggy Bank”, we are not attempting to create a “mashup
> platform”; rather, our goal is the semantic classification of Internet
> knowledge. An easy to use plug-in will harness the creative energy of
> millions of Internet users in a collaborative process to classify
> billions of existing web pages. This creative energy will impel the 
> full
> scale deployment of the Semantic Web (The "chicken or egg" question 
> will
> be answered, and the answer will be, "both".).
>
> The beauty of using an Internet browser plug-in is that existing web
> pages and components of web pages can be semantically categorized
> without the need to modify the existing page. The semantic knowledge
> about the page can exist in an abstraction layer that references the 
> page.
>
> One of the key aspects of the Semantic Bridge Project will be a 
> royalty
> system that will pay individuals a percentage of total revenues for
> their collaborative efforts. For example, twenty per cent of total
> revenue could be set aside for royalties. Based on some type of 
> weighted
> contribution mechanism, the software engineers that create the system,
> the knowledge engineers who take responsibility for specific 
> ontologies
> and the individuals who classify specific web pages would receive
> payments from the royalty fund.
>
> The technologies of the Semantic Bridge Project could truly transform
> the world.
>
> For complete details regarding The Semantic Bridge Project, please 
> visit
> our website: http://www.semanticbridgetechnologies.com
>
> Please share your thoughts.
>
> We hope you will consider participating in this endeavor. It is going 
> to
> be an incredible intellectual adventure.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Mike Duffy
> CEO / CTO
> Semantic Bridge Technologies
> mduffy@austin.rr.com
>
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Received on Monday, 11 June 2007 09:28:47 UTC