- From: Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:08:38 -0400
- To: Linking Open Data <linking-open-data@simile.mit.edu>
- CC: General List <general@simile.mit.edu>, em@csail.mit.edu, kenzie@mit.edu, semantic-web@w3.org, karger@mit.edu
Mike Duffy wrote: > 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. > Mike, Apologies for the belated response, my email ordering took this message out of sight etc. Are you able to elaborate on the issue of Ontology editing, versioning, and synchronization? I ask because we've been incubating a idea called "Wikitology" that basically enable Ontology based editing and evolution in Wiki-style. We've basically adapted our Wiki Engine to suck in OWL, generate a Wiki page, and naturally expose the Ontology terms as RDF etc.. Unfortunately this project stalled temporarily, but your mail has rekindled interest that could lead to me giving this a higher priority in due course. With my Scale-Free-Evanglist hat on I am certainly interested in a mesh of Ontology Servers that facilitate easy and unobtrusiveTerm Lookups and resulting standardization re. term usage. Kingsley > 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 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> General mailing list >> General@simile.mit.edu >> http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/general >> >> _______________________________________________ >> General mailing list >> General@simile.mit.edu >> http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/general >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Linking-open-data mailing list > Linking-open-data@simile.mit.edu > http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/linking-open-data > > -- Regards, Kingsley Idehen Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen President & CEO OpenLink Software Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Received on Tuesday, 12 June 2007 20:10:13 UTC