In the final installment of this two-part series, Dean Allemang and Scott Henninger look into how the insights about semantic web education have an impact on the adoption of semantic web technologies.

Read more

Semantic Tech & Business Conference Returns to San Francisco

Semantic Tech & Business Conference returns to San Francisco in June! Join us from June 3-7 for complete coverage of Big Data, Linked Data, Extreme Information Management, and Semantic Web. From breakthrough approaches to solving business problems to the big data implications of fast–evolving technologies, SemTechBiz provides you with an unparalleled interactive experience and delivers tangible business value. We're offering a special early rate when you register by February 17. Sign up now!

In part I of this two-part series, Dean Allemang & Scott Henninger draw on years of teaching TopQuadrant’s introduction course on the Semantic Web to make some observations on teaching Semantic Web concepts to a wide variety of students.

Read more

oeGOV Initiative Aims to Improve Government Transparency Through Semantic Web … PR-USA.net (press release) For those interested in hands-on training for creating applications using government information published on linked data sites, TopQuadrant’s Dean Allemang …

Can your computer read a Web page without your help? Soon it might. GCN.com At the International Semantic Web Conference, being held this week in Chantilly, Va., Dean Allemang, chief scientist at Semantic Web consulting firm … and more »

TopQuadrant Publishes Government Ontologies to Create Standard Data Exchange

International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) 2009 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 27, 2009 – TopQuadrant™, the global leader in Semantic Web application development technology, today announced oeGOV, an initiative for creating an open, W3C Semantic Web standards-based set of ontology models to encourage and facilitate the use of linked government data. The overarching goal of oeGOV is to make the vision of Semantically Linked Open Data a reality throughout the government sector, with an initial focus on U.S. government civil branches, agencies, departments, offices and state government.

“The Semantic Web offers a unique opportunity to increase citizen access to information about published government activities and data,” said Ralph Hodgson, CTO of TopQuadrant. “We expect the oeGOV initiative to improve the accountability of policy making by improving government transparency. By publishing ontologies for eGovernment, we will improve the distribution, navigation, integrity, interpretation and interoperability of published government data.”

TopQuadrant is spearheading the project by publishing the first set of ontologies at oeGOV.org, which include OWL representations of about 500 U.S. government civil bodies, models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), developed with GSA and the QUDT ontologies for units of measure, developed with NASA ARC. TopQuadrant invites others, particularly U.S. government agencies, to participate in the oeGOV effort. Interested parties can subscribe to the oeGOV blog at www.oegov.us/blog/.

The oeGOV initiative intends to interpret government data through precise semantics and controlled vocabularies, including geospatial and temporal aspects. Correlations and comparisons of data will be possible through the standardization of neutral models for data exchange, units of measure and transformation, along with an ontology for units of measure.

“There is government information that belongs in the hands of the governed,” said Dean Allemang, Chief Scientist at TopQuadrant. “But until very recently, most of this data had been published in idiosyncratic, disconnected forms. Semantic Web technologies provide an unparalleled capability for making public data genuinely available to the general populace. With new policies for information sharing in place, there is a wide appreciation of the need for sharable, connectable government information.”

oeGOV is a continuation of TopQuadrant’s commitment to eGovernment. In 2003, TopQuadrant co-organized the first Semantic Web technology conference for eGovernment at the White House Conference Center, which focused on the importance of sharing of data using the web infrastructure. Since then TopQuadrant has supported ontology development at a number of government agencies, including NASA and GSA. Several of these ontologies will be available through the oeGOV initiative.

For those interested in hands-on training for creating applications using government information published on linked data sites, TopQuadrant’s Dean Allemang will lead a course at ISWC entitled, ‘Building Semantic Web Applications for Government.’ This half-day tutorial draws on information-sharing projects such as the Federal Enterprise Architecture and resources at open government web sites such as oegov.org to provide attendees with a taste of real Semantic Web government. Attendees will learn the basics of the Semantic Web, as well as proven methods for accessing and combining existing information sources (e.g., spreadsheets, XML feeds and databases).

About TopQuadrant
TopQuadrant is the global leader in Semantic Web application development technology, solution services and training programs. Established in 2001 with the mission to enable enterprises to be agile through practical application of Semantic Web technologies, TopQuadrant offers TopBraid Suite, the only Semantic Web platform with a graphical application assembly toolkit and end-user customizable tools to discover, explore and visualize relevant data without programming. TopQuadrant’s Semantic Web applications enable enterprises to master the challenges of the global marketplace by becoming more agile, reducing costs and creating competitive business processes that easily adapt to change. The company’s customers include Fortune 1000 corporations in retail, pharmaceutical, financial services, medical/healthcare, manufacturing, and energy industries as well as government agencies in the areas of defense, intelligence and airspace. For more information, visit www.topquadrant.com.

###

TopQuadrant, TopBraid, TopBraid Suite, TopBraid Ensemble, TopBraid Live, TopBraid Composer, TopBraid Composer Maestro Edition, SPARQLMotion, the TopQuadrant logo, and “Composing the Semantic Web” are trademarks of TopQuadrant Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 

Does your organization find that it can develop a new product faster than your IT group can create a new application to manage it?  Are your existing systems too inflexible?

Read more

The Semantic Web is nearing the point of widespread practical adoption:

• The core specifications have stabilized

• Tools and frameworks implementing key features have been through several development cycles

• An increasing number of major software companies have developed semantically enabled products or are actively researching the space

As companies start to translate theory into real applications, they are confronted with a host of practical software engineering issues:

• What is the standard or recommended functional architecture of a semantic application?

• How does that architecture relate to the Semantic Web standards?

• Which of those standards are stable and which can be expected to evolve in ways that would significantly impact prior applications?

• What types of tools/frameworks exist that can be leveraged to help implement semantic applications?

• How mature are the various categories of Semantic Web tools/frameworks?

• Can API standardization be expected for certain tool/framework categories?

• What best practices exist for the design, implementation and deployment of semantic applications?

• What future trends in support for semantic application development can be expected?

This panel session gathers together semantics experts from the software industry to address these and other practical issues relating to the development of semantic applications.

Attachment: Panel – Developing Semantic Web Applications (24.68 MB)

Presenters:

Henry Story
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Staff Engineer

 

Dean Allemang
TopQuadrant
Dr. Allemang specializes in innovative applications of knowledge technology and brings to TopQuadrant over 15 years of experience in research, deployment, and development of knowledge-based systems. He developed the curriculum for Top Quadrant’s successful training series for Semantic Web technologies, which he has been presenting to customers world-wide for four years. Dean has completed a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge as a Marshall scholar, a PhD at the Ohio State University as a National Science Foundation Graduate Scholar, and is a two-time winner of the Swiss Prize for Innovation in Technology. Prior to joining TopQuadrant, Dr. Allemang was the Vice-President of Customer Applications at Synquiry Technologies, were he filed two patents on the application of graph matching algorithms to the problems of semantic information interchange.

Dr. Jans Aasman
President & CEO, Franz Inc.

Dr. Jans Aasman, Franz’s President and CEO, was a longtime customer and joined Franz from TNO Telecom based in The Netherlands. Prior to Franz, he worked at KPN Research, the research lab of a major Dutch telecommunication company. Dr. Aasman was a tenured professor in Industrial Design at the Technical University of Delft, where he held the chair title Informational Ergonomics of Telematics and Intelligent Products. He also was a visiting scientist at the Computer Science Department of Prof. Dr. Alan Newell at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Aasman holds a degree in experimental and cognitive psychology from the University of Groningen, with specialization in Psychophysiology and Cognitive Psychology.

Eric Miller
Zepheira, LLC

Eric Miller is the President of Zepheira. Prior to founding Zepheira, Eric led the Semantic Web Initiative for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at MIT where he led the architectural and technical leadership in the design and evolution of the Semantic Web. Eric is a frequent and sought after international speaker in the areas of International Web standards, knowledge management, collaboration, development, and deployment.

Jeroen Wester
Aduna

CTO

So even though we’ve had the site open for a few days (testing, tweaking, etc) let this be my offical "welcome" to the new Semantic Universe site.  I’m delighted you’ve stopped by to take a look and I hope we can exceed your expectations while you’re here.

Read more

Date: October 16, 2008, 12:00AM (all day)
Register: View the archived webcast

What is the Semantic Web and how does it relate to Web 3.0? What is Linked Data? What about enterprise applications? Who is using Semantic Web technologies, for what purposes and why? In this first installment of our Free Webcast series, Jim Hendler and Dean Allemang, leaders in the field of Semantic Technologies and co-authors of the recent book “Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist”, take us on our first steps into the world of the Semantic Web.

Presenters:

James Hendler
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jim Hendler is the Tetherless World Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Assistant Dean for IT. Jim is former Director of the Joint Institute for Knowledge Discovery and co-director of the Maryland Information and Network Dynamics (MIND) Laboratory at the University of Maryland, and is widely recognized as one of the earliest visionaries of the Semantic Web.

Dean Allemang
TopQuadrant
Dr. Allemang specializes in innovative applications of knowledge technology and brings to TopQuadrant over 15 years of experience in research, deployment, and development of knowledge-based systems. He developed the curriculum for Top Quadrant’s successful training series for Semantic Web technologies, which he has been presenting to customers world-wide for four years. Dean has completed a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge as a Marshall scholar, a PhD at the Ohio State University as a National Science Foundation Graduate Scholar, and is a two-time winner of the Swiss Prize for Innovation in Technology. Prior to joining TopQuadrant, Dr. Allemang was the Vice-President of Customer Applications at Synquiry Technologies, were he filed two patents on the application of graph matching algorithms to the problems of semantic information interchange.

Date: November 5, 2008, 12:00AM (all day)
Register: View the archived webcast

In the second installment of our Free Webcast series, Jim Hendler and Dean Allemang, leaders in the field of Semantic Technologies and co-authors of the recent book “Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist”, will walk us through the basic language components of the Semantic Web.

Presenters:

James Hendler
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jim Hendler is the Tetherless World Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Assistant Dean for IT. Jim is former Director of the Joint Institute for Knowledge Discovery and co-director of the Maryland Information and Network Dynamics (MIND) Laboratory at the University of Maryland, and is widely recognized as one of the earliest visionaries of the Semantic Web.

Dean Allemang
TopQuadrant
Dr. Allemang specializes in innovative applications of knowledge technology and brings to TopQuadrant over 15 years of experience in research, deployment, and development of knowledge-based systems. He developed the curriculum for Top Quadrant’s successful training series for Semantic Web technologies, which he has been presenting to customers world-wide for four years. Dean has completed a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge as a Marshall scholar, a PhD at the Ohio State University as a National Science Foundation Graduate Scholar, and is a two-time winner of the Swiss Prize for Innovation in Technology. Prior to joining TopQuadrant, Dr. Allemang was the Vice-President of Customer Applications at Synquiry Technologies, were he filed two patents on the application of graph matching algorithms to the problems of semantic information interchange.