Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice Meeting: Joint Meeting with the Ontolog Forum

1
Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice
Meeting Joint Meeting with the Ontolog Forum

• Wednesday, July 7, 2004, 1 - 430 p.m.GSA, 1800
  F Street, NW
• Washington, DC

2
Overview

• 1. Logistics (slide 3)
• 2. Agenda (slides 4-6)
• 3. Welcome and Introduction to SICoP (slides
  7-11)
• 4. Regular Order of Business for SICoP (slides
  12-19)
• 5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization for
  Dynamic Knowledge Repositories (DKR) and
  Sustainable Intergovernmental Network Exchange
  (SINE) (slides 20-31)
• 6. Supplement KM.Gov Meeting on July 14, 2004
  (slides 32-34)

3
1. Logistics

• Thank you
• Karl, Nancy, Peter, and Susan.
• Wiki
• http//colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?SICoP/SICoP_
  Ontolog_Joint_Meeting_2004_07_07
• Telecon
• None.

4
2. Agenda(Final Draft, July 5, 2004)

• 1230 110 p.m. -- Networking Lunch at 1917 F
  St at Pizza Italia.
• Note 1 Rapid lunch is available at Pizza Italia
  that includes salad, chicken, spaghetti, etc.
• Note 2 GSA conference room rule that forbids
  food drink.
• 110 120 p.m. -- Check-in at GSA and Escort to
  Conference Room for Networking Introductions.
• 120 140 p.m. -- Welcome and Introduction to
  SICoP by Brand Niemann Rick Morris, Co-Chairs.
• 140 200 p.m. -- Introduction to Ontolog by
  Peter Yim Leo Obrst.
• 200 220 p.m. -- Regular Order of Business for
  SICoP
• Report on the SICoP June 23, 2004, Workshop.
• Upcoming events.
• 220 240 p.m. -- Regular Order of Business for
  Ontolog
• Report on the Ontolog Workshop at the Protege
  Conference by Bob Smith Kurt Conrad.
• Current upcoming activities.

5
2. Agenda(Final Draft, July 5, 2004)

• 240 400 p.m. -- Participant Introductions
  Exploring Synergies.
• 240 330 p.m. All Participant Introductions
• What are you doing (that is a priority to you and
  is relevant to the CoP)?
• What work or expertise do you need from outside
  resources/collaborators (identify whether work
  will be on a collegial/volunteer basis or whether
  it will be, or potentially be, funded)?
• What project can you offer to work on that will
  be relevant (if someone here is willing to fund
  it)?
• 330 400 p.m. - Open Discussion Exploring
  Synergies - All Participants.

6
2. Agenda(Final Draft, July 5, 2004)

• 400 425 p.m. -- Discussion Collaborating on
  Semantic Harmonization for Dynamic Knowledge
  Repositories (DKR) and Sustainable
  Intergovernmental Network Exchange (SINE) -
  Moderated by Brand Niemann Susan Turnbull
• The vision and mission.
• The gaps.
• How can the two communities contribute.
• Short-term action plan.
• 425 430 p.m. -- Review of Follow-up and
  Action Items Adjourn.

7
3. Welcome and Introduction to SICoP

• Brief History
• CIO Councils XML Web Services Working Group
  (08/2002-09/2003)
• Semantic Technologies for eGovernment Pilot
  (TopQuadrant)
• Semantic Technologies for eGov Conference (White
  House Conference Center, September 8, 2003)
• Semantic Technology Training Series (December
  2003, March 2004, and July 2004)

8
3. Welcome and Introduction to SICoP

• Brief History (continued)
• CIO Councils Best Practices/Knowledge Management
  Working Group Discussions About a Semantic
  Interoperability Community of Practice
• Strong History of CoPs and Collaboration Tools
  with Knowledge Management Working Group (Km.Gov).
• Planning Meetings to Draft Charter and Decide on
  Initial Products (October 15, 2003, and January
  15 and February 19, 2004)
• Understanding Semantic Web Technology (Hendler
  and Niemann, eGov Web Enabled Conference,
  February 4, 2004)
• Kickoff Meeting (April 14, 2004) and Subsequent
  Meetings (May 19 and June 23, 2004)

9
3. Welcome and Introduction to SICoP

• Brief History (continued)
• SICoP Activities
• White Paper (Three Modules Supported by
  Collaboration Tools)
• Army Knowledge Management Conference, Semantic
  Web Track, August 31-September 2, 2004.
• See http//www.afcea.org/doim2004/Track8.htm
• Second Semantic Technologies for eGov Conference
  (MITRE, September 8-9, 2004)
• XML 2004 Conference (November 15-19, Washington,
  DC)
• See http//www.xmlconference.org/xmlusa/
• SICoP Member Announcements
• Dr. Yaser Bishr, CTO Image Matters LLC, is the
  principal investigator in an NGA project to help
  NGA set the framework and guidelines for building
  the Geospatial Ontology to support Geospatial
  Intelligence Analysis in NGA. The goal is to
  outline the theoretical foundation and the
  practical steps to enable NGA to build its
  Geospatial Ontology for years to come.
• Others?

10
3. Welcome and Introduction to SICoP

• Some Resources
• TopMind Semantic Technologies Briefings and
  Workshops.
• Understanding Semantic Web Technology (Hendler
  and Niemann, February 4, 2004).
• Designing the Smart Data Enterprise (Daconta,
  November 28, 2003) and The Semantic Web
  Foundations of Net-Centric Warfare (Daconta,
  January 13, 2004).
• Ontologies for Semantically Interoperable Systems
  (Obrst, 2003).
• eGov_SmartServices Discussion Group Moderated by
  Yaser Bishr.
• Harmonizing Semantics in eGovernment (Niemann,
  April 22, 2004, to the Ontolog Forum).
• Adaptive Information Improving Business Through
  Semantic Interoperability, Grid Computing
  Enterprise Integration (Pollack and Hodgson, Fall
  2004 from John Wiley Sons).

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3. Welcome and Introduction to SICoP

• Some Resources (continued)
• Common Upper Ontology for Cross-Domain Semantic
  Interoperability (Schoening, May 19, 2004).
• Joint Workshop on Multiple Taxonomies
  (Collaboration Expedition Workshop, April 28,
  2004)
• See http//colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Expediti
  onWorkshop/MultipleTaxonomiesWorkshop_2004_04_28
• Semantic Information Management As An EPA Portal
  Component (Unicorn, May 18, 2004).
• Enterprise Information Integration Workshop
  (ManTech, June 28-29, 2004)
• See http//www.meiim.com/eii_events.htm

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4. Regular Order of Business for SICoP

• Report on the SICoP June 23, 2004, Workshop
• Condensed the agenda so could overlap and report
  to the Collaboration Expedition Workshop (CoP) in
  the afternoon (see slide 13).
• Focus is on finishing the White Paper Module 1
  for release at the September 8-9th Conference and
  on having the Conference Papers support all three
  White Paper Modules which should be done for the
  XML 2004 Conference in November (see slide 14).
• Implementing Semantic Interoperability Contours
  of the Practice Work continues (Daconta Obrst)
  (see slide 15).
• Collaboration tools (Tomoye and Groove) training
  and population was very helpful and points to the
  need for public-access Web pages also (see slide
  16).

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Semantics Interoperability Community of Practice
(SICoP)
SICoP Agenda, 900 300, 23 June 900-930 Welco
me, Old Business, Minutes, New SICoP
site 930-1030 Demo of SICoP tools 1030-1115
Overview of Modules 1115-1230 Small group
sessions for white paper 1230-130 Lunch on your
own 130-200 Assessments, Path forward for White
Paper   200-245 Taxonomy for SICoP - Contours
of Practice 245-300 Whats on your mind,
Recap, Whats next
 
 
Mandatory RSVP Nancy.G.Faget_at_USACE.Army.Mil
or call 703-428-6727
14
Strawman for Semantic Technologies Conference in
Sep04
 
Mandatory RSVP Nancy.G.Faget_at_USACE.Army.Mil
or call 703-428-6727
15
Implementing Semantic Interoperability Contours
of the Practice Daconta
SiCoP km.gov
Implementing Semantic Interoperability
Organizational Issues
Core Technology Areas
Shared Vision / Understanding / Expertise
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
Architecture
Web Ontology Language (OWL)
Mission Needs and Operational Requirements
RDF Query
Cost / Benefits
KM as Transformational Agent
Use Cases
Inference and Rule-based Systems
XML Topic Maps (XTM).
Transition Issues / Problems
Virtual Action Learning Teams
Enterprise Information Integration)
Semantic Enabling Tools (Applications)
Information Discovery
From XML to RDF and Beyond
Taxonomy and Ontology Design Techniques
Structured Communities of Practice for Bottoms-up
Ontologies
Net-Centric Operations
Virtual Teams for Top Level Ontologies)
Scenarios
Semantic Annotation via Instant Gratification)
Data Independence
Communities of Interest for Horizontal Fusion
Implementations
Positioning Legacy Data for Transition
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4. Regular Order of Business for SICoP
http//12.158.152.7/ev_en.php. Contact Guy
Rogers, Chief Editor, for password at
grogers_at_triplei.com.
17
4. Regular Order of Business for SICoP

• Upcoming events
• Army Knowledge Management Conference, Semantic
  Web Track (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, August
  31-September 2, 2004)
• Agenda being finalized by Daconta and Morris.
• Second Semantic Technologies for eGov Conference
  (MITRE, September 8-9, 2004)
• Planning Team working on Call for Papers (see
  slides 18-19).
• XML 2004 Conference (Marriott Wardman Park Hotel,
  November 15-19, Washington, DC)
• Presentation on SICoP accepted for November 16th
  and will be circulated to SICoP for review well
  before the September 3rd submission deadline.

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4. Regular Order of Business for SICoP

• Call for Papers
• Purpose The new Semantic Interoperability
  Community of Practice (SICoP) was recently
  chartered under the Federal CIO Councils Best
  Practices Committee - Knowledge Management
  Working Group for the purpose of achieving
  "semantic interoperability" and "semantic data
  integration" focused on the government sector.
  The SICoP is working on a White Paper with three
  modules (see next slide) that form the basis for
  workshops and conferences for broader education
  and participation. Since the SICoP is an
  outgrowth of the First Semantic Technologies for
  eGov Conference at the White House Conference
  Center last September 8, 2003, it is hosting the
  Second Conference Semantic Technologies for eGov
  on September 8-9, 2004, at MITRE in McLean,
  Virginia.

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4. Regular Order of Business for SICoP

• Call for Papers (continued)
• Important Dates
• Papers need to be submitted by August 6th and
  presenters will be notified by August 13th.
• Papers need to be limited to 10 pages in Word
  format, but PowerPower presentations may be up to
  30 slides in length.
• Selection Criteria
• Relevance to the conference purpose and agenda
  format (recall slide 14).
• Relevance to the White Paper Module topics (see
  below).
• SICoP White Paper Modules Their Leads
• Module 1 Introducing the Semantic Web
  Technologies Harnessing the Power of Information
  Semantics Jie-Hong Morrison
• Module 2 Exploring the Business Value of
  Semantic Interoperability Irene Polikoff
• Module 3 Operationalizing the Semantic Web
  Michael Daconta

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5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• Dynamic Knowledge Repositories (DKR)
• National Infrastructure for Community Statistics
  (NICS) CoP, May 27th to present, with about 25
  organizations.
• Sustaining Public Dialogue The Role of
  Communities of Practice and Their Dynamic
  Knowledge Repositories (DKR), August 17, 2004,
  Collaboration Expedition Workshop.
• Best Practices for Adopting Service-Oriented
  Architectures, September 21st, EA Conference
  Session.
• Sustainable Intergovernmental Network Exchange
  (SINE)
• Launched with EPA, Global Justice, and HHS/CDC on
  December 15, 2003.
• See http//sine.cim3.net
• Federal Health Architecture (HHS/CDC, etc.)
  establishes an Interoperability Working Group on
  July 1, 2004.

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5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization
Organizational Relationships
Industry Advisory Council (IAC)
U.S. CIO Council
OMB - FEAPMO
Enterprise Architecture Special Interest Group
Architecture Infrastructure Committee
IT Workforce Connections
Best Practices Committee
WGs and CoPs
Subcommittees Governance Components Emerging
Technologies
Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice
Chief Architects Forum
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5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization Brief
History

• The AIC chartered three Working Groups
  (Collaboration Expedition Workshops, XML, and XML
  Web Services) which were and still are very
  successful.
• The AIC, which started as one integrated
  activity, reorganized into three Subcommittees
  and put the three WGs into the Emerging
  Technology Subcommittee.
• The AIC decided it no longer wanted WGs, but by
  then the WGs had become CoPs and sources of best
  practices so they continued to support the AIC as
  well as broader needs.
• For example the XML Web Services WG CoP morphed
  into Semantic Interoperability CoP!
• The AIC decided it then wanted to become an
  integrated activity again like a CoP and formed
  the CAF CoP and wants to do a joint meeting with
  the Best Practices Committee in July!
• The CIOs have realized that they cant do
  Enterprise Architecture alone, but need the
  expertise, participation, and resources of a
  network of CoPs!

23
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• Fourth Quarterly Emerging Technology Components
  Conference An Emerging Public-Private
  Partnership at MITRE, June 3, 2004
• Some recommendations on Strategic Directions
• Involve taxonomy (ontology) expertise in
  improving the FEA classification scheme
  (taxonomy) and its extension into the agencies.
  (This should also help the Line of Business Task
  Forces work.)
• Involve knowledge management expertise in
  building a comprehensive knowledge-base
  (repository) of enterprise architecture (OMB
  budget, solutions like Service-Oriented, Web
  Services, etc.)

See GCN, May 20, 2004, Forman calls for new
approach to the Federal Enterprise Architecture.
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5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• David Webber, July 5th, CIO Councils XML WG
  ListServ (excerpts)
• ..assuming XSD worked flawlessly today - then
  there is still a huge gap in its performance
  capabilities - when it comes to agile
  interoperable information exchanges.
• If the government actually takes a moment and
  starts to look at what it really takes to make
  information exchanges of this nature - and I gave
  a short list of the top half-dozen features I see
  - then looks at XSD - remarkably XSD supports
  none of them!
• That is why I am arguing the need to augment XSD,
  not just with CAM, but with registries containing
  vocabularies and standard components, semantic
  tools - like OWL, and build an infrastructure for
  attaining interoperable systems.

25
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• David Webber, July 5th, CIO Councils XML WG
  ListServ (excerpts continued)
• Some things that I see high on my checklist to
  deliver strong interoperability
• 1) Versioning to element and attribute level.
• 2) Context driven assembly of structure
  permutations.
• 3) Support for semantic dictionary referencing to
  standard noun (element/attribute) definitions.
• 4) Support for validation expressions (e.g. date
  today).
• 5) Strong codelist support - including
  versioning.
• 6) Call-out support to validation web services
  (e.g. partNo valid?).

26
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• KM.Gov Discussion of Business Function Models
  (Denise Bedford, May 26, 2004)
• The World Banks is a narrow and deep hierarchy
• Level 1 General Business Area
• Level 2 Business Activity
• Level 3 Business Process
• Level 4 Task
• Note A service taxonomy is an inherent part of
  a business taxonomy and emerges at Level 3 and
  below. If you can keep business function and
  organizational unit as separate attributes, you
  can then see which organizational units may be
  offering the same kinds of services and this
  might help to form communities of practice across
  organizational units!

27
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization
Content gives us the semantics
(taxonomy/ontology) the interoperability, Adam
Pease, SICoP Meeting at MITRE, May 19,
2004. Structure comes from the content
itself, The Large Document Problem, Lucian
Russell, Categorization of Government Information
WG Meeting, 5/10/04.
28
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization
29
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization
Harmonization/Standardization of Data Element and
XML Tag Names
30
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• Some important features of the mapping matrices
  (slides 27-29)
• The Conceptual Areas (Nodes)/ Knowledge Objects
  (Services) consist of XML information objects
  which can be reused in different contexts,
  applications, Communities of Practice, etc.
• The reuse is accomplished through
• Metadata
• Taxonomies (even Ontologies) and
• Standardization/Harmonization (mappings between
  and across) Across Multiple Taxonomies (even
  Ontologies).

31
5. Collaborating on Semantic Harmonization

• Census Bureau/FedStats (Statistical Abstract of
  the US)
• Lead original Line of Business (Data and
  Statistics) which was exempted so it became a
  logical selection for a best practice pilot!
• National Indicator System and the Community
  Statistical System
• GAO, CEQ, Community Indicator Consortium, etc.
• Sustainable Intergovernmental Network Exchange
  (SINE)
• Global Justice, EPA, Health, etc.
• Intelligence Community Metadata Working Group (IC
  MWG)
• XML Enablement Strategy and Tool Evaluation.
• Componenttechnology.Org
• Proposals from participants in this Community of
  Practice to Populate the Service Grid with
  Services Components.
• Categorization of Government Information Working
  Group of the Interagency Committee on Government
  Information
• GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (Susan
  Turnbull) Outreach to Involve State and Local
  Governments.
• University of Maryland MINDLab (Professor Jim
  Hendler) and TopQuadrant (Ralph Hodgson)
• Semantic Markup and Tools for Government Content
  (getting content ready for them!).

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6. Supplement KM.Gov Meeting on July 14, 2004
A Forum on Change KM
or Transforming at the Speed of Light
The Net Effect
"The Tipping Point"
Featuring Dr. Robert Cross, Prominent Social
Network Analysis Expert-- Professor of Management
at McIntire School of Commerce and a research
fellow with Babson's Working Knowledge Consortia.
Come be a Speaker! What Have We Learned?
What do You Think?
Is It Time to Refuel KM?
Save the Date! Get on the agenda! Wednesday
July 14 9am 1pm Directions World Bank-J
Building, 6 - 044. On the corner of 18th
Pennsylvania Ave Wash DC near Farragut West metro
station RSVP Nancy.G.Faget_at_usace.army.mil
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6. Supplement KM.Gov Meeting on July 14, 2004

• What Role Do You Play in Rapid Change?
• - Connector-- please bring at least one more
  person to this session...- Maven submit
  outline or summary to speak for 5 minutes on
  these topics and their relationship to KM
• - Salesperson please be prepared to discuss
  techniques for spreading ideas to large groups of
  people quickly... Tipping Point Concepts
  please see readaheads next page

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6. Supplement KM.Gov Meeting on July 14, 2004
Managers can use social-network analysis to find
out who the "attractors" in the organization are,
which projects generate the most enthusiasm, and
whether reorganizations or strategic initiatives
are having any effect. from What creates
Energy in Organizations? by Rob Cross, Wayne
Baker and Andrew Parker
Tipping Point and Fireside Chat with Tipping
Point author Malcolm Gladwell Tues. May 19,
2004 http//danbricklin.com/log/2004_05_19.htmgla
dwell The Hidden Power of Social Networks
Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in
Organizations by Rob Cross and A. Parker What
Creates Energy in Organizations? by Rob Cross,
Wayne Baker and Andrew Parker MIT Sloan
management review. 44, no. 4, (2003) 51
http//web.mit.edu/smr/issue/2003/summer/5/ Peter
Morville Social Network Analysis February 21,
2002 http//semanticstudios.com/publications/sem
antics/000006.php Faster Knowledge The Medium
is the Message, Speedier communication paths will
make us smarter by Stowe Boyd http//www.destinat
ionkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID1087
What ties information architecture, knowledge
management and social network analysis more
closely together is the reciprocal relationship
between people and content. Peter Morville